Measuring the seemingly intangible. How a museum finally got beyond “reach” to measure actual impact.

Problem:

When a civil rights museum that administers several educational programs applied for funding from the Department of Education (DOE), museum staff realized they needed to develop a plan for performance evaluation that would pass muster with a major federal agency. The museum approached Mission Measurement to design an evaluation strategy as part of the grant application.

Solution:

We worked with our client to develop an evaluation plan capable of assuring DOE that the organization could demonstrate the results of the grant funding. Our team reviewed the proposed project in the grant application and designed a plan for identifying clear grant outcomes, developing metrics and collecting programmatic data.

Additionally, we designed the engagement to better integrate measurement into the core fabric of the organization—enabling measurement to serve as a tool for driving internal decision making as well.

Result:

Not only did the organization receive DOE funding, but the evaluation section of the report designed by Mission Measurement received perfect scores from all of the grant reviewers.

The metrics and data collection tools that we developed helped express outcomes that the organization had struggled to quantify for years. The museum was able to move away from discussing impact purely in terms of student “reach” and toward demonstrating knowledge, attitude and behavior changes resulting from its programs.

The project also rallied employees throughout the organization around a single cause and helped foster a stronger connection to the museum’s mission.