David M. Lawson and Jay Goulart, WOW! Institute

Have you ever reached your fundraising goal, but still found your organization cash-poor? Have you found yourself surprised when donors you thought for sure would come through again, didn't?

In uncertain times like we find ourselves in today, we often discover the impact of things like donor perceptions, satisfaction, and happiness. Long-term success depends in no small part on your ability to measure the intangible reasons that create customer loyalty.

If you are going to exceed your donors' expectations, you need to incorporate qualitative measurements that start to illuminate the intangible reasons you are succeeding, holding your own, or perhaps, failing.

Flickr Photo: Andrew_NWe had a staff meeting at NTEN a few weeks ago. In addition to seeing a bald eagle while kayaking, we brainstormed our ideas for 2009, and started translating those ideas into goals for the year. I've been chewing on those goals as we finalize our plans here. I have this unsettling feeling that the metrics we're setting for ourselves are adequate, but not outstanding. In short, I wonder if we're measuring what matters.

At the same time, I spent the last two days with some ridiculously smart, funny, and inquisitive folks talking about social media. These were sophisticated nonprofits, and as we discussed what social media might mean for their organizations, they zeroed in on one of the most interesting topics in the space: how do we measure this stuff? It seems that measuring what matters is in the water.

Flickr Photo: NCBrianChris Brogan is one of my social media heroes. I really respect his approach to the power of these tools and how we should use them.  (And you can learn more from him at our Ask the Expert session on May 5th -- free for NTEN Members!)

Chris has a great post today about Online Community Management in which he shares how he would measure a community manager's performance: