Performance measurement has become indispensable in the nonprofit sector, as performance measurement uses available data and information to evaluate and determine the progress made toward achieving the goal typically represented by achieving financial sustainability. Measurement is extremely important because it provides an assessment of what is useful and what is not regarding fundraising, expenses, and programs, in addition to being crucial in determining the progress you make to contribute to the financial sustainability of the organization.

1- Start with what you know:

There is no need for the measurement process to be complicated. Nonprofit organizations are always advised to start simply and with what is familiar to you. For example, if you know how to count the beneficiaries of your programs geographically, start with that. If you want to increase your donor base by 5%, start from there and create a base consisting of a set of goals and metrics that you can rely on in the future, as these simple metrics are what you will build your foundation on. The learning process relies heavily on understanding; you can set all kinds of metrics, measures, shapes, images, graphs, and statistics, but if they are not related to matters whose purposes you understand, start by measuring what you already know.

2- Measurement:

Secondly, start measuring. If you have not yet started your programs and fundraising or determining financial resources, start as soon as possible, as programs, financial resources, and the fundraising process are core functions. Thus, they are functions that you can develop and innovate, measure the progress, and compare the metrics set by others against your goals, and then start sharing and talking about these goals and metrics with your friends, family, colleagues, and community—anyone who listens to you. Through sharing this, you will encounter many instances of sudden realizations of truths that have been absent from your mind where you discover new things you want to measure or new ways to understand and store the information you want to measure at the moment.

It is important to start measuring, and it is acceptable to make mistakes. As an organization owner looking for sustainability, run before you walk, break the barrier of fear, and run fast and go beyond the limits of logic—take off! The earlier you start, the more experience and capabilities you will have in measurement.

3- Continuity:

You do not need to be a data analyst or an expert in data management to be good at measurement; you just need to start with what you know and let your work shed light on what you will measure in the second stage. For example, while measuring the increase in the number of donors who contribute every year, you may realize you want to measure the number of donors who have stayed with you year after year, or while you work on statistics about the number of contributors to the program, you may feel an inclination to know which participants in the program have achieved the program's goals.

Unleash your curiosity and let it guide the measurement process. You can create your own measurement method because you started with what you knew; use this expertise to build your organization's capabilities.

Measurement is considered one of the most important habits in business management, especially as some institutions begin to offer grants in experimenting with financial mechanisms such as loans and equity investments that require nonprofits or socially oriented companies to repay funds over time through returns, so this habit is increasingly spreading among business leaders, especially in the charitable sector.

Both funders and donors have become interested in organizations that measure their performance and demonstrate their achievements, and they are specifically looking for organizations that measure their financial performance, the success of their programs, their fundraising performance, and the impact of their programs. Gradually, the measurement process is developed as its experience and skills increase and it uncovers new opportunities and learns more about how to achieve financial sustainability.

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