Outcomes Measurement
Table
of Contents | Measuring
Outcomes Overview
Introduction
Welcome to The Intermediary Development Series—a multi-volume series designed to outline the key steps and elements necessary to help intermediaries build capacity in the faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) they serve. This series represents more than the sharing of information. It represents a common commitment to an intermediary’s ideals—providing the most effective services in a more efficient manner to the grassroots organizations that are reaching those in our country with the greatest needs.
Who is the audience for The Intermediary
Development Series?
An intermediary is something that exists
between two persons or things, or someone who acts as an agent or
mediator between persons or things. An intermediary organization,
then, exists between the people with the resources and the organizations
needing the resources—namely finances or information.
The Compassion Capital Fund (CCF), administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, helps FBCOs build capacity and improve their ability to provide social services to those in need. In this context, an intermediary acts as a mediator between the Federal government and grassroots organizations to help accomplish these goals. This series will prove useful to both existing and emerging intermediaries (those currently funded through CCF as well as an expanded audience of potential recipients) and the FBCOs they serve.
What is The Intermediary Development Series?
Think of it as help when and where it’s most needed—a
ready reference for common priority issues and comprehensive answers
to critical questions. It was developed as a key component of the
Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) in response to the questions and concerns
consistently posed by intermediaries representing all areas of expertise
and experience levels. The following titles are included in this
eight-volume series:
Acquiring Public Grants
Building Multiple Revenue Sources
Delivering Training and Technical Assistance
Designing Sub-Award Programs
Establishing Partnerships
Identifying and Promoting Best Practices
Managing Public Grants
Measuring Outcomes
How is The Intermediary Development Series
used?
It is intended to be used as a practical guide for intermediaries
to help FBCOs in a variety of tasks including securing more funding,
providing services more effectively or on an increased scale and
also helping them operate more efficiently. As such, it’s
flexible—readers who wish to use it as a self-guided reference
for specific questions are likely to keep it nearby. Key terms (bolded
within the text) are defined in a glossary of terms included in
the appendix of each guidebook. It’s also comprehensive—emerging
intermediaries may find the volume, Delivering
Training and Technical Assistance, especially helpful for
more in-depth assistance. Finally, regardless of the audience, its
user-friendly format makes it easy to share with the variety of
organizations intermediaries serve.
Who developed The Intermediary Development
Series?
This series was developed for the Department of Health and Human
Services by the National Resource Center—an information clearinghouse
designed to provide customized technical assistance, specialized
workshops and other useful tools to help increase intermediaries’
scale, scope and effectiveness. Expert practitioners were enlisted
to develop and field-test each topic in The
Intermediary Development Series, ensuring each volume would
provide accurate and, most of all, practical answers to common questions.
Measuring
Outcomes
By reading this particular volume in The Intermediary
Development Series, intermediary organizations and the faith-based and community organizations they
work with will learn key concepts about increasing their capacity
to evaluate the extent to which they are achieving their intended
results and to conduct outcome measurement by creating and implementing
an outcome measurement plan for their program. After reading this
guidebook, they will better understand the key elements required
to develop an outcome measurement plan and accurately measure their
program’s outcomes including how to:
- Define realistic program outcomes
- Create a logic model that identifies the resources and activities necessary to accomplish these outcomes
- Identify specific measures to examine in order to determine the extent to which an organization achieves its outcomes
- Design a practical and sustainable plan for collecting data on these measures
This guidebook will help organizations answer these key questions:
- What is outcome measurement?
- What should intermediaries do to prepare for outcome measurement?
- What are the key steps in implementing outcome measurement?
A forthcoming second volume regarding Outcome Measurement will focus on implementation and testing your measurement system, data management and analysis, reporting, using results and training and technical assistance. It will include how to:
- Prepare the data you gather for analysis
- Communicate the findings from your data collection to better tell the story about your program and its results
It will also address these key questions:
- What are effective methods for communicating outcome information to funders and the community?
- What can intermediaries do to provide faith and community-based organizations with assistance on outcome measurement?
Table of Contents
| Measuring
Outcomes Overview