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Session Title: Helping Nonprofit Agencies Move From Measuring Outcomes to Managing Them: A Budding Success Story From the United Way of Greater Houston
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Panel Session 585 to be held in Lone Star D on Friday, Nov 12, 1:40 PM to 3:10 PM
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Sponsored by the Non-profit and Foundations Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Michael Hendricks, Independent Consultant, mikehendri@aol.com
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| Abstract:
Like the rest of the nonprofit world, the United Way of Greater Houston (UWGH) and its partner agencies realize it’s no longer sufficient to measure only program inputs, activities, and outputs. Therefore, for the past 10 years UWGH has helped its partner agencies to also measure outcomes. But while agencies dutifully complied, and while some benefits resulted, it was unclear whether this outcome measurement substantially improved services. Re-evaluating the situation, UWGH realized it needed to step back and ask itself “WHY do we want agencies to measure outcomes, and HOW can we make it more useful for them?” As a result, UWGH began a conscious shift away from the research-focused activity of mere outcomes measurement to the improvement-focused activity of outcomes management, and the benefits are beginning to become obvious. This session describes the change, from both the UWGH and agency perspectives, and offers recommendations for other funders and agencies.
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The Exciting Shift From Outcomes Measurement to Outcomes Management: The National, Cross-sectoral Perspective
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| Michael Hendricks, Independent Consultant, mikehendri@aol.com
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Following the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, the United Way of America’s Measuring Program Outcomes in 1996, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Evaluation Handbook in 1998, the government, non-profit, and foundation sectors all began to measure outcomes of human service programs. This focused much-needed attention on the end results of most human service programs – changes in program participants. However, it was assumed that measuring outcomes would lead automatically to improved program services, and this proved to be false. Instead, outcome measurement was often viewed as a peripheral research activity and given low priority. Now, all three sectors are realizing that, for the measurement of outcomes to improve services, explicit and high-level steps must be taken to identify reasons for lower performance, develop and implement better ways of delivering program services, and re-measure outcomes. This presentation describes this overall shift and its implications for all three sectors.
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The United Way of Greater Houston’s Journey With Outcomes Measurement and Management
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| Amy Corron, United Way of Greater Houston, acorron@unitedwayhouston.org
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For the past 10 years, the United Way of Greater Houston (UWGH) has been working with the agencies it funds to use outcomes measurement to improve services and communicate value. While this produced some undeniable results in terms of marketing materials and community investments, the costs to sustain the effort seemed to rival the benefits. After some important strategic planning in 2007, UWGH recognized that outcomes measurement is more valuable when combined with management of results. The last three years have been spent on a new leg of the journey towards outcomes management, starting with “affinity groups” of common service providers coming together to share best practices and measure common outcomes and now continuing with extensive staff training on outcomes management. As we embark on this new leg of the journey, UWGH is also looking inward, at developing an outcomes management system for itself.
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Facilitating the Journey: Making Sense of Outcomes Measurement and Management With Agency Partners
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| Najah Callander, United Way of Greater Houston, ncallander@unitedwayhouston.org
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The United Way of Greater Houston’s (UWGH’s) transition from outcomes measurement to outcomes management has been a winding road for us and our agency partners. The journey has been as important to our success as the measurement. Working with and learning from the groups of similar agencies (affinity groups) has deepened our understanding of funded programs and improved the effectiveness of those programs. It has also forced UWGH to provide to agencies technical assistance and other key support that we would not have otherwise, moving us from simply being a funder to being a partner. This shift has produced deeper relationships, better measurement, more meaningful management of data, and hopefully a measurable impact on the lives of those we serve. From this session funders, agencies, and interested others will understand what worked, where we still have challenges, and how to begin to implement this work in their own communities.
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Helping Similar Agencies Manage Common Outcomes: The Agency Perspective
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| Abeer Monem, Fort Bend County Women's Center Inc, amonem@fortbendwomenscenter.org
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Five separate and independent domestic violence service providers affiliated with the United Way of Greater Houston began over two years ago to learn about and devise a common outcomes management system. Throughout this process many positive developments have occurred:
1. All five agencies agreed upon and began measuring SMART outcomes.
2. A UWGH consultant helped us analyze results and revise surveys/procedures.
3. We discovered trends with respect to race and length of stay.
4. We implemented a quality assurance panel (inner agency) and conducted focus groups with clients to find out “why?”
5. Staff became more involved and provided feedback.
On the other hand, collecting and reporting outcomes data takes staff time away from direct service, and we need more training on data analysis. However, the results led to several proposed service improvements - which are worth it. The process is still on-going and valuable to meeting our clients’ needs.
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