We've all read an annual report that lists each grant made in detail, page after page of painful details in some cases.  Ok, so they gave $2,000,000 to the Mr. and Mrs. Do-good Foundation.  I wonder what they were able to do with that money.   I wonder why they chose $2,000,000. If it's such a good cause, why not $3,000,000?

For the last 15 years I have been focused on a single knotty question: how do you measure social impact?   Across the sector, billions have been spent on evaluations, millions have been spent on capacity building, thousands of studies have been published and hundreds of conference sessions have been held.  Yet no one seems to have come up with the answer.  How is it that we can measure the temperature on Mars, but we can’t measure what happens within the orbit of a nonprofit organization?  Why is measurement so confounding?  

Last week the National Governor's Association Center for Best Practices in collaboration with the Council of Chief State School Officers released the proposed national K-12 education standards in english/language arts/literacy (ELA/literacy) and mathematics designed to provide a clear and consistent framework for preparing students for college and the twenty-first century economy. NGA’s director of education, Dane Linn, said, these standards build upon the goals articulated in the college- and career-readiness standards released last year and will ensure our students are prepared to compete and succeed in a global economy.

In a March 8, 2010 Education Sector article, author Bill Tucker discussed the disparity between the billions of dollars spent on upgrading schools data systems and the actual use of data at the classroom level stating, ..despite states' and districts' tremendous progress in building data systems, policymakers are not yet routinely using these new data to improve accountability systems, support performance management processes, evaluate programs, or influence resource allocation decisions. And most importantly, the data is not yet being used where it matters most—in the classroom.

Guest blogger “Edil K” posted these questions in the lead up to Mission Measurement’s session at the 2010 Health and Human Rights Conference in Toronto last week. 

It’s pretty common for most grantmakers to track the number of lives touched and dollars distributed to grantees. Those data points are great to know and sound like they have “impact” but they don’t really help grantmakers figure out what to do next.