Measuring and evaluating programs are an integral part of nonprofits’ ability to deliver quality interventions, but nonprofits often lack support in this area. The Community Connections Program is engaged in a variety of ways to meet this demand. Our Measure4Change program, described below, provides training, a community of practice, and other resources. More information can be found here: https://www.urban.org/measure4change.
Measure4Change
Nonprofits recognize the importance of measuring their program's effectiveness, but their abilities vary widely, and resources for improvement are scarce. With Measure4Change, we join the Urban Institute to fill this long-standing gap between what nonprofits in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area want and what they can do.
This program provides practical, accessible training in performance measurement. Our goal is for local nonprofits to better understand how they are helping their constituencies and how to better achieve their missions.
Community of Practice
Measure4Change hosts a broader community of practice, which includes professionals from many nonprofits. This series of seminars creates learning opportunities and exposes nonprofits to the tools and best practices they need to build their performance measurement program. The sessions also make performance measurement more accessible by helping nonprofit leaders learn from their peers, understand the range of performance management practices, where they fit into that continuum, and how they can advance their own programs. Topics covered have included:
- Developing logic models and results frameworks
- Building a high-performance culture around measurement, evaluation, data, and learning
- Setting performance targets for programs and staff
- Performance management and measurement software
- Survey design
- Qualitative data collection and analysis
- Working with secondary data and making use of mapping (geographic information system) tools
- Quantitative data analysis
- Displaying data, data visualization, and data storytelling
- Communicating data to clients and client feedback loops
- Performance-based financing
- Data security and client protections for nonprofits
- Performance measurement–evaluation continuum
If you would like to join this Community of Practice, please contact measure4change@urban.org.
Knowledge Briefs
Nonprofit leaders need more resources about the early stages of performance measurement programs and about how to overcome the practical challenges they will face as they build their programs. Complementing the community of practice, the Measure4Change team has published a series of knowledge briefs that explain key concepts and address relevant topics in performance measurement. You can find them here: https://www.urban.org/measure4change/learning_tools.
Last Updated: Mar 03, 2026