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

Carol Coren, Cornerstone Consultants Principal, helped E-Homemakers highlight how women can earn money through telecommuting at our E-Homemakers Conference. Her observations pointed out how double and triple bottom lines are being met in the USA by employers, employees, and entrepreneurs with small office/home office operations. She participated at our 2010 E-Homemakers Conference in Kuala Lampur via the Internet and offered our audience of business leaders, government agency directors, and service contractors insights into how low income women in our country can carry out full time jobs and operate businesses at home.