Agency Resistance To Outcome Measurement: Sources, Concerns, And Solutions

We are now well into the second decade of the “outcomes” revolution, the increasing expectation on the part of funders that social and human services agencies report on the impacts or outcomes of their programs. It is no longer enough to “do good” poorly; rather, the expectation these days is that the agencies report on program outcomes and the impact they have on the communities they serve. Unfortunately, however sensible such expectations would seem to be, agencies continue to resist, and in some cases sabotage, these more complex reporting requirements. Program outcomes, it turns out, are often difficult for agencies to conceptualize and even more difficult for them to attain. This study explores the sources of agency resistance to outcomes measurement and management through qualitative interviews with directors and staff of eight human service nonprofit agencies and their one common funder in a large southeastern metropolitan area. Along with the usual logistical issues, we find that a lack of communication between agencies and funders about their intended goals leads to frustration on both sides, ultimately making it more difficult to measure community-level impact than it truly needs to be