It’s 18 months into the launch of an African development program and we’re rethinking our client’s logic model.  “Uh oh,” you say, “why wasn’t this fully baked from the get-go?”  As it turns out, the opportunity to revisit and revise theories, logic and ideas is truly terrific.  It’s terrific because the organization has invested in measurement and now has the data to inform and improve its strategy and produce greater if not significantly greater impact later.

Often met with a dreadful shudder or apathetic roll of the eyes, measurement can be an unfriendly topic among leaders of nonprofit organizations or program officers.  It can be seen as academic exercise that yields little useful information or, worse yet, a way for innovative and likely effective programs to be pushed off the table because measuring their impact seems impossible to do without unlimited time and resources.

In late April, President Obama signed the landmark Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act which will provide a sweeping expansion of national service that will engage millions of Americans in addressing local needs through volunteer service. The National Corporation for Community Service through AmeriCorps, will facilitate this Act and provide opportunities for all Americans, of all ages and backgrounds, to serve one to two years with all kinds of nonprofits. Examples of AmeriCorps-funded programs include Teach for America, City Year, and Citizen Schools.