CIC WebinarCommunity Outcomes Project

February 16, 2012

Dawn Helmrich,

Director of Data and Outcomes

United Way of Greater Milwaukee

Outcomes Background

• Requirements for outcomes steadily increased.• Accountability to funders is more common.• Programmatic outcomes no longer sufficient.• Donors want to know larger impact.• What can United Way of Greater Milwaukee

do?

What we did

• Researched United Ways across the country.

• Found no common framework for our community.

• Created a model to work for us.

United Way of Greater Milwaukee’s Vision

To develop a common set of outcomes and indicators to use as a tool to measure

progress over time and identify promising practices that benefit the lives of people while enhancing the community’s ability

to address emerging issues.

Framework• Identify a common issue, e.g., Domestic

Violence, Youth Development, Food Pantries

• Ask questions• Strengths?• Challenges?• Demographics?• Local / National issues?• Experts? You’re looking at them!

Framework

• Identify outcomes• Convene focus groups.• Convene roundtable discussions.• Establish consensus.• Broad is better.• Use S.M.A.R.T goals

Specific . Measureable . Achievable . Realistic . and Trackable.

Framework• Indicators

• Indictors track outcomes.• Indicators match measurement tool.

• Data Measurement Tool• Programmatic partner involvement• Language appropriate for population• Culturally sensitive• Tweak, tweak and tweak some more• Ready for the long haul

Framework

• The Pilot Project• Timeframe appropriate• Logical amount of data to collect• Instrument for data collection• Opportunity for process evaluation NOT benchmark

data• Feedback session after pilot

How to pilot the project

• Indicator data collection• When to administer measurement tool • How to administer (different for different areas)• Who will administer?• Where to administer?

• Tool(s) to house data• Excel• Access• Web-based system

Piloting

• Data analysis and reporting• Determine outcomes to report. (KEY: not all outcomes

need to be reported, but they must be measured.)• Construct charts and tables in measurement tool for

easy program reporting.• Collect ALL data from across ALL programs to

aggregate.• Analyze data from program partners.• Present findings to program partners.

Piloting

• Process evaluation• What worked?• What didn’t?• What was useful?• What needs to be changed?• Who had the easiest time and why?

Evaluation is critical

Piloting

• Feedback meeting• Who - Partners hold a feedback session• What – Share valuable input• What - Measurement tools are modified• Results - Process is fine-tuned to meet needs

Implementation

• Pilot data collected, reviewed and analyzed

• Benchmark is set after the first year.• Hard work really pays off!

Using the data

• Annual reports, board reports, fundraising• United Way of Greater Milwaukee uses

data for accountability to donors, benchmarking, filling gaps, accountability of funded programs

• Share aggregate data• White sheets

Lessons learned

• A base of programmatic outcomes is helpful.

• Gain trust from and among partners.• Measurement tools are vastly different

based on issue area.• Training is crucial.• Simple is always better.

Lessons learned

• Length of process varies. (6-12 months)• Pilot is vital to success.• Outcomes are fluid.• Must USE the data.• Map to the larger community picture.• Be patient.

Moving forward

• Fourteen Community Outcomes projects complete, a few more to go.

• Collaboration with other funders.• Implementation of I-CResults.• Broader picture look.• Community Information Management.

??Questions ?

?

Thank You!