This is our third and final post in this series. We believe outcome statements should be meaningful, measurable, and manageable, and we recommend that organizations evaluate their outcomes against those criteria in that order, because each serves as a more narrow filter than the one before. The universe of meaningful outcomes is big, complex, abstract,[…]
We believe outcome statements should be meaningful, measurable, and manageable. This is our second post in this series, examining the second M. Organizations often struggle to identify outcomes that are both meaningful and measurable. But, because they are required to measure their outcomes, they sacrifice meaningfulness and just count what is easy to count. Sound[…]
Outcome statements should be . . . We believe outcome statements should be meaningful, measurable, and manageable. If an outcome statement cannot meet all three of those criteria, we don’t recommend it. Further, as you brainstorm possible outcomes, they should be evaluated against those criteria, in that order. Oftentimes, organizations arrive at the outcomes they[…]
Measuring outcomes is difficult. I’ve written about this before (here). However, there are many ways that nonprofits make life even harder for themselves than it has to be. You’re probably familiar with many of them: The grant-writer works in isolation and promises outcomes that the program cannot measure and/or achieve. Outcomes are written so broadly,[…]
Evaluation Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All I’ve written before about the many types of evaluation and the various kinds of questions it can help answer, many of which aren’t familiar to everyday practitioners. When most folks hear “evaluation” they think someone is asking, “Is your program effective at achieving its outcomes?” Yes, that’s one kind of question that[…]
The Challenge of Change Through my consulting and training work, I hear nonprofits share a common challenge: “We know our program’s purpose and value, but funders want more. It’s not enough.” Programs that are in the business of treatment or behavior change – counseling, therapy, skill-building, training, education – don’t face this particular struggle. Their[…]
This is the second post from our guest blogger, Julia Pickup, who is lending her unique perspective on outcome measurement, evaluation, and cultures of learning and improvement. Julia is a skilled family therapist and leader of clinicians. This set of posts is named after a common point of resistance I meet when talking with direct[…]
As promised in our October newsletter (click here to subscribe), Insight Partners has some exciting things planned for our third year, including this blog series by guest blogger Julia Pickup, MSW, LCSW. Julia is a highly skilled therapist, clinical supervisor, instructor, and program director. She thrives on developing clinicians to reach their full potential, building team[…]
There’s one thing I love most about the internet – the ability to enter a phrase into a search box that describes a problem that you think is nameless, ill-defined, and without a clear solution and then discover through pages of search results that: (1) it has a name, (2) you aren’t the only one[…]
Many of us do work that is inherently and inarguably valuable. There is an intuitive and logical connection between the work we do and some larger, later good. Yet our actual, direct impact is hard to define or know. For years, these programs have been funded based on their face value, but many funders now[…]