Outcomes vs outputs

Your donors, funders, and other supporters want to believe that you are impacting the world in ways that matter to them.

So you're regularly in a position to tell them the story of what you're accomplishing.

How are you telling that story?

Are you telling them about real-world outcomes that matter to real people? Or are you just telling them about your outputs?

Outputs are the things that you do:

Events held. Patrons served. Volunteer hours generated. Trainings conducted.

All the things that are the “how” of your organization's work are outputs.

Yes they matter, and yes they're probably worth measuring.

But outcomes are where the real value lies.

Outcomes are the transformations you accomplish in people's lives:

Training recipients placed in sustainable jobs. Students matched to scholarships and accepted to college. Homebound seniors comforted by hours of volunteer care.

All the things that are the “why” of your organization's work are outcomes.

These matter most of all.

You can tell because if you got all of the outcomes and none of the outputs, nobody would miss your outputs at all. But if you only did the outputs and got none of the outcomes, everyone would ask, “Why are you even doing this?”

So among all the things you could be measuring and reporting on, remember to measure and report on your outcomes.

They are, after all, why you do what you do.

All the best,
A.