It is common knowledge nonprofits will not be relevant if they are not
present on social networks. The previous best-selling book The Networked
Nonprofit by Beth Kanter provided frameworks and recommendations for
nonprofits to transform their organizational culture to embrace a new
way of working.
In their new follow up book: Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using
Data to Change the World (Jossey-Bass; 978-1-118-13760-4; e-book
available: October 2012) by Beth Kanter and Katie Paine helps nonprofit
leaders take those first steps to measure the effectiveness of that
transformation.
Measuring the Networked Nonprofit will help transformed nonprofits
already using social media metric and data intelligently to improve
their decision making and quantify success. Measuring the Networked
Nonprofit covers the many ways that nonprofits make the most of
measurement, including the following list of what nonprofits do right:
They don’t just add up numbers, they measure their impact on the mission
and organizational goals.
They value progress and measure results using insight, relationships,
organizational results and social change outcomes.
They use key performance indicators to make decisions, effect continuous
process improvement, and understand what works and what doesn’t.
They measure failure first. Learning from failure is like compost:
although it might stink at first, it gets more valuable over time. It is
also important to understand the cause of success because it may have
happened by accident.
They are experts at setting up and measuring low-risk experiments to
test their strategy and tactics and learn from them.
They join the “spreadsheet appreciation society”, filling their rows and
columns with meaningful data and avoiding bogus metrics like the plague.
They use data to set priorities and better juggle workloads.
The last thing any busy nonprofit needs is another difficult to master
procedure. Measuring the Networked Nonprofit makes it easy for any
reader to navigate by using checklists, tips, resources and advice to
get started quickly. After reading this book, any nonprofit will realize
that measurement gets results, gives greater control, creates more
power, and helps change the world.
