With the right implementation, nonprofits have a straightforward tool for measuring success at their fingertips.

By Joel Zimmerman

You can tell what is important to measure by referring to your organization’s strategic plan, which lists your goals and the strategies by which you hope to achieve them.

Generally speaking, goals relate to outcomes, and strategies relate to procedures. Measures can and should relate to both. Process measures can be used to reflect how well your organization is executing its strategies. Outcome measures can be used to indicate how well your strategies actually accomplish their intended results.