Pro bono collaborations should be measured by outcomes, not inputs

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30280
• Published date: 01 February 2017
• Date: 01 February 2017

6

FEBRUARY 2017NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

(See OUTCOMES on page 8)

Impact Measurement

Pro bono collaborations should be measured

by outcomes, not inputs

As more and more companies adopt skills-based

volunteer and pro bono programs as part of their cor-

porate giving and community investment strategies, the

challenge of measuring the impact of those efforts has

gotten considerable attention within the sector. With

no widely accepted standard to guide them, companies

have taken to tracking some basic metrics—namely,

the number of hours worked and the dollar value of

the services provided. But such dry facts tend to lose

the broader message—the degree to which their ser-

vices help increase nonprots’ capacity to fulll their

missions, and the resulting increase in social impact.

And for nonprots, that’s bad news. If companies

fail to demonstrate a connection between their volun-

teer efforts and on-the-ground social impact, it’s easier

for those most interested in the corporate bottom

line to cut program budgets and redirect resources to

activities that more obviously recapture a return on

investment.

It is in the nonprot sector’s interest to help compa-

nies measure the impact of their pro bono programs.

And to do that, according to staff at the Taproot Foun-

dation, an optimal approach is to look at outcomes,

as opposed to inputs (hours logged) or outputs (the

services provided). Outcomes, the group says, are tan-

gible metrics that show how these programs actually

benet the nonprot recipient, in two important ways:

• Social performance. This quanties the amount

that the pro bono intervention increases the effective-

ness of the organization’s services or their ability to

serve more beneciaries. There are two components

to this:

• Increased effectiveness: This is the increase in

the beneciary organization’s success rate—for

example, the number of constituents served

that achieve the targeted level of improved well-

being—as a result of the pro bono intervention.

This is often expressed as the number or percent-

age increase in additional constituents achieving

success, the group said.

• Increased reach: This is the increase in the num-

ber of constituents the beneciary organization

serves as a result of the pro bono intervention,

typically expressed as the number or percentage

increase of additional constituents served.

• Financial performance. This measures the extent

to which the pro bono intervention leads to:

• Increased revenues: This refers to the amount

of additional income generated by the bene-

ciary organization as a result of the pro bono

intervention, often expressed as a dollar value

or percentage increase.

• Reduced costs: This refers to the reduction in

resources required for the beneciary organiza-

tion to manage or deliver services as a result of

the pro bono intervention, typically expressed

as the dollar value of costs saved or percentage

increase in efciency.

According to Taproot, which recently released a

guide to help companies structure their pro bono

programs, measuring outcomes instead of inputs/

outputs yields several key benets for a company and

its nonprot partners, such as:

• They help companies to prove that their programs

are generating positive social return on investment,

which in turn helps to justify the expense and invest-

ment of resources.

• They enable companies to continuously improve

pro bono programs, based on a complete and accurate

understanding of the impact they are having on the

recipient organization.

• They help companies inspire and align nonprots

and employee participants around a common vision

of success.

Taproot lays out several steps that companies and

nonprots can take to change from measuring inputs/

outputs to outcomes, including:

• Agreeing on the measurement approach before

beginning pro bono projects. Measuring outcomes re-

quires companies to work with nonprot partners to

understand the effect of pro bono work completed by

employee participants. But some nonprots may not

be familiar with how to gather or report this particular

kind of information, Taproot said. Companies and

nonprots should discuss and agree on specic metrics