Measuring Impact, Sharing Success

Charting Impact banner

Members of the Tides community — from philanthropists to activists and policy makers — are constantly creating change in our local communities and on a global scale.  But what metrics do we use to gauge our success?  What stories can we tell to attract  supporters?  Too often it’s easy to get caught up on the day-to-day details and it becomes difficult to step back and reflect on the bigger picture, especially when we’re dealing with pressing issues like homelessness or immigration, which can literally have life-or-death consequences.

Still, at Tides, we know that members of our community are most effective when we’re able to measure our impact.  And that’s not an abstract concept — being better equipped to respond to emergency situations and structural problems can lead to change on an even greater scale.  That’s why we’re excited to partner with others in sharing tools that help make sense of successes, reevaluate challenges, and plan more effective strategies.

Charting Impact

Charting Impact logoCharting Impact offers a clear, streamlined format to help nonprofit and philanthropic organizations of all sizes and missions consider and communicate what really matters: results.  At its center are five simple yet powerful questions that encourage strategic thinking about how organizations will achieve your goals. Answering them creates a unique report that shares concise, detailed information about plans and progress with key stakeholders, including the public.  As this collaboratively developed, thoroughly tested framework becomes widely shared, it will be easier for organizations to collaborate and for potential supporters to direct their time and funds to those groups that are making a difference.

Chart Your Impact
Though the Charting Impact tool requests a unique EIN number, Tides is working with Independent Sector to develop a way that Tides Projects can utilize Charting Impact.  Stay tuned for an announcement from us on how to get involved!

Free Webinar: Charting Impact—Share Your Results
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 2pm ET
People want to help you succeed—through donations, volunteering, and more—but they often struggle to find clear, succinct ways to understand what you’re striving to achieve and the progress you’ve made. Join us for a panel with the Charting Impact initiative’s three CEOs—Art Taylor of BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Bob Ottenhoff of GuideStar USA, and Diana Aviv of Independent Sector—to learn how this newly launched resource can help your organization communicate your plans, progress, and results to key stakeholders, including the public. J McCray, chief operating officer of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, will moderate.  Learn More >>

Learn more about this sector-wide initiative, developed by BBB Wise Giving Alliance, GuideStar USA and Independent Sector, at www.ChartingImpact.org.

Philanthropy’s Promise

PhilanthropyTides is happy to sign on to Philanthropy’s Promise, a campaign by many of the country’s most innovative and influential grantmaking institutions that seek to maximize the effectiveness of their grants and generate the greatest impact in their communities. Each foundation that has signed on to the initiative is committed to providing at least half their grant dollars for the intended benefit of underserved communities, broadly defined, and at least one quarter of their grant dollars for systemic change efforts involving advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement.

Read more about this initiative, including other institutions that have signed on at www.ncrp.org/philanthropys-promise.

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