How Do You Measure Nonprofit Success?

If you bring up the question of how to measure nonprofit success to several organizational executives, you will probably receive many different answers. According the blog article, “How Can Nonprofits Measure Success and Impact,” success in the for-profit world is measured by profit, low-staff turnover rate and high-customer satisfaction, to name a few.

Mission Capital references a “Greenlights On The Verge” publication that states that effective nonprofits are different and yet similar, as they need a basic framework around which to live out their mission, consisting of the following six elements:

• Clarity of Purpose: How you define and align your work and impact.
• Sustainable Business Model: How you develop resources and position your organization for success.
• The Right Leadership: How staff and board leaders steer and steward organizational efforts.
• Smart Operations: How you manage and marshal organizational resources.
• Implementation & Improvement: How you use information to adapt and improve.
• Strategic Collaborations: How you leverage the community for greater impact.

The publication notes that your nonprofit organization and mission should look different from others, but also include elements that every organization should include. The blog article, “How Does a Nonprofit Organization Measure Success?” points out that a nonprofit organization develops both quantitative and qualitative performance measures based upon the organization’s annual objectives. A nonprofit uses internal comparison to measure success and, most often, compares its current statistics to those of previous years to determine if it met its goals of increased fundraising and greater numbers of people assisted.