Matthew Forti is managing director at One Acre Fund, where he leads the organization’s work outside of Africa and helps oversee its measurement and evaluation function. One Acre Fund assists more than 1 million smallholder farming families in Africa to improve their yields, incomes, and resilience. Prior, Matt was a manager at the Bridgespan Group (@BridgespanGroup), an advisory firm to mission-driven leaders and organizations that supports the design of performance measurement systems for continuous learning and improvement.
Why systemic market failures in African insurance markets make it nearly impossible for smallholder farmers to achieve climate resilience, and what philanthropy and the private sector can do about it.
How climate funding and policy exclude those who experience the worst effects of climate change, and how investing in smallholder farmers can help right the ship.
A reflection on how a set of strategies related to target-setting, financial modeling, program measurement, and organizational culture helped one organization reach a major milestone.
The cofounder and executive director of One Acre Fund and the managing director of One Acre Fund USA write about the role a big bet played in helping their organization expand its impact.
Simple changes in mindset and behavior can break the cycle of strain and mistrust in grantor-grantee relationships.
Rethinking board sizes, term limits, and fundraising requirements may help unlock greater strategic insight and value from your board.
Social return on investment is an underutilized yet surprisingly flexible tool for making strong resource allocation decisions that maximize nonprofit impact.
There’s a set of common questions every direct-service nonprofit should answer to maximize learning, action, and impact.
There are conditions under which nonprofits, even those pursuing transformative scale, will find commitment strategies—rather than exit strategies—to be the right answer for their direct service programs.
Using a social return on investment framework, organizations can estimate the future impact, cost, and scale of programs before they begin, and allocate resources for greater impact.
Why mission-driven organizations need a more nuanced understanding of why and how impact may fluctuate over time.
Why both nonprofits and academics should focus on scale and impact in this simple formula for good.
Four tips on measuring impact for NGOs that have multiple programs across many sites or continents.
A look at barriers global NGOs face in reporting the right measures of effectiveness—and how funders and grantees can begin to overcome them.
From Skoll World Forum 2013: Will new measurement tools such as “big data” be a big distraction or a big opportunity?
Five successes to celebrate, and five areas where we need to see more progress.
Five insights from results-oriented philanthropists on how to reap the benefits of failure.
Five measurement practices that Obama’s campaign and high-performing nonprofits have in common.
Recently released studies confirm that few nonprofits possess the capacity to measure for continuous improvement, but new initiatives launched in 2012 provide hope.
Armed with robust shared measurement systems, national nonprofit networks are well positioned to scale promising and proven programs.
How nonprofits can assess readiness and lay the groundwork for a successful data system.
Nonprofits can use tried-and-true mechanisms from the private sector to better communicate their impact to donors
A conversation with Jodi Nelson, head of measurement and evaluation.
Five measurement strategies that enable rapid course correction and continuous improvement.
Three forms of engagement that can help nonprofits better respond to the needs and strengths of their constituents.
Simply putting boxes and lines down on paper doesn’t guarantee that your organization will make better decisions.
New research reveals that most organizations prioritize the wrong skills in their search for a measurement director.
Seven obstacles to making good decisions about impact evaluations and how to avoid them.
For “scaling what works” to actually work, we need a new and improved version that addresses two fundamental constraints.
Refresh your dashboard to better inform your board's decisions.
To avoid measuring and funding leadership development is to deprive the social sector of one of its greatest performance improvement tools.
Measurement can attract money. A nonprofit that can demonstrate results and improvement is more inviting to potential donors than one that can’t.
We should be paying attention to monitoring and evaluation innovation in developing countries, where technology leads to better programs.
Social impact bonds. Evidence-based funding. Investing in what works. To what do we owe this explosion of “pay-or-performance” funding models?…
