Demonstrating Value Blog

January 24, 2012

Webinar presented by Community Solutions Planning & Evaluation (Facilitator: Kylie Hutchinson)
January 31st and February 7th, 2012 (10:00 - 11:30 AM)



Are you concerned about the future sustainability of your programs and services? This three-hour webinar (conveniently split into two 90 minute segments one-week apart) will delve into the issue, as you learn what factors can increase the sustainability odds of your program and how to develop a formal sustainability plan.

Registration: $75 plus HST. Register here.

Interested in...

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January 12, 2012

Have you ever found yourself wanting to tell your organization’s story “digitally”, but unsure how or even where to start? In this day of rapid technological changes and advances, we are fortunate to have a variety of useful tools at our fingertips that make online storytelling a simple – and fun – process.

The folks at frogloop.com, the non-profit marketing blog produced by care2, have put together a list  of tools for nonprofits in their post 4 Tools to Help Any Nonprofit Tell Stories Online. The author shares her insight on tools that have proven to add value to storytelling, including...

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January 11, 2012

In Part 1 of “10 Ways to Show Your Impact”, we discussed five things you can do to show your value including:

1) be as clear as possible in describing your vision, mission, and strategies,
2) describe what differentiates you,
3) describe and show evidence of the value you create from the perspective of all your stakeholders,
4) tell your story and the stories of those you work with, and
5) create a map of how you are influencing change.

Here in Part 2, we will show you five more ways you can express your impact as a community-based organization. While Part 1 focused more on qualitative measures, the tips in Part 2 will take a different spin on things with a greater focus on quantitative measures.

6. Quantify what you can. Quantifying is all about pulling together indicators and...

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January 4, 2012

Community-based organizations are in a tough position: they work tirelessly towards goals that will have positive social or environmental impacts and they know they create a lot of value for the communities they serve –  but, this value is hard to express and recognition from the community is hard to come by. The value created by community-based groups doesn’t get captured very well by standard financial statements because conventional accounting methods do not consider value beyond the financial returns. Expression of the value of social and environmental impacts often falls through the cracks.

So what are community-based organizations to do? How can they express this value to others and get the recognition they deserve? Well, the bad news first:  there is no simple and commonly recognized way to measure and show this value. The good news: there are many things that you can do that can show your value! With a thoughtful, well-strategized combination of tools and tactics...

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December 16, 2011

Let’s chat about real, genuine, authentic, practical evaluation…

In their blog, Genuine Evaluation, Patricia Rogers and Jane Davidson share their enthusiasm for evaluation with weekly posts that reflect their commitment to improving the quality of evaluation. Blogging from Australia and New Zealand, Patricia and Jane employ an international approach from a distinctly Southern Hemisphere perspective.

An intriguing feature of the blog is the everyday language and practicality with which thoughts and ideas are expressed. Guest bloggers are also invited to contribute, adding a fresh burst of thinking from experienced and insightful evaluators from around the world.

Recent blog posts have discussed...

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November 30, 2011

Social Enterprise Social hosted by Enterprising Non-Profits



Thursday, December 1st, 5:30-7:30pm

On Thursday, Enterprising Non-Profits (enp) is hosting a Social Enterprise Social featuring the expertise of JDQ Systems. This event will include a workshop on Activity Based Costing by JDQ’s Jon Morris, who will demonstrate how JDQ has assisted four social enterprises in determining their costs and prices using this model.

Join enp and JDQ for an evening of learning, networking, and valuable discussion on business improvement!

...

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November 21, 2011

Uniting Cross-Sector Actors to End Homelessness in Calgary

In a recent blog post, Learning How to Measure Impact Together, we discussed shared measurement – a growing area of impact measurement that realistically considers that multiple organizations contribute to the same desired community impact. Shared measurement also recognizes that tracking outcomes collectively is smarter and more economic than having every organization prove its impact as if they existed in isolation.

In a recent webinar held by FSG, a US-based non-profit consulting firm, an example of shared measurement systems is presented with a profile of the...

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November 16, 2011

Figuring out what to measure and how to do it

A logic model is a commonly-used tool to explain and illustrate a program within an organization. While a logic model is sometimes referred to as a logical framework, theory of change, or program matrix, the purpose is usually the same: to graphically depict your program, initiative, project or even the sum total of all of your organization’s work. It also serves as a foundation for program planning and evaluation.[1]

The Outcome Indicators Project is a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Center for What Works and serves as...

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October 27, 2011


We’ve all heard and used the term “Gross Domestic Product”, but how about “Index of Wellbeing”? This recently introduced index, based out of the University of Waterloo, has introduced a new way to understand Canada’s economic health. Let’s take a look…

Academics from Canada and around the world have complied research to develop the 64 indicators which are tracked by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, including indicators such as health, living standards and education. The index is intended to be a more comprehensive tool than GDP, tracking a diverse set of factors that affect communities and the Canadian population to ultimately paint a picture of our country’s quality of life.

What are people saying about this new index? Some comment on the fact that the launch of the index coincides quite appropriately with the messages behind the Occupy...

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October 27, 2011

Shared Measurement is a growing area of impact measurement that realistically considers that multiple organizations contribute to the same desired community impact, and tracking outcomes collectively is smarter and more economic than having every organization prove its impact as if they existed in isolation. FSG, a nonprofit consulting firm based in the US, is holding a webinar in early November about shared measurement systems. Vancity Community Foundation’s Bryn Sadownik (Program Manager, Evaluation and Community Impact) participated in an FSG webinar earlier this year and was very inspired.

Webinar date: November 9, 2011

9-10am PT, 11am-Noon CT, Noon-1pm ET

More informaion and registration