How Do You Measure Effectiveness?

While exploring the Guidestar website this week, I found another article that discussed the results of an informal survey conducted by Guidestar. The September 2006 question of the month was "How do you measure an organization's effectiveness," and the results indicated that none of the respondents mentioned financial ratios (such as a debt ratio, a fundraising ratio, or a program ratio) as a benchmark for effectiveness. The article reports that participants in the survey thought that the following approaches to measuring effectiveness were most telling:

-mission, or whether or not the organization is focused on fulfilling its mission throughout all other activities
-impact and customer/public satisfaction, or whether the organization is improving the quality of life of the people it serves (in the long- and short-term, I think.)
-planning and self-assessment, or the definition of goals and planned results, as well as the organizations ability to learn from its past
-business measures, or how many clients are actually served.

Based on the respondents quoted in the article, it seems that the survey was most likely intended for representatives from non-profit organizations. It would be interesting to see responses to the same question by donors and community members, because although many are concerned about the same aspects of effectiveness, I think many others would be more likely to focus on the numbers involved in comparing an organizations effectiveness to another. It is easier to see a chart describing an organization's program costs vs. its overhead costs than it is to research an organization's impact and loyalty to its mission. Organizations (and administrators of websites like Guidestar and Charity Navigator) should continue to reach out to the public, educating them on what effectiveness can mean in all its forms, and the websites should then begin implementing ranking systems that reflect these important aspects of effectiveness.