Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great and the Social Sectors, discusses the importance of defining greatness and achieving goals. This task is easier said than done. However, by following these three dos and don’ts from the Nonprofit Leadership Center, measuring the impact of your nonprofit will become more clear.

First, let’s look at the “don’ts” – what you shouldn’t do as an organization:

  1. Don’t mistake activity for productivity. Don’t just think what your organization is doing, but why they’re doing it. Just because you’re doing different things in the community doesn’t mean that you are accomplishing your mission. Always choose to gauge what you’re doing against why you are doing it.
  2. Don’t mistake what you think or hope you’re accomplishing with effectiveness. It’s really easy to confuse what we hope to accomplish with what is actually happening while it’s already something that you’re hoping to accomplish just because it hasn’t been finished, it’s okay to communicate the progress to your donors and your constituents. Ultimately, if what you’re hoping to accomplish as a non-profit organization was an easy thing to do, it would already be done. Tangible progress is more important than a hypothetical aspiration.
  3. Don’t let your brand or design become more important than the message. Thirdly, don’t let your brand or design become more important than the actual message of what you’re trying to communicate. Just because your organization might look good on social media doesn’t mean that it actually communicates the value that your organization has in the community or to those that you’re trying to serve. Branding and aesthetics are important but should not be more important than the message or measuring effectiveness.

Now let’s consider the “dos” — things you should focus on instead:

  1. Choose and track the right metrics for organizational effectiveness. The question you should be asking here is how over what. Don’t just think about what you’re going to do, but think about how you’re going to do it. When choosing the right metrics to track over time, think about your mission and vision.
  2. Tell the stories of the impact of what your doing. Refrain from assuming that your constituents know what’s going on in your organization, choose to consistently tell stories of organzational impact. Ask “What has been the process and what has been the resource and what process and resource still is yet to be accomplished?” and then tie that impact to individuals or groups. Tell their story. Shout it from the rooftops. Growing awareness is an important part of effectiveness.
  3. Communicate in an engaging and relatable way with your audience. Are you contextualizing your impact to your different constituents? Think of all the different people that you have to communicate your message to: volunteers, donors, participants, board members, the general public, etc. While the overall information might seem to relate to everyone, there are specific things that each of these audiences need in order to understand the impact of your organization. How you communicate with the general public versus a board member or someone who’s receiving your services can be vastly different in regards to the context, so be sure to engage in a way that is appropriate to communicating your impact with those that you are talking to.

Overall, measuring impact for a nonprofit organization can be a difficult task, but if you avoid assumption and apathy and choose mission metrics and message, your organization will see positive results.

Looking for a partner to help your organization implement these principles? MyCommunity is here for you! MyCommunity exists to build relationships and tools that equip organizations so that they can maximize their impact. Our suite of tools is designed to help organizations of all sizes focus on their mission without worrying about the logistics. We understand the importance of building strong relationships, so we provide the necessary tools to maximize impact and make a difference like our easy-to-use platforms MyDonors and MyVolunteers. Likewise, MyNonprofitCoach equips nonprofits with the training they need to be successful. Schedule a demo for any of our solutions here.

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Sources:
https://nlctb.org/tips/communicating-nonprofit-impact/?gclid=CjwKCAiAhKycBhAQEiwAgf19ei0FekaymP_15x88fikcfyOBYIaqsKiiAt4tEJnXbVY8ui8T5tyyfhoCnU8QAvD_BwE
https://vialogue.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/good-to-great-and-the-social-sectors-notes-review/https://gracelead.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/good-to-great-social-sectors-summary.pd