A Transformation of Program Evaluation
I have transformed traditional program evaluation into a first-of-its-kind framework and toolbox you can use day-to-day to track mission fulfillment and iteratively improve programs, separately or collaboratively together. Read about the ImpactStory™ Strategy and my upcoming book!
How to Turn Narrative Survey Responses into Data You Can Use
I almost always recommend including open-ended questions at the end of surveys. This allows you to get some free-form, narrative responses from your clients. These narrative responses can be rich and detailed, and can give you valuable, unexpected information. But, what do you DO with them?!?
Why Benchmarking Doesn’t Work in the Social Sector
Benchmarking in the social sector is tricky because – while more productivity (i.e., serving more people) and more impact (i.e., more goodness in the world) seem like they would always be desirable – that’s not always the case! More is not necessarily better, and efficiency is often not the goal.
The Trick to Defining Success in the Social Sector
In 20+ years of working with social sector partners, I’ve never met a single person who does not really, really want there to be a single number – like “profit” – that nonprofits can use as a simple, clear indicator of success.
Graphs that Help You Ask Important Questions
This weekend, I was thinking about how data can be used for good, and how data can be used for evil. So today, I thought I'd talk about how you can use graphs to understand your data in ways that build trust and understanding (good) or they can obscure the truth and promote stereotypes (evil).
A Strategy for Co-Building Knowledge
What if... we established uncomplicated, sector-specific structures, defined metrics, and capacity for tracking, analyzing, and using impact data?
Insights Lead to Action
I was meeting with a funder last week, and they were asking me to confirm they were making good data-driven insights. They were not feeling clear about exactly what an insight is. These are super smart and insightful people, so they can't be the only one wondering this. For all you co-wonderers - this blog's for you!
18 Ways to Say “Impact”
A topic that came up recently in the ImpactStory Academy is all the different words for IMPACT. I started a quick list and came up with 18 different words - I know, right!
The Secret to Unbiased Understanding of Your Data
I've worked with hundreds of social sector leaders and everyone is worried about understanding their data in the most objective way possible.
Nonprofits CANNOT Measure Long-term Impact
I'm being provocative - and - once someone leaves services you can no longer control what happens. The world is a complex and chaotic place. Your clients use what you gave them immediately, later, or (sadly) never. You have literally no control.