Video: How should a not-for-profit’s performance be measured?

Featuring Trish Shannon, CPA, CGMA, the CFO of the AARP Foundation

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2017. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function.


Video transcript:

There are a lot of conversations going on now about the different measurements for non-profit organisations; financial measurements versus other measurements that would really give a better picture of a non-profit’s performance.

A lot of the watchdog groups are looking at that right now, and I think it’s hard to have a universal measurement because even in each of the non-profit sectors, each individual organisation is a little bit different. So it’s difficult to have a universal measurement apart from the financial measurements. And that’s also why there are some criticisms of the financial measurements, because it doesn’t always tell the complete picture of the organisation.

So, I think that organisations should focus on programmatic outcomes, and really be clear. What are the programme outcomes that you’re trying to achieve? And the more that donors require that, and that the non-profit organisation’s own internal organisation requires it, I think the better information that there’ll be in the non-profit sector around what is actually happening, and what are the results of the funds that are being given to the sector. 

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