You know that one of the reasons we work in the nonprofit industry is to make a difference in our community, right?

So, determining how to measure impact effectively is a question more and more of us are asking about.

It’s not as simple as making and selling the product and waiting for the results. It’s more about measuring your organization’s influence on the mission.

Nonprofits effectively measure their impact using strategies like how many people require services, how many people need their help, how much it costs to provide the services, and why the mission sets their organization apart.

Essentially, what goals can help you quantify the impact?

The question remains clear: Is your organization making a difference in what it sets out to achieve?

And what motivates your supporters to take action? How do we measure it?*

Let’s dig in!

Define Your Objectives

To measure impact, you need to decide what your objectives are.

Ask questions like, how does your organization’s mission set it apart from others? What makes your nonprofit unique?

You can set up what you'll measure by learning what makes you stand out. For example, what are your outputs? What online assets do you wish to improve?

The amount of time and energy your organization invests can help you determine where to spend more time growing.

For example, if you write a newsletter - are you growing your list? How can you encourage more subscribers to opt in if you're not growing?

Don’t forget to share your objectives with your team. If your team doesn’t know where they’re going, they can’t follow your direction.

Collect Donor Data:

Gathering relevant data about donors, programs, and activities can set you apart.

Sharing how your programs make a difference to the community you serve (and sharing it) goes a long way to influencing donors, volunteers, and HR outcomes.

Collecting data like donor interests, demographics/psychographics, and wealth indicators can set you apart from the rest.

Data can help you prioritize the content you share, build new engagement strategies, and help you understand your prospect’s capacity to give.

Impact Metrics:

The definition of impact is the action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another. I don't mean crashes or lightning, but that’s precisely what your organization is doing—you’re coming into contact with the people who need it most with a force for good.

What is measurable? Are you serving more people? Decide what metrics matter and how many you serve every year.

In a digital organization, this metric is trackable. You have the power to discover and learn what matters to the supporters in your community.

Our digital assets show email open rates, click-through rates, unsubscribe rates, and, most importantly, conversion rates. You can measure the success of your online communication rates in real-time and make adjustments to test what works better.

Share Surveys:

Collecting feedback and insight from your community is the ultimate motivation lever. Understanding what your supporters want to know about is your ticket to learning how to work with them.

Surveys and interviews help you collect feedback to measure outcomes. They allow you to understand the experiences and perceptions of the people you serve.

Keep in mind that creating a good survey or interview requires specific outcomes. You'll want to ensure your questions are clear, unbiased, and directly related to the advancement of your organization.

Data Analysis

There's a wealth of data available that shows the impact of your mission.

You can use social media to learn about your community. Or you can study your website traffic or learn what helps your visitor convert.

While data analysis can appear complex, there are simple tools that can help you make sense of the numbers.

Remember, it’s not always about likes and the number of followers. It’s about strengthening the bond you have with those who already are.

A new test to consider in data analysis is A/B testing [Next After's guide here]. Also known as split testing, it refers to an experiment where you share two or more versions of the same item with different segments of your audience.

A/B testing allows you to determine the best version to use when driving engagement.

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Measuring your impact doesn’t have to be painful. You’ve come a long way to support and build a community around a cause you believe in.

Learn how to define, measure and communicate your wins. You’ll measure and share what matters for your mission, community, and supporters.

Want to audit your organization's superpowers and ensure your community learns about them? Let's work together. Hit reply or book a 1:1 strategy call today.

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