Social Media and Nonprofits: Measurement

Five measurement strategies that enable rapid course correction and continuous improvement.

Key Point:

Nowhere is learning more important to success than in advocacy. Developing a learning agenda—a list of assumptions and hypotheses you most need to test—can keep your measurement linked to the most important decisions you will need to make. Scheduling formal data review sessions (and being open to impromptu sessions when major contextual changes occur) can help ensure that you are adequately reflecting and course-correcting. Finally, consider working with experienced evaluators upfront to help you design these tools and processes, facilitate some early sessions, and build capacity (with the goal of eventually taking over this function yourselves).