Donors are focusing on results more and more today

I'm thinking about an interview by Les Silverman at McKinsey with Ralph Smith of the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2004. One of the subjects they touched on was what kind of organizations will have their grants renewed and why?

Dollars are in demand for many worthy projects across the world...mind you globally. While many foundations look for the fiscal ramifications of their gifts, ones like the Casey are looking for positive change which is ometimes difficult to measure. But across the board, more and more funders are looking for programs that initiate serious demonstrable change. No matter what the time frame, or what dollars are involved. And, if change is not realized, then the hope is that interesting interpretations as to why are anticipated. Lessons learned.......

Smith said that "Casey's investments produce a social return that is difficult to measure, complicating its work". Casey feels accountable for their contributions in three ways:

impact - did the investment make something better for someone?
influence - did the investment help someone look at something differently, act in a different way?
leverage - did the investment help stimulate other investments in the nonprofit sector?

So, as a nonprofit organization - are you contributing to good change? Are you accomplishing your mission? Are you wasting precious dollars on unimportant extravagant expenditures? Are you fiscally responsible - lean and mean and a do good machine?