HAPPY NEW YEAR. It’s 2022 and Changemakers is ready to move and work with the community to make change happen. At Changemakers we create impact statements that define the change we want to see in 2022. Changemakers has created two new success measures for its ChangeBuilders Community Facility Development Program::

• By December 1, 2022, the ChangeBuilders Program will increase funding for community facility development by 70%.  

• By December 1, 2002, the ChangeBuilders Program will have completed construction documents for one community facility.  

We have also expanded our success measures from last year adding on two new Eve-conomic cohorts for 2022.  

• By the end of the third cohort, 95% of participants will have created one-year financial goals.

• By the end of the third cohort, 80% of the participants will have saved $1000.  

• By the end of the third cohort, 80% of participants will have reduced their debt by 30%.

Defining is the first step. Whether it is your own personal success board or creating success for your organization, defining success is important. While it does not guarantee success it is a target that you work towards and maybe even adjust along the way.

Shared Understanding and Ownership is important to make sure everyone is working in the same direction. A shared success measure includes a shared understanding of the measure. Words create pictures in our mind and one word can look very different to different people. For example when a measure says “increase” I might think an increase is 10% and you might think 50%. We need to develop a shared understanding of “increase”. When I work with others to develop this shared understanding of success I can begin to carve out what I can contribute to our success. I now OWN the measure and make it relevant to my work.

Communicate the measure. Keeping it in front of your organization and community is another important step in making success measures LIVE. In board, staff, or stakeholder meetings keeping those success measure front and center help organize the discussion and work as well as maintain shared ownership and accountability. Budgets, work plans, and even strategic partners are all based on our success measures. Letting everyone know what success looks like to you is another way to engage your community, potential partners, and even funders. If you are not letting people know what success looks like then how can they identify if their interests align.

NOW MEASURE. It doesn’t matter how much you talk about it but if you are not figuring out a way to measure it. At Changemakers we have embedded evaluation and data collection into normal program operations. For example, in Eve-conomics we work with participants to develop their annual financial plan and by the end of the cohort, participants are indicating through completion of their planned steps that they have not only created a plan but are implementing that plan. That’s embedded evaluation and data collection.

Start All Over Again. Whether you meet all your goals or not using the success measures and what you have learned along the way can help to determine what worked and what didn’t. The first Eve-conomics cohort showed us that our participants were very motivated to save $1000 for their Emergency Fund so in this new year we decided to increase the percentage. On the other hand, we saw how difficult it was for them to pay down their debt, however, we did not change that measure. We didn’t want to lower because we weren’t able to assist them to achieve that goal. What we did decide to change in the new year is some of the activities.

If you don’t know what success looks like then you don’t know if you are making the difference you set out to achieve. Set a clear definition of success, develop shared understanding and ownership, tell people, take our measuring tools and then do it all over again. This is a critical tool for success.