Committing to Continuous Quality Improvement: Track, Evaluate, and Articulate your Organization’s Impact
Is your organization doing incredible work, making a difference, and fulfilling your mission? Do you have a clear strategy on how to track, evaluate, and articulate your impact? Better yet, do you use this strategy to make intentional quality improvements over time?
By Chris Brodnan
CHB Consulting, LLC
Is your organization doing incredible work, making a difference, and fulfilling your mission? Do you have a clear strategy on how to track, evaluate, and articulate your impact? Better yet, do you use this strategy to make intentional quality improvements over time?
It is common for nonprofit organizations to be so focused on doing the work itself and/or funding the work, they do not have time to stop and formally assess their impact, much less commit to a formal Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) strategy. For organizations with limited staff capacity, it can be a daunting task to stop and evaluate - you know you are effective but do not know how to quantify it or collect the appropriate data to track your work. All organizations, no matter the size, need to be able to articulate their impact and whether or not they are fulfilling their mission and purpose. Beyond knowing the work is successful, participating in an annual process with a commitment to CQI ensures organizations are always learning, improving, and growing, establishing relevance and long-term sustainability.
This work should be guided by the organization’s strategic plan, a roadmap for success complete with key performance indicators (KPIs) to track over time, formally approved by the organization’s board and reviewed at least annually. It is critical that all levels of the organization understand and commit to the process, including the board, demonstrating accountability and a shared responsibility to delivering high-quality services.
Purpose Possible is partnering with CHB Consulting, LLC to guide organizations through this process through tiered service offerings, from an evaluation toolkit to a robust individualized CQI framework. We feel passionately that all organizations, no matter their size, should ensure they are meeting their mission, telling their impact story appropriately, assessing their impact, and committing to a formal CQI process.
Contact Purpose Possible today to learn more about tracking impact.