Are You Counting or Are You Measuring?
Metrics provide us with a time machine that gives us insights into things that happened in the past and can help predict the future. Nonprofit metrics exist in categories that range from operational to programmatic, financial, and communication and engagement channels used with constituents.
This is especially true of the online world where there is a very unique set of metrics — hits, clicks, tweets, opens, page views, followers, forwards, actions and conversions are just some of them. This is very different from other communication channels, like direct mail, where measuring exactly what people did can be difficult.
- People:
- Steve MacLaughlin
Steve MacLaughlin is the vice president of data and analytics at Blackbaud and best-selling author of “Data Driven Nonprofits.” Steve has spent 20-plus years driving innovation with a broad range of companies, government institutions and nonprofit organizations. He serves on the board of the Nonprofit Technology Network and is a frequent speaker at conferences and events. Steve earned both his undergraduate degree and a Master of Science degree in interactive media from Indiana University.
