Outcomes.. outcomes..outcomes; the results that the funding community expects and the goal nonprofits are trying to achieve. At least that is what we keep hearing.  Outcomes easily translated is results, that is all anyone is really asking for.  If you invest we want to "make a profit", that profit is not in dollars, but in safer neighborhoods, healthy children, graduation rates, increased incomes, and so much more.  If we make a profit (as stated above) than impact has been achieved. 

I think the harder part is where are we now, where do we want to be, how do we measure that, and what metrics are the best.  I think this is what keeps us in meeting after meeting after meeting.  I believe the consensus is actually the hardest part, getting everyone to see the "pie in the sky" and how we work together to achieve that.  I ponder this daily and do not have the magic answer, but what I do know is "data matters".  It is the starting and ending point for this process of measuring the "Social Good Profit". 

How does an organization like Philanthropy Delaware, help the community make a "Social Good Profit"?  We provide our members the latest trends, data, research and conversation.  We engage the community and the work being done to understand the landscape. We monitor national best practices to see what information would enhance the work in Delaware. 

That being said making a "Social Good Profit" is hard work. It requires trust, cooperation, transparency, humility and of course objective data. Most of all it requires the will of all to invest time, talent and treasure to agree we all have a part in making the world around us better for all. 

Cynthia Pritchard, President and CEO