Getting Started with Performance Management

How do data intermediary organizations and community indicator initiatives know their work is making a difference? How do they continuously improving their work? They can answer these questions by carefully defining and measuring their performance and reflecting upon and communicating findings internally, and to their funders and constituents. 

The Urban Institute's National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) has developed a guidebook on performance management for data intermediaries. Organizations managing community indicators projects undertake very similar work to NNIP partner organizations. Both provide data and frameworks to inform community conversations in order to influence others' decisions. CIC members can learn from NNIP partners' experiences. In fact, about one-third of the NNIP partners also have community indicators partnerships. 

The guidebook introduces ideas about how impact can be measured for the different types of activities data intermediaries perform. It offers suggestions for an overall process of performance management and describes techniques for documenting and measuring the performance of data intermediary and community indicator work. Several NNIP partner organizations have developed performance management tools and are implementing approaches adapted from the guidebook. 

The purpose of this session is to explore and discuss performance management concepts, including what to measure, measurement techniques, and practical tips for getting started and building a learning culture within your organization. Key concepts from the guidebook will be presented by its co-author, and NNIP partner organizations from Baltimore and Pittsburgh will share their experiences, successes, and challenges with implementing performance management.