Chapter 13 focuses on the importance of measuring in not-for-profit organizations. Although, unlike for-profit companies, not-for-profit organizations do not have customers, measurement is still important for them. They have to maintain a good relationship with their contributors, volunteers, and the like. According to the book, at times they need to behave more like for-profit companies in their use of measurement, for the sake of their own success.
The chapter lists six steps: defining objectives, identifying and prioritizing audiences, establishing a benchmark, choosing metrics, choosing a measurement tool, and of course analyzing the results and making changes accordingly. Objectives stem from the mission of the organization, but it's important to keep in mind every aspect of the mission when determining the objectives. For instance, as Habitat for Humanity uses volunteers to build its houses, it needs to keep in mind the importance of volunteers--rather than just money--in determining its objectives. It's also important to keep in mind that, unlike with for-profit corporations, cooperation between not-for-profit entities is quite common.
This chapter appealed to me more than a lot of others in the books just because it addressed a group of entities toward which I'm more sympathetic. While there are few (if any) for-profit corporations for which I have much admiration, there are definitely a number of not-for-profit organizations that appeal to me. I thought the book's insights were interesting as well. While the idea of not-for-profit organizations taking a page from the book of for-profit companies is not an appealing idea to me, it does seem appropriate here. It does make sense to me, as well, that not-for-profit organizations would benefit from cooperation much more than for-profit companies would, which is part of my preference for them.
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