FAQs about Measure Well

Measure Well is an organization dedicated to helping cradle-to-career Place Based Partnerships (PBPs) leverage data and technology through training, repeatable tools and resources, and 1:1 support, so they can help drive change in their communities. Our goal is to empower community organizations, backbones, partnerships, intermediaries, and nonprofits to apply exemplary data practices and cutting-edge technology to boost educational and economic success in communities across the United States. Learn more about what Place Based Partnerships are and how they help their communities here.

Our leadership team has decades of cumulative experience working at the intersection of technology and social good. Our team is led by CEO Erin McHugh Saif, who has led product and engineering efforts at some of the largest tech companies as well as directly with and for nonprofit organizations and community partnerships.

You can read more about our leadership team and advisory board here.

Measure Well was envisioned by Ballmer Group as a way to address data and technology investment and support gaps that U.S. cradle-to-career Place Based Partnerships face. Measure Well is a grantee of Ballmer Group, and a fiscally-sponsored project of TechSoup.

We also have an advisory council with collective impact, data, and technology leaders from StriveTogether, Purpose Built Communities, My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, Partners for Rural Impact, Ballmer Group, Blue Meridian Partners, and TechSoup. Their perspectives help ensure Measure Well stays practical, useful, and grounded in the needs of the leaders we serve.

Today, Measure Well partners with U.S.-based cradle-to-career Place Based Partnerships. These are networks of organizations and individuals working together to improve outcomes in a specific community, region, or state on 'cradle to career' and economic challenges, including education and economic opportunity.

Examples of these organizations might be K-12 schools, colleges, universities, nonprofits, local governments, employers, and community leaders working toward shared goals.

For deep partnership, we are currently focused on supporting organizations that have at least one data staff member. However, we encourage all organizations that are interested to contact us.

We partner with Place Based Partnerships that are working across seven cradle-to-career outcomes in communities across the United States:

1. Kindergarten Readiness
2. Early Grade Reading
3. Middle School Math
4. High School Graduation
5. Postsecondary enrollment
6. Postsecondary completion
7. Employment

We know that not everyone knows what a Place Based Partnership (PBP) is, and we’re here in part to make these partnerships a household name. Place Based Partnerships are collaborative networks of people and organizations in specific geographies who refuse to accept that a zip code pre-determines a family’s economic mobility. There are five elements of Place Based Partnerships, and you can learn more at placebasedpartnerships.org:

1. Cross-sector, long-term, resident-centered partnership in a defined geography
   
2. Effective ongoing use of data
   
3. Trusted coordinating entity (a backbone or community quarterback organization)
   
4. Improve or change systems and programs to maximize impact
   
5. Quality services and supports along the entire cradle-to-career continuum 

This depends on your community’s needs and the outcomes that you’re trying to accomplish. If you’re just getting started or reviewing your work, we can help. Our Data and Tech Journey Self-Assessment is the starting point for all of the partnerships and backbones we work with, and helps you understand what kinds of data to collect and measure specific to your organization.

 We can also work with your organization to think through your data architecture, cross-platform and source data mapping, data unification and automation, data analysis, and impact storytelling, so you can show how you’re helping to change outcomes in your community. Examples of data you might work with include:

• Population-level data, including public health, outcome, or census information at the state or local level. Looking at this data in aggregate helps communities understand broad trends, while disaggregating it by race, ethnicity, gender, income, geography, or other factors can reveal disparities that might otherwise be hidden.

• Program-level data, such as district or school data, participation information, or qualitative data about lived experiences.

• Structured qualitative data from focus groups or other research initiatives.
  

• Individual-level data, like anonymized PII (personally identifiable information) or PHI (protected health information).

• Systems-level data, including fiscal information,  policy and legislative data, and other community assets.

Nonprofit and community partnerships face significant hurdles when it comes to effectively measuring, understanding, and learning from data and outcomes. Roughly two-thirds of all cradle-to-career Place Based Partnerships in the United States do not have full-time data or technology staff today (Source: Measure Well).

Data management and access is often too costly, complex, or technical, and many groups also start from scratch, with few or no team members with data expertise, skills, or adequate funding to train staff on data and technology best practices. Work is also siloed across organizations and community groups, putting more of a burden on individual teams and leaders and making it harder to share and learn what works. In other words, they’re doing a huge amount of heroic work without repeatable and exemplary resources or support.

Measure Well aims to change this reality by building repeatable, tech-enabled tools and resources that cradle-to-career leaders can use and learn from. Most importantly, the more groups work together to pool shared knowledge and tips, the more effective the wider community can be. Collectively, we can act as a force multiplier when we work together.

Strong data practices allow cradle-to-career partnerships and nonprofit organizations to measure, understand, and clearly show their real-world impact, leading to better economic and community impact. That includes measuring and knowing what works, informing organizational priorities and saving team time, to better fundraising opportunities. Effective data practices also extend far beyond technologists and their tools and provide inspiring and relatable stories that constituents, elected officials, funders, and stakeholders come together around.

It's important to note that data maturity isn't just about technical expertise –– it's also about staff buy-in, shared responsibility, human change management, and creating an organizational culture where data does not sit with just one person or team.

We offer tools, resources, and coaching opportunities designed for community leaders, data practitioners, and teams, all at no cost. Our offerings are expanding every day. You can sign up and access our resource library, connect with peers in a learning community, or join an impact storytelling workshop.

Looking to go deeper? We're excited to partner with you! We are currently focused on supporting cradle-to-career Place Based Partnerships that have at least one data staff member. We currently do not serve cradle-to-career Place Based Partnerships outside of the US. We don’t explicitly support K-12 school districts, community colleges, colleges, or universities at this time, though we do support the backbones and partnerships that they collaborate with to help with data sharing, collection, and transformation.

We can provide technical guidance on data infrastructure or all things AI, or help you get started on your data maturity journey. Reach out to us to start the conversation.

If you don’t fall into that category, you are welcome to use our self-serve offerings.