Selling Your Impact

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-03-16 08:53:00 UTC
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As wallets contract during the recession and people begin to re-evaluate they make charitable decisions, the conversation about how to measure and demonstrate impact has never been felt more relevant. Field leaders like the Hewlett Foundation's Paul Brest have encouraged a more strategic approach to philanthropy while new organizations like GiveWell have pushed the boundaries on how we evaluate charity.

A few months ago, we were lucky enough to have Mission Measurement founder Jason Saul post a manifesto about social impact assessment on this site titled "Charity's Existential Dilemma: Are We Really Making a Difference?" In it, he wrote:

The biggest mystery lurking in the depths of the nonprofit sector these days is the murky question of measurement: how do we know if charities have an impact? Frankly, with $1 trillion at stake in the nonprofit sector, measurement is a Loch Ness monster that must be slayed.  And lately, there seem to be a cavalcade of white knights reporting for duty.  Journalists, bloggers, armchair evaluators, foundation CEOs and self-styled philanthropic "analysts" pontificate solipsistically about logic models, theories of change, "Morningstar-like" rating services, sector-wide taxonomies, Zagat-guides and philanthropic "data management systems."..Solving this problem requires a clearer understanding of what we are trying to accomplish with measurement.

One of the things that gets me most excited about Mission Measurement is their common sense, figure-out-what-really-matters-and-simplify approach to the measurement question. I was excited to see that Jason is doing a continuing education program at NYU called "Selling Your Impact." The program will help nonprofit leaders with identify the tools and strategies they need to more successful capture and share information about the value they create.

Click here to learn more about the program and register.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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