By: Adam Luecking October 26th, 2022 Performance and impact management may seem confusing and overwhelming, but it becomes less intimidating when done effectively. Effective performance and impact management involve planning out two kinds of measures (program performance measures vs. community indicators) and then utilizing a standard and repeatable system to improve [...]
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw September 5th, 2022 By: Adam Luecking My oldest son Connor started sixth grade in the midst of COVID-19. Not only did Connor have to make the normal adjustments a child has to make when transitioning from elementary [...]
August 29th, 2022 By: Adam Luecking Maintaining a healthy weight has been a challenge for most of my adult life. My scale was the "elephant in the bathroom." Eventually, I realized data avoidance was making things worse, so I committed to paying attention to my weight and accepting it for what it was. This simple [...]
“True flexibility can be achieved only when all muscles are uniformly developed.” - Joseph Pilates August 22, 2022 By: Adam Luecking My four kids have wildly different personalities. One is extremely shy, one is outgoing, one goes along to get along, and one prefers to just be left alone. Despite these differences, my wife and [...]
August 15th, 2022 By: Adam Luecking What is the Data Troll? Any social impact journey worth taking is fraught with obstacles and challenges that can seriously hinder progress. While there are no literal monsters on what I call the “Social Sector Hero’s Journey,” there is a tempting figure that can lead organizations down the wrong [...]
August 8th, 2022 By: Adam Luecking Funders - think about all the important activities you and your grantees engage in on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. Whether it’s project evaluation, budgeting, program implementation, research, data collection, data analysis, administrative functions, strategy development, meetings, reporting, operational processes, emails, staff development… the list goes [...]
When working with organizations, we often see leaders with good intentions make a simple mistake: taking their data at face value instead of looking deeper into the numbers. But when you take your data at face value, this can often lead to incorrect and counterproductive conclusions. Consider an organization seeking to improve the graduation [...]
In the philanthropic funding space, having good intentions does not always mean good results. As hard of a pill as this may be to swallow, it's an important fact that every funder should accept. Sometimes we try to get by on our good intentions, but as my friend and mentor Mark Friedman says in [...]
Long story short, there are two groups of performance measures your organization needs to ensure you are advancing your mission in an effective and timely manner: Performance measures for management, administrative units, and internal functions Performance measures that quantify the quality and impact of your community-facing services (aka, program performance measures) It is also [...]
Want to make a difference? DON’T keep changing what you track! It doesn’t matter if you’re giving grants or receiving them, one sure-fire way to hinder your ability to make an impact with the work you do is by changing the measures you include in your reports. You might be saying, “Well our work is [...]
