Talking about Return on Our Investments

The common ground for my work this week was

How do we talk about return on our investments in addressing the needs of low income Americans?

This week I worked with Community Action Agencies, the Council of Foundation, a national funder, and the Senate Finance Budget Committee. They all asked

How do we know we are spending our money well?

How do we tell the story well about what we are accomplishing?

Community Action Agencies are using Results Oriented Measurement and Accountability (ROMA) to show what they have accomplished and to adapt their programs to be more effective. It is a start to answering what impact the money has had at an agency level, at a state level and at a national level. It isn’t yet an effective approach to telling the story and engaging people in the work that Community Action does. And there are still many issues to address if one wants to compare results in a small rural community, with a metropolitan area with little growth, or with a thriving city with some neighborhoods still struggling with access to opportunity. To learn more about ROMA, go to http://www.nascsp.com/CSBG/594/ROMA.aspx?iHt=11. And tell me about national indicators that you are developing or using.

Measuring Progress

This week I worked with several different clients - social service nonprofits, community based groups, arts and cultures institutes, scientific research centers, and foundations. The questions that kept bubbling to the surface when I spoke with each of the clients were:

· How do you show progress?

· What are your indicators?

· What is the impact?

Sometimes the answers to those questions are quantitative and can be rather easily measured, but sometimes we are looking for a feeling, an experience, or even an expectation of how a life was changed going forward. How do we measure those? Organizations need the information as they plan for the future and funders want to see how you are going to measure your program impact.

A useful resource is “A Guide to Actionable Measurement” found on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation website. Other tools and resources for assessing social impact can be found on the TRASI part of the Foundation Center’s website.

I also find appreciative inquiry a valuable methodology. This is described in an Annie E. Casey Foundation document listed on the TRASI site. This is a method I’ve used to explore an organization’s successes, so strategic planning builds on what’s working and focuses on changing what isn’t.

- Mary