Alliance Civic Engagement Measurement Project

The Alliance for Children and Families civic engagement program embarked on a new project in 2011. In partnership with United Neighborhood Centers of America, the project is designed to help nonprofit human service organizations measure the impact of their civic engagement efforts.

Understanding the impact of civic engagement activities is a vital step toward enhancing the effectiveness of services over time. In addition, evaluating civic engagement efforts supports organization-wide planning efforts related to mission fulfillment.

Organizations can participate in the project independently by using the measurement resources explained on this page, or through formal participation in the Alliance's civic engagement benchmarking pilot.

Measurement Resources for Independent Implementation

Leading up to the project launch, the Alliance released two key resources in partnership with United Neighborhood Centers of America (UNCA), Behavioral Pathway Systems, and Keystone Accountability:

• "Measuring the Impact of Civic Engagement" Report. Provides a set of inter-related tools that help organizations measure the impact of their work. The tools can be implemented independently or through participation in the formal project. The report also includes a detailed description of the process used to develop the measurement system.
   
• Webinar Slides. Provides a brief overview of the project and how to implement the measurement system tools.

Formal Participation in the Benchmarking Project

Support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation allows Alliance and UNCA members to participate in the Alliance Civic Engagement Measurement Project at no cost. Participating organizations gain access to automated administration, scoring, and reporting services related to implementing the measurement system.

To inquire about participating in the project, organizations should complete the participation form or contact the Alliance Civic Engagement Department staff.

Organizations that participate receive automatically generated, confidential reports at the completion of the data collection phase of the project. These reports help organizations:

• Understand how the impact of their civic engagement efforts compares to other organizations across the country
• Target areas for improvement
• Better communicate the impact of their efforts to funders

Implementing the measurement system requires agency leaders to complete an online organizational survey that includes sections related to education, healthy living, and economic security. Leaders complete the sections that are relevant to their organization’s work by assigning ratings for the organization’s role and work in six content areas:

1. Constituent/resident empowerment
2. Public policy and community practices
3. Community partnerships
4. Service delivery
5. Funding/resource availability
6. Perceived impact/outcomes

Depending upon the number of sections that are completed, the organizational survey can be completed in as little as 30 minutes.

To augment the self-ratings provided by the organization's leaders, a key informant survey and constituent survey also are available. Administering these additional surveys as part of the civic engagement assessment are recommended, but not required.

Future of the Project

Once the data collection and analysis phases of the project are complete, the Alliance anticipates several best practices will rise to the top. This knowledge will be shared throughout the nonprofit human service sector.

For more information, contact the Alliance Civic Engagement Department.