Variety the Children’s Charity of St. Louis provides children with disabilities access to services and experiences that increase their skills, self-esteem, and independence. The agency had struggled to define the impact of its unique, experiential services in measurable terms. When they reached out to The IllumiLab, they were drowning in data that wasn’t as meaningful or useful as they needed it to be. As a result, their team had grown tired and frustrated with data collection and reporting.
Through the Insights Into Impact Process, we defined success in meaningful terms through a Theory of Change. Next, we developed new client and family surveys and assessments to measure their newly defined outcomes and indicators. To support the Variety team in the implementation and use of the new tools, we developed process maps and a Performance Management Plan to guide the way. Today, the Variety team is excited about measuring its success and using data to inform its decisions and improvements.
Here’s what Janna Greenwood, Variety’s Database manager says about the project:
“Our experience working with The IllumiLab was so far beyond what any of us could have hoped for. Sarah jumped right in the middle of a project that, for us, seemed impossible to manage or make sense of. Sarah identified our issues and developed processes and procedures that will allow us to do what we’ve always wanted to do, but didn’t know how to make it happen. As one colleague said ‘It’s like Sarah got inside my head and identified everything we wanted to be able to do.’ We knew there had to be a better way to do our program assessments, but we didn’t know how to get there. Luckily for us, Sarah did! We are excited about our assessments, which is something I never would have imagined, and we have The IllumiLab to thank for that!”