Measuring Results

Everyone wants to do this. And everyone in the evaluation business has something to say about how to do it. So why not us too!

We believe the evaluation of results is less complicated than organizations make it. Of course, we know from experience that often evaluating our work is made cumbersome by funders and regulators, but for now let’s pretend they are not in the mix.

Here is how we approach the evaluation of results. We start with some simple questions.

1. What are you trying to accomplish for which people?
2. What are the measures that guide your work with these people?
3. What is the current benchmark of each of those measures?
4. What are your goals about surpassing the benchmark over what period of time?
5. What will indicate progress toward your goals?
6. What will you do to achieve the goals (strategies and actions) over what period of time?

Example: Answering the questions
To offer some clarity, let’s answer the questions above for a neighborhood-based employment program.

The Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard was developed by Norton and Kaplan. It focuses on identifying global measures in four quadrants of organizational activity, which are used to assess past performance, monitor current performance, and the extent to which current performance optimally positions an organization for future success.

These quadrants represent “perspectives” on performance from the viewpoint of the Customer(s), Internal Business Processes, Finance, and Learning and Growth.

More than an evaluation tool, the Balanced Scorecard provides the organization with a strategic management touchstone that informs business planning, identifies performance strengths and shortcomings, frames action and implementation plans, and provides the Board of Directors with a high level governance resource to policy development and strategic discussions.

The Scorecard also provides the organization with a global perspective of performance that can be used in the development of accountability focused employee appraisals.

24 reasons’ Mark Holmgren has led the development of organizatonal scorecards for two major charities and has also performed numerous evaluations for various non profits over the years. For more information, contact Mark at here: email.