Credible Metrics

I look at non-profit donations as investments - investments given with an anticipation of a programmatic return and community benefit. 

My personal approach for evaluating program outputs is to identify and gather specific data, and then monitor it consistently, year after year.   I review annual reports, websites and strategic plans to get beyond the anecdotal stories and see impact in financial or audit-verified service output terms.  This is a great way to track change overtime -- though it requires some homework and an ability to stay focused when the answers you're looking for aren't readily available. 

I'm a firm believer in board "dashboards," the one page summary of progress indicators used to spark board dialogue and insight into programmatic outputs.  My observation here is that there isn't a governing board out there worth its salt that doesn't ask for progress reports on key initiatives or overall organizational effectiveness - so just seeing what the board has chosen to track can be very insightful.

Another great metric is to try and benchmark one organization's results against another.  Typically there's one or two "market leaders" out there who've set the bar high for others to follow.  While I may not be funding these leaders, it's good to see how they measure their results and what sorts of things they tell their donors.  This is likely the most difficult measurement - especially if you try to get beyond the standard financial indicators compared on sites like Charity Navigator or Guidestar.    To evaluate the effectiveness of services or programs you really do have to track the details, and likely over a period of several years.  

More info and perspective on impact measurement can be found on my blog.  Specifics about the impact of Weiland gifts can be found under the "About Ric Weiland" tab.

Dashboard Reports

Personally, I'm a metrics guy and like to track trends graphically.  Pages of financial data are useful in their place - but a couple charts can trigger alot more insight - and ideally engage folks in a discussion.  One size does not fit all for dashboard reporting - but the principle is that all leaders identify a few trends they want to track, and then commit to tracking the data for a long enough time to evaluate the impact of their initiatives.

 An example of a one page dashboard (dummy data) is attached so you can see what I'm talking about.