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How do you measure the "results" of a non-profit, when most of them work in non-quantifiable fields? You end up with the quantity versus quality argument, favo
by fatdog789 17y ago
How do you measure the "results" of a non-profit, when most of them work in non-quantifiable fields?
You end up with the quantity versus quality argument, favoring large, superficial efforts over narrowly tailored, substantive efforts.
- joseakle 17y agoThe Gates Foundation has been doing some research regarding this, you can find it here. http://www.gatesfoundation.org/learning/Pages/december-2008-measuring-estimating-social-value-creation-report-summary.aspx http://www.gatesfoundation.org/learning/Pages/december-2008-...
- stcredzero 17y agoI've been involved with a couple of music/culture related 501-c3 non-profits that had very quantifiable results: class enrollments, ticket sales, sales of music CDs, and awards won by participants in international competitions. I would say that both of them do extremely well in the non-quantifiable quality department as well.
- patio11 17y agoHow do you measure the "results" of a non-profit, when most of them work in non-quantifiable fields? If McDonalds can work out how to quantify feeding hungry people then any charity working in Africa should be able to quantify feeding hungry people. If an insurance company can tell me the average lifespan of their clients to six decimal places and what exactly the risk factors are among that pool, then health-focused charities should be able to do it as well. etc, etc (I have some familiarity with the literature and know the excuses for why charities operating in Africa with mobile phones and computers can't be expected to have as good a handle on their numbers as a British bank circa 1780. Yeah yeah, it must be difficult when you rely on globally distributed workers, many of whom are not literate. Oh wait, so does McDonalds.)