Lessons from Poptech: Verb. Target. Outcome.

There are thousands of worthy non-profits in the world tackling urgent and worthy issues. Just ask Kevin Starr, who runs the Mulago Foundation. He’s heard from a lot of them. His responsibility is to make sure the Foundation’s money is being used in the most efficient, meaningful and targeted way possible.

The Foundation is looking for ideas that can be scaled, not just stop-gap measures. His method of making those decisions serves as a great model for any organization or business to follow. Here are his tips for becoming better investors in change:

1. Know your mission. Not some long-winded, hyperbolic statement but something simple, with a Verb. Target. Outcome.

2. Measure the right things. Make sure that what you measure truly has an impact on your desired outcome. Can you show the causation, not just the correlation, between the measurement and the result?

3. Measure them well. Are you using the right method, tool and/or yardstick to do the measuring?

Here’s an example. An NGO in Uganda called LivingGoods is kind of an Amway for essential health goods. Its mission: Get African families out of poverty. Their measurement – child mortality rate. The Mulago foundation asked them then to find a way to measure “what happens with you” and “what happens without you.” The group had to set up control groups and broaden their measurements. The findings helped LivingGoods better serve its market and helped the Mulago foundation better fund the program.

Finally, Starr offered these questions to consider for your service or product:

1. Is it needed?

2. Does it work under stress?

3. Will they use it?

Good questions for all of us – non-profit and for-profit!

Note: The folks at PopTech are working to get videos of these presentations up as soon as possible. Three videos are up now and the rest should be out by next week. – Dan