Using a Shared Framework and Tools to Enhance Communication and Create Outcomes

Summary of Client Results:

• The work of funded partners is now tied to strategies that align with results and indicators.
• Increased consistency in how they articulate performance measurement.
• Enhanced communication throughout measurement and reporting processes.
• Established a system for communicating outcomes for the GRF.

Wedged between Houston’s massive sprawl and the warm embrace of the Gulf of Mexico, Brazoria County, Texas, could easily be overlooked on a map. But to the more than 300,000 residents residing in its sleepy cities of Alvin, Angleton, Brazosport, Lake Jackson, and Pearland, a quiet pride exists in calling Brazoria County home.

The petrochemical industry plays a vital role in Brazoria County. Lake Jackson was founded primarily to house employees from the local Dow chemical plant. The county is larger than 1,600 square miles, middle of the pack by Texas standards, but still larger than the entire state of Rhode Island. It takes close to forever to drive from one end of Brazoria County to the other, and humid, dense vegetation fights for a resurgence on the interstate. Still, that small-town feeling permeates the region. It’s the kind of place where change happens slowly.

When the United Way of Brazoria County (UWBC) reached out to Clear Impact in 2019, the time for change had finally come.

The Problem:

Like many other United Ways around the country, UWBC had provided donor dollars to well-intentioned funded partners for decades without a way to communicate the return on investment. What had changed? How were people better off as a result of the hard work of public sector partners? These were the most important questions, but there was no universal system to get this information from grantees.

Funded partners submitted reports with different data in different formats. What was included in the reports was often anecdotal – important stories of change, yes, but it was difficult to see the bigger picture in terms of clients’ progress. Collating these reports into something meaningful was time-intensive and painstaking. UWBC staff had to make hand calculations across multiple organizations or transpose data from partner reports into spreadsheets.

The Need:

What needed to change was clear. First, UWBC needed a simple framework that could be deployed across the network to get everyone on the same page, working towards the same goals, and reporting on shared measures. Second, they needed a data-collection tool that each grantee could use to report data locally and then roll that data up into UWBC cross-system measures. They also needed a way to demonstrate the contribution relationship of these measures to population indicators. It is sometimes hard to maintain the discipline of separating population and performance. The UWBC population scorecard, using Clear Impact Scorecard, helps accomplish this.

The steps to make these changes happen were also clear. First, Clear Impact would help UWBC develop a Results-Based Accountability (RBA) framework. Second, train every funded partner on performance accountability and help them to develop performance measures related to the UWBC RBA framework. Third, build a set of Scorecards and transition UWBC and its funded partners to use the Clear Impact Scorecard for data reporting.

Establishing the Framework:

In the fall of 2019, Clear Impact began meeting with the UWBC Board of Directors and a large group of community volunteers and funded partners. Everyone received training on the RBA model. Partners were then led through a community-driven process that resulted in developing an RBA framework for UWBC. Each result has a set of indicators, and each of those indicators has a set of strategies.

Figure 1. UWBC RBA results and indicators developed in collaboration with Clear Impact and hosted in the Clear Impact Scorecard.

The RBA framework has become the basis for how UWBC awards funding opportunities. When partners submit funding applications, they must make a case for how their work will contribute to the UWBC strategies. To support that interest, Clear Impact trained representatives from thirty-two funded partners on the RBA methodology and provided technical assistance in developing performance measures for How Much, How Well, and Better Off. This work was conducted virtually in the spring of 2020 due to travel restrictions imposed by COVID-19.

Interested in learning more about Clear Impact training and tools for United Ways? Contact heather@Clearimpact.com.

Building the Scorecards:

Clear Impact then built a set of Scorecards, using the Clear Impact Scorecard, for all thirty-two funded partners to use for data reporting. As can be seen in the sample below, these Scorecards give the partners a way to report on performance measure data regularly and provide a place to report on demographics for program populations.

Figure 2. Sample scorecard for partners developed by Clear Impact for UWBC. You can view this scorecard in more detail at https://app.resultsscorecard.com/Scorecard/Embed/70989.

The Results:

In less than twelve months, and amid a pandemic that challenged the way that work could be accomplished, UWBC has transitioned from a non-uniform approach of collecting data to a system where funded partners’ work is tied to strategies that align to results and indicators. The system was created through a community-driven process that applied “ends-to-means-thinking” and data-driven decision-making.

Although funded partners will continue to deliver services through a wide range of program models and approaches, there is now consistency in articulating performance measurement and communication processes. Having learned how to apply Turn the Curve thinking on program level-data, funded partners have the tools to increase program efficiency and accelerate client outcomes continuously. UWBC can begin to communicate client outcomes related to its RBA framework, the four United Way pillars of Education, Financial Stability, Health, and Safety Net Services, or even to the Global Results Framework for United Way Worldwide.

The customized training and technical support provided by Clear Impact has exponentially raised the capacities of UWBC and its network of funded partners to communicate what difference they make in the lives of Brazoria County children, youth, adults, and families.

Interested in learning more about Clear Impact training and tools for United Ways? Contact heather@Clearimpact.com.

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