Connecting Through Crisis – Community-building from a Social Distance

If there’s one word that describes 2020, it’s “unprecedented”. Over the last twelve months we’ve faced new and ever-evolving challenges; a global pandemic, a (much needed) racial reckoning, an increasing political divisiveness, and an unending quarantine and separation from loved ones. This year has been hard, in new and different ways, for almost everyone. 

In the nonprofit sector, finding ways to meet the ever-changing needs of our clients, leaders, organizations, and networks quickly became the clear priority; how do we adapt our existing programs to continue to serve in a meaningful way? Good Measure’s 2020 series engagements – Data Leaders Academy, Measuring What Matters, Coaching Circle, and Partners in Measurement – had barely kicked-off when the novel coronavirus reached the United States. As offices shut their doors and moved their operations remote (or distanced), our staff asked themselves how they could continue to provide meaningful, impactful experiences for our program participants. Here’s a look back on our programming pivots and how they impacted the experience and outcomes for our nonprofit and philanthropic partners.  

Data Leaders Academy 

Data Leaders Academy started with an independent study activity to review key concepts and foundations of data and evaluation while Mission Capital staff converted activities to fit a virtual environment. In-person class days morphed into Zoom meetings, with revised content and lots of small-group breakouts to facilitate relationship-building. Guest speakers Kate Robinson and Saro Mohammed led us in meaningful conversations on evaluating for impact and equitable evaluation, respectively. Our cohort needed space to talk about self-care and compassion fatigue, and to process the role of data and evaluation staff during a global pandemic. We discussed openly how the guiding principles for data and learning champions needed to adapt to meet the moment and built a plan for making change. Over the course of the seven months, the cohort came together monthly to learn and grow together, to connect over space and time, and to build community through conversations centered around data and learning tools, participant feedback, and equitable evaluation strategies.  

The Data Leaders Academy was the one thing I looked forward to throughout the pandemic. It was an incredible networking opportunity and allowed the space to build a coalition with other non-profits I do not often get to work with. It has also helped me find the confidence to view myself as a data champion even though I may be lacking in some of the technical skills. – 2020 DLA participant 

Measuring What Matters 

Applications for Measuring What Matters closed the week that Mission Capital, along with so many other organizations, closed its office for what has now been nine months.  As we began to gain clarity of the COVID-19 situation, we started to envision how the program would look in a virtual setting. We knew that logistically class sessions would move to Zoom, but we also had meetings with every participating team to better understand their changing needs. We were able to tailor the program sessions to cover concerns we heard during those initial meetings. We introduced new virtual tools that could improve group collaboration and be taken back to their organization (such as Miro).

Our coaches, Andrea Hutson and Saro Mohammed, taught workgroup sessions on Creating Logic Models, Equitable Evaluation, and Creating a Culture of Evaluation. Guest speaker Reyda Taylor also led a presentation about Nominal Facilitation Techniques, with tips on virtual facilitation. We allowed for extra time for the teams to work together on their project, recognizing the group collaboration challenges that come in a virtual setting. We ended the six-month series with a presentation showcasing our nine teams and their impressive project presentations. If you’re interested in the projects and progress the Measuring What Matters teams made this year, their one-pager overviews and presentations are now available to view on the Good Measure website. 

Measuring What Matters is a tremendous asset for building capacity in an area that often gets "last focus" and isn't often adequately resourced or prioritized in funding budgets. The fact that this is a free course -- even with a stipend -- also serves as a measure for achieving equity, especially for smaller nonprofits that don't normally receive such opportunities for capacity building. I will definitely be recommending MWM to more nonprofits in my circle!

Coaching Circles 

A new program this year, Good Measure Coaching Circles enabled nonprofit leaders to come together and use the Action Learning process to find creative solutions to data and evaluation challenges. After their first in-person meeting in early March, participants met monthly through Zoom to connect, collaborate, and problem-solve as a cohort. This approach to structured problem-solving was an incredible success, giving space and time for participants to reflect, implement, adapt, and report back on successes and challenges. Participants built relationships through the process and program, and our expert facilitator created space for networking and continued connection both before and after each session. 

The Good Measure Coaching Circles far exceeded my expectations. The cohort itself was amazing--it was a group of incredibly thoughtful, talented people--and the action learning process created learning opportunities that no classroom could offer. – 2020 Coaching Circle participant 

Partners in Measurement 

Our second year of Partners in Measurement convenings planned to center around the Guiding Principles for Funders, however, it quickly became apparent that the philanthropic community needed space to discuss the urgent and pressing needs of their nonprofit grantees in light of the COVID-19 crisis. In April, the first planned Partners in Measurement engagement focused on funder response to community needs, and subsequent funder calls were scheduled for May and June to continue the conversation, including highlights from community funding initiatives and nonprofit pulse survey insights. The final convening highlighted E3 Alliance’s online tool for disaggregating student data, the Central Texas Education Profile, and included rich conversation about responding to data and evaluation needs in times of uncertainty.  

“I thought it was one of the best collaborative calls I have participated in since the quarantine began.” – 2020 PIM participant 

Looking Ahead

Over the last five years, Good Measure has provided intentional opportunities for nonprofits and philanthropic partners to connect and engage in data and evaluation work, to strengthen the sector’s ability to collect, access and use data to generate insights and drive program, organizations, and community improvements.

This year we saw a dynamic shift in what our sector needed and the ways in which it coalesced and adapted to meet those needs. We don’t know what new challenges 2021 will bring, but we do know that equity must be at the heart of our solutions, and that to truly meet the needs of our community, we must involve them in our data and evaluation practices so that their voices are heard.

Next year we plan to continue nonprofit programming while bolstering our support for funders to connect with each other and with the communities they support. Good Measure is committed to deepening our own equity learning, shifting funder practices and mindsets, so that we center community responsiveness and equity in our work and relationships. We hope you’ll continue to join us over the next year as we learn and grow in relationship together and as a Central Texas community of data do-gooders and evaluation enthusiasts.