Proving your work produces results is critical for gaining and keeping support. Once you’ve learned how to track and measure the lasting change your charity brings about, the next step is communicating your impact. That’s especially important in grant proposals.
These days, simply meeting a donor’s criteria often isn’t enough to win a grant, says Alex Saingchin, program director at the Common Counsel Foundation, a grant maker and adviser to philanthropists. Common Counsel reviews scores of applications for clients each grant cycle and looks “for organizations that are not only a good fit but actually can follow through on the different issues or goals that they’re working on,” he says in “Tips for Measuring and Conveying Impact.”
To boost your nonprofit’s chances of success, tailor proposals to different foundations and use creative ways to blend data and stories, Saingchin suggests.
Explore this collection for more tips and tools to help you convey impact – from identifying the metrics that matter the most to weaving them into stories that resonate with grant makers.
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Advice
Opinion: How to Avoid Spending Too Much or Too Little to Measure Results
Too many charities overinvest in data that do not credibly or responsibly answer questions about impact and underinvest in data that help guide management and improve operations. -
Advice
Program Evaluation: A Glossary of Important Terms
Here’s the lingo you need to know to evaluate your nonprofit’s work — and to demonstrate results to grant makers. -
Advice
8 Ways Grant Makers Can Help Nonprofits Measure Impact
Experts share advice on what foundations should — and shouldn’t — do to improve evaluation. -
Tool Kit
The Basics of Measurement: Start Here
Find out questions to ask before you get started, what nonprofit watchdogs are looking for, and much more. -
Advice
Tips for Measuring and Conveying Impact
Identify the metrics that matter most, don’t be afraid to show short-term results for long-term goals, and weave your data into stories that resonate with grant makers. -
Advice
How to Show the Impact of Annual Gifts to Busy Donors
The California Symphony’s new infographic showing how it spends contributions ranging from $50 to $20,000 has helped raise more money and recruit new supporters. -
News
Doing Data Right to Show Real Impact
Carl Chadband, former chief operating officer of the Kanawha Institute for Social Research & Action, talks about how the West Virginia family-services charity rethought how it presents data to donors. -
Advice
5 Steps to Effective Measurement
What your organization needs to do to best collect and communicate results. -
Advice
5 Suggestions for Writing Better Grant Proposals
Experts offer tips for grant seekers preparing proposals for foundations. -
News
Video: Making Measurement Work for Fundraising
Richard Shaw, chief development officer at Youth Villages, talks about how, and when, the Washington-area charity uses data in crafting appeals. -
Advice
How to Use Data to Boost Giving
Tell a story, and present information that matters to donors in a format that’s easy to understand. -
News
A Template to Show Results by Mapping Out How You Got There
This form helps you show what resources you have, how you’ve used them in programs, and the change that resulted.