Having said that, as a professional evaluator, I did have a fairly immediate reaction to recent news reports of the Komen Foundation’s decision (and subsequent about-face) to cut funding to Planned Parenthood.

As I watched article after article pop up in the media, my main question was this: where were the data? The reports, quite frankly, left me with more questions than answers. Questions like these:

• Were Planned Parenthood offices not performing in compliance with their grant awards?
• How did their performance stack up to other Komen grantees?
• What was Komen’s history in funding organizations under investigation?
• Just what were the revisions to the grant-making criteria, and why were these changes made?

With all those points unaddressed, I didn’t have a clue as to why Komen made their decision. I suspect that someone along the way suggested that the public wouldn’t be interested in the pesky details…and that was a mistake, in my opinion.

As a society, we’ve become more demanding for accountability, both among those who receive funds as well as those who distribute them. Regardless of which role you serve, evidence counts.

We know that impact can take many forms: helping others create financial wealth, providing healthy meals that give the gift of better health, tutoring children to enhance academic achievement, developing employees to achieve higher job satisfaction, or creating beautiful works of art that feed the soul. Unfortunately, we often work hard and long, but are not able to demonstrate that desired impacts for our customers, clients, or program participants have occurred. There are numerous reasons why we may wish to show impact, rather than assume our efforts are creating results.

For example, impact measures give our organizations the competitive edge to gain supporters, investors, and referrals. To demonstrate this point, consider two nonprofit organizations that serve disenfranchised children. Both agencies expend tremendous effort providing educational services, such as tutoring, homework assistance, and time management techniques, to youth who are at high-risk for academic failure. In preparation for the next funding cycle, Agency One creates a detailed report of all services they have provided in the past year. While the data doesn’t include follow-up measures for program participants, the documentation for service provision is impressive: charts, graphics, and information galore. Agency Two provides similar services and wishes to compete for the same funds. While their program report is not as glossy, it includes a review of data that shows marked improvement for their participants, when comparing grades before and after participation in the program. If you worked for a foundation and had to make a choice between the two, which organization would you fund?

To develop programs successfully, it is also critical to remember that every organization has room for improvement. However, if you haven’t measured results, how do you determine the critical areas for enhancement? Imagine an attorney who senses that word-of-mouth referrals for her services are decreasing. The data that she routinely collects tell her that caseloads, billable time, and profits are all down. The attorney wants to improve her business, but where should she start? Is she too expensive? Do her clients think she is too aggressive, or perhaps not aggressive enough? Is her receptionist unprofessional? Does she have difficulty communicating with her clients? Are cases requiring too long to close? Without results measures, she is unable to effectively choose a course of action. Her next step could be the perfect solution…or a complete waste of time and resources.

The lesson: meaningful information is a powerful tool. Collect it, analyze it, and use it to let your true impact shine through.

In an era of advanced technology and terrorism, the demands for service and safety for air transit are at their highest peak and I have to admit that I was stunned to really take in everything that’s involved in the process. E-tickets, boarding passes, baggage claim vouchers, customs cards, security procedures, passport checks, carryon requirements…the list goes on and on. As a society, we sometimes feed the complaint engine about the steps that don’t go smoothly instead of recognizing just how many things actually happen just as we’ve planned.

But isn’t the whole thing incredible, if you really step back and think about it for a minute? I flew through the air at some outrageously quick speed, making a trip that would have taken three times as long by land. I was relatively comfortable on the flight. I arrived without experiencing any concerns for my safety, and my belongings arrived by my side as well.

It’s sometimes easy to forget how amazing life can be. The internet allows us to get a message to someone halfway around the world within seconds. We can be in contact with friends and family with ease whether we’re in the car, on a ship or in the sky. I was even able to talk to and see my son via iPod when he was injured during my time away.

I encourage you to take a moment each day to show gratitude for one of life’s amazing opportunities. And perhaps for the fact that tomorrow, there will be even more from which to choose.

Government: In the government arena, the focus is all about proving to constituents and regulating bodies you are being good stewards – of their trust and of public funds. Emphasis is placed on responding to rising fiscal pressure and compliance obligations.

For government organizations, this charge means even greater attention on program performance, informed resource allocation, and accountability. Governments are being tasked with tracking progress against desired outcomes and enhancing program benefits where possible.

Measurement & evaluation helps governments assess how program goals are being accomplished and develop methodologies to improve results. Information gained through a measurement and evaluation process becomes the foundation for launching an ongoing strategic initiative to reach desired goals – in the time allotted and within budget.

Nonprofits: Nonprofit organizations are certainly feeling the pinch when it comes to funding, donors, clients, human resources, and media attention.

For nonprofits, responsibilities include demonstrating to a myriad of stakeholders they are efficiently managing their organization, achieving desired program outcomes, achieving excellence with limited resources, displaying trustworthiness of funds, and exhibiting overall organizational accountability.

Measurement & evaluation enables nonprofit organizations to uncover their unique value proposition, and provides immediate and long-term benefits of informed strategic planning, increased operational knowledge, identifies areas for improvement, enhances fundraising success, and demonstrates stewardship and accountability.

Corporate: Today’s corporate environment has become more challenging as companies contract due to the market.

For corporate organizations, companies are being asked to do more with a leaner staff and an even leaner budget. In addition, companies must continually add a steady stream of new customers allowing their organization to grow in market share, revenue and, subsequently, benefit to shareholders. Companies must keep a check on processes that have achieved a level of success, and those that are costing the company valuable resources. Which ones do you keep? How do you really know how well you are doing against goals? What data collection methods do you have in place (and, more importantly, how effective are they)? How are data being turned into useful information? The questions seem almost endless.

Measurement and evaluation assists in creating strategy to acquire meaningful data which can be translated to business action.

CZC will receive over $100K of marketing and organizational consulting services, provided by Madison+Main, Knowledge Advisory Group, Thinkhaus, V4|Web, Wythken Printing and ByteJam.  See more details here.