Human Services News

Urban Institute:

The work described in this report first provides suggested core indicators for 14 categories of nonprofit organizations and then expands the notion of common core indicators to a much wider variety of programs by suggesting a common framework of outcome indicators for all nonprofit programs.

This can provide guidance to nonprofits as they figure out what to measure and how to do it and will work to ease the looming reporting nightmare that will occur unless a common framework for outcome measurement emerges.

Nonprofit managers and staff, funders, board members, potential clients, and members of the public seeking information are often frustrated by lengthy academic evaluations and complex, meaningless statistical analysis.

At the same time, there is increasing pressure on nonprofits to account for and improve results.

Although classic program evaluation is one response, practitioners and funders also need the tools, capacity, and standards to track and measure their own performance.

With little actual information, practitioners base decisions primarily on narrative annual reports, anecdotes, related social science research and journal articles, IRS Forms 990, and administrative metrics (such as the percentage of budget spent on administration or fundraising).

Citing the diversity of nonprofit work, some scholars have even concluded that systemically measuring impact in the nonprofit sector is impossible.

The Panel recommended that, as a best practice, charitable organizations establish procedures for measuring and evaluating their program accomplishments based on specific goals and objectives.