FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                          CONTACT:
November 1st, 2007                                                                     Debra Natenshon
                                                                                                                                  The Center for What Works
                                                                                                 (773) 398-8858
                                                                                                 info@whatworks.org

Outcomes Browser and Success Framework Tool Now Available

The Center for What Works and The Urban Institute's Research Identifies New Methods for Nonprofits to Measure What Matters

Chicago, IL – National Nonprofit benchmarking organization, The Center for What Works (WhatWorks), just released an initial version of an Outcomes Framework and Benchmarking Portal, based on joint research with the Urban Institute.  The tools are live on the website: www.whatworks.org.  These tools, developed by WhatWorks, are offered free of charge through generous funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  Hosting for the WhatWorks Outcomes Portal is supported by a SalesForce Foundation “Turn it Up” grant received this summer. 

“These tools serve as a bridge between solid research and necessary implementation for practitioners.  We want to help nonprofits simplify the often time-consuming process of identifying and using valid and reliable outcomes and indicators to better articulate and measure their success.  These provide a first step to improve services based on data,” says WhatWorks’ CEO, Debra Natenshon.  “We hope that grant-makers will make use of the common language for grantees as well -- and these tools provide a solid start.”

The first tool, an Outcomes Framework Browser, allows nonprofit users to browse through two years (2004-2006) of common outcomes research collected by WhatWorks and the Urban Institute.  This includes the outcomes and indicators for 14 program areas that cross-cut the sector, as well as a draft of the common outcomes taxonomy for programs more generally. 

The second tool, a Success Equation Generator, allows users to define their ultimate goal and then choose up to three outcomes most relevant to their program and that goal, along with relevant indicators for measurement.   Once this process is completed, the system generates a customized document -- a description of success for the organization, complete with outcomes and indicators for that organization’s use.  It can be printed and discussed within an organization.  The Success Equation, adapted with permission from Benchmarking for Nonprofits: How to Measure, Manage, and Improve Performance by Jason Saul, (2004, Fieldstone Alliance, Inc., St. Paul, MN, www.fieldstonealliance.org) is a powerful tool that simplifies the often overwhelming process of identifying measures of performance.

Creating a Common Outcomes and Benchmarking Portal:  Based on a Common Framework for Measuring and Comparing Nonprofit Performance, by The Center for What Works and the Urban Institute, is a concept paper that describes the currently available tools and services and details our plans for future development of the system. 

According to Elizabeth Boris, Director of the Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, “The beauty of this project is that it vets and synthesizes outcome indicators and measures already in use by nonprofits around the country, organizes them by program field, and makes them available in a systematic and easy to use system. The new portal is an important step toward our joint vision of enabling nonprofits to easily identify measures that are meaningful to them.  Ultimately the system will permit sharing of information across the sector.”  Initial research materials are available on the Urban Institute website at http://www.urban.org/center/cnp/projects/outcomeindicators.cfm.

The full vision of a common language for outcomes measurement and comparison for the nonprofit sector will require funding from the foundation community.  It will also require support and collaboration with other sector partners and involve field-testing, expanding the frameworks and taxonomy, and developing an online benchmarking community. 

The envisioned achievement of the larger portal is to facilitate benchmarking for nonprofits — providing the sector with a central repository for systematic comparison.  Specifically, this includes a common language for nonprofit programmatic performance including the outcomes, indicators, and eventually comparative data.  With reference to the research content, an examiner from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program wrote: “This is extremely important work and is desperately needed to advance the quality and results-driven performance of nonprofits.”

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