11 Ways to Measure the Effectiveness of your Nonprofit


By Jennifer E. Goldman, President of Resonance, LLC

As a nonprofit consultant with a degree in business management, I am constantly looking for ways in which organizations can improve their processes to align more closely to those of a small business. An overwhelming majority of smaller nonprofits overlook the need to prove their value, thereby seeming unimpressive or even unimportant to potential donors and volunteers.

One of the first things required of a startup business is to create a plan. This plan includes exhibiting, in fine detail, the products or services the business will offer and making a case for the value of those products or services. This is often lacking in the planning stages of a nonprofit, or is overlooked later on and never re-evaluated and restated.

Without proving the value of the services your nonprofit offers, why should a donor invest any money? Why should a volunteer invest any time?

To get you started, here’s a list of ways to measure the effectiveness of your nonprofit organization:

  • Number of people, places or things your nonprofit serves: now v last year v when it began
  • Quantifiable ways in which those people, places or things have improved since your organization began, or just in the last 1-3yrs with your help: survival rates, before and after photos, homelessness decline, academic grades improved, test scores, etc.
  • Number of projects completed, with stats about what that project accomplished
  • Donor dollars that were spent directly on your mission (v on your overhead/admin)
  • Annual budget or donations collected, showing growth over time
  • Number of items collected in a food, clothing, toy, or other drive
  • Volunteer hours invested annually in your organization and its endeavors
  • Work Plan or Strategic Plan goals met
  • Qualitative (not easily quantifiable) results: may be improved aesthetics, testimonials, survey feedback, etc.
  • Make a comparison chart of your organization v others that provide similar services/resources – show your differentiation/distinction
  • Narratives can do the same: paint a picture of what your community would look like without your organization? What would be lacking, dying, dismal or ugly without you?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Board Retreat Cheat Sheet

Image
Board retreats are a fantastic way to create meaningful engagement between staff and board, board member to board member and to solidify the commitment your board has to your nonprofit organization. Unfortunately, sometimes after a retreat, board members go back to status quo and that’s not ideal. Typically, a board retreat is put together with the hopes that board members will be re-energized, re-connected and renewed in their zeal to help lift an organization to a higher level of success. Here's a list of things I’ve found to be helpful in creating a retreat that will have a positive, lasting impact on your organization and the people you count on for its success: Decide what challenges you want to work through at the retreat and what outcomes/goals/deliverables you’ll be working toward. Make it a full-day or 2-day retreat. Eight solid hours if it’s only one day, six hours each day for 2-days. The best times of year for 2-day retreats to get the highest level of attendance (appr
Read more

Creating Opportunities

Image
I often hear from nonprofit board members that they got involved in an organization to make a difference, but that once they joined, they feel useless – no one calls on them to truly be involved. If you read the Board Engagement ~ Conversation Checklist blog post then you know that one of my suggestions was to sit down and have a chat with each of your board members. Whether you’re the organization’s Executive Director or the Board President, it would be good for you to know what motivates each individual who’s engaged in your board. Even better if you can determine their passions and hobbies. And employ them. This post is meant to help you take those one-on-ones one step further. For many people, volunteering is high on their priority list. However, not everyone wants to give their time to a nonprofit doing the same things they do in their job/career/profession. So, while you might be thrilled to have a lawyer, accountant, marketing person, etc. on your board if directors, th
Read more

STOP FUNDRAISING FOR YOUR FUNDRAISERS

Image
And start funding planning for your programs, your overhead, your growth. When I was the Executive Director of a small nonprofit, I can remember feeling like I spent all of my time either fundraising through special events or running the special events. We needed the event to add money to our bank account to keep us afloat until the next special event. Essentially, each event was paying for the overhead and event expenses. It was a vicious (and exhausting) cycle. I’ve been working on two basic things with my clients recently: Proving your value by showing the impact your organization has on its community Raising the funds you need to sustain and grow your nonprofit in a way that allows you to focus on your mission and your programs. By fundraising through events, nonprofits are rarely introducing people to their organization, their mission, their impact and importance. It’s the equivalent of a retail shop having a sale or hosting a pop-up. You may get a bunch of people excite
Read more