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 [...]
August 16, 2021 By: Henry Malone For many employers of a given business or organization, performance evaluations can be a difficult undertaking. Performance evaluations of your employees forces you to eliminate any biases in your judgement process and to make honest and fair assessments of their work over a certain period of time (i.e. [...]
Do you know if you are making progress on your most important organizational goals? Do you know how many of your performance metrics are trending in the right direction? How often are you analyzing your metrics? Designing a weekly performance check-in, accompanied by a "win your week" program, can help you answer all three of [...]
When it comes to community-based work, we hear a lot about accountability. We want accountability for results, for keeping our word, and for spending donor dollars effectively. We face demands from our superiors, our communities, our boards, and our regulatory bodies. Even amongst the well-intentioned and passionate, it's a daunting task. Accountability is vital, but [...]
Why Meet Weekly? For the 14 years Clear Impact has been in business, I have avoided weekly meetings until this past year. They were hard to schedule for a consistent time, I didn't have a clear idea of what to do in the meetings, and I was worried I would be wasting everyone's time, especially [...]
Currently, there are at least 1.425 million nonprofits in the United States. These nonprofits (including charities and foundations) spend nearly $2 trillion annually….that’s 12 zeros. If you stacked $100 bills on top of each other, $1 Million would reach 3.3ft. That means $2 Trillion in $100 bills would reach 1,262 miles into space (it only takes about 62 [...]
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 [...]
Last updated: 1/30/22 In public sector work, we can't just try hard and hope for the best. An organization's executives, boards, funders, investors, and communities demand and deserve proof of impact. People want to know whether their time, money, and efforts are making a difference – and why shouldn’t they? Understanding the type, quality, [...]
