The traditional approach to measuring each individual grant and nonprofit initiative separately prevents learning and improvement, because no 2 efforts can be compared on a consistent basis. This research highlights 20 social enterprises that developed innovative web-based approaches to evaluate their impact across multiple programs and stakeholders.
Top Takeaways
- A handful of innovative organizations have developed web-based systems for reporting the performance, measuring the outcomes, and coordinating the efforts of hundreds or even thousands of social enterprises within a field.
- Recognizing that no single initiative can solve major social problems, these breakthroughs offer ways to increase the efficiency, knowledge, and effectiveness of the entire system of interrelated organizations that affect complex social issues.
- Shared measurement systems can help us move beyond the fragmented and disconnected efforts of more than a million nonprofits by creating a new degree of coordination and learning that can magnify the impact of funders and grantees alike.