Net Impact: The New Appeal of Metrics and Evaluation
By Kelly McCarthy
Published: www.nextbillion.net, November 18, 2008
“There was a lot of buzz about “impact” last weekend at the Net Impact Conference. However, this year it wasn’t just talk about creating impact, but most importantly how we consider, measure and prove it. Perhaps the word was being used too liberally lately thus loosing a bit of its meaning.
However, as I listened to many organizations whose work intends to generate positive environmental and social impact, it became apparent that a shift is occurring. Rather than talking simply about impact in anecdotes and what was better than before, foundations, funds, design-for-impact, not-for-profit (and not-for-loss) organizations alike were talking about a “social capital market,as. Jason Saul, CEO of Mission Measurement, summed it up during one of the panels.
Following are some of the thoughts that came to mind from the perspective of metrics and evaluation while attending some of the sessions at the conference.
In a session titled Hype vs. Reality, panelists dug into the nitty-gritty of how we measure, monitor, and evaluate our work. “Everyone does knowledge management and monitoring and evaluation poorly,” said Elizabeth Nitze, VP of Ashoka. “After so much time we in the enterprise development sector are looking around wondering, what the heck happened? What are the best-practices? There are none.” There was a unanimous nod of heads from fellow panelists and audience members around the room. However, in a sector that believes in the positive potential impacts of social entrepreneurs, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Indeed, the conversation turned optimistic as panelists Brian Milder (from Root Captial) and Elizabeth Wallace Elders (from globalislocal) joined Nitze in a discussion about the mash-up of innovative minds at Google.org, Salesforce, and Acumen Fund leading the effort to develop what is currently being called the Portfolio Data Management System (PDMS). Officially announced at theClinton Global Initiative, the PDMS is a web-based tool designed to track, share, and compare portfolio performance data with the ultimate intention of helping the enterprise development community better manage, communicate, and maximize our collective impact.
This is all well and good, but does it pass the “so what” test? And will other efforts similar to the PDMS actually help improve how we talk about and demonstrate impact?” Read more here.
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