GuideStar Blog

Part 3 of 3

Both funders and nonprofit organizations seek to understand the impact of their dollars and efforts, yet few are doing it. Why is that?

Part 2 of 3

“How do we know if our philanthropic efforts have made a difference?” “What kind of difference have we made?” These are two common questions that foundation board members and business leaders ask their program staffs. Those leading funding and volunteer efforts often struggle to articulate their impact and tend toward defending their approach, their grantees, their staff, their processes, and their budget when answering. Sometimes they feel that the board or business leaders just don’t understand what it takes to achieve outcomes from grants, sponsorships, or employee volunteerism, or that perhaps they just don’t care.

Part 1 of 3

“Why haven’t you achieved higher outcomes through your services and the funding that fuels them?” This is a common question that many funders and board members ask nonprofits, and many of those nonprofits struggle to defend their programs, people, hard work, and budget usage. Sometimes they feel that their funders or boards just don’t understand what it takes to run their programs, let alone track and achieve outcomes. At the same time, they all know at least one nonprofit in their field that not only answers the outcome achievement question easily but can confirm those outcomes are actually happening for their participants and have already made changes in what they do to improve those outcomes in the future.