Facts In Action

Making it Count is a series of articles designed to help you develop ways to measure outcomes in your program or family child care home. If you would like to receive earlier issues of Making it Count, please contact Erika Argersinger at (617) 695-0700 x271, or by email at eargersinger@associatedearlycareandeducation.org.

Nonprofit organizations are increasingly being asked to measure and document for funders and key stakeholders the outcomes of their services. Many programs, however, are only just beginning to develop their capacity to create and implement systems of outcome measurement.

The Independent Sector and The Urban Institute recently conducted a survey of 36 nonprofit human service organizations currently measuring outcomes in order to get a sense of how these programs were implementing systems and the challenges they face in doing so. The findings from their survey have been summarized in a report, Outcome Measurement in Nonprofit Organizations: Current Practices and Recommendations. The report describes the type of outcome information that programs collected, data collection procedures, data analysis, and reporting and use of outcome information.

Of the nonprofit organizations that responded to the survey, the majority collected some outcome information on clients, including client condition after receiving services and client satisfaction. Programs primarily collected information from clients or their families through surveys and agency records, although a few conducted assessments or trained observer ratings. Some of the programs responded that they undertook some form of data analysis to help in making program improvements and reporting results. Data analysis was used to compare outcome levels over time to monitor progress, to compare to previously set benchmarks, and to compare across different organizational units. The most common audiences for outcome reports were the organizations' boards and funders, although some programs also reported their findings to accrediting organizations and key stakeholders.

While the programs that were surveyed were each conducting outcome measurement on some level, the greatest challenge identified by the researchers was the lack of training and technical assistance provided to these programs. Only a few of the programs surveyed had been exposed to a significant amount of training in how to implement outcome measurement, analyze data, and then use the resulting information to inform program planning. In order to build programs' capacity to measure outcomes, the report suggests that national associations, local community foundations, and local governments either provide direct assistance or provide funding support for technical assistance.

In the next issue of Making it Count, we will discuss addressing cultural and linguistic diversity in assessments.

Source:
Outcome Measurement in Nonprofit Organizations: Current Practices and Recommendations, E. Morley, E. Vinson, and H.P. Hatry, Independent Sector and The Urban Institute, 2001.

For more information:
contact Independent Sector, 1200 Eighteenth Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036, call (202) 467-6100, or go on-line at www.IndependentSector.org

Making it Count: A Special Issue of Facts in Action

Over the past year, Facts in Action published a series of articles designed to take you step-by-step through the process of measuring outcomes in your program or family child care home. This series of articles has been repackaged into a special issue of the Facts in Action newsletter and is now available for only $2.00 per copy.

If you would like to order this special issue of Facts in Action, please contact:

Erika Argersinger
Early Education Clearinghouse
Associated Early Care and Education, Inc.
95 Berkeley Street, Suite 306
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 695-0700 x271
eargersinger@associatedearlycareandeducation.org

Facts in Action, October 2001