What If Nobody Knows You're Winning?

Organizations can be doing good work and still struggle to show that the work is making a difference.

Programs are running. People are being served. Partnerships are growing. Communities are engaged. Policy conversations are moving. New opportunities are opening. 

But when someone asks, “What has changed because of your work?” the answer is not always easy to give. 

Part of the problem is that organizations often track what they do rather than what the work is producing: meetings held, events hosted, reports published, people reached, materials distributed. 

Those numbers are useful, but they do not always tell the full story. 

A better question could be: What does progress actually look like?  

It depends on the work and the environment. Not every win is a new policy, major funding award, or completed initiative. Sometimes progress is more incremental. 

It might look like: 

• Stopping a harmful proposal from moving forward 

• Getting an issue discussed that was previously ignored 

• Bringing new people or organizations into the conversation 

• Building a relationship with a key decision-maker 

• Getting community concerns reflected in a proposal or priority 

• Strengthening a coalition or partnership 

• Developing research that changes how an issue is understood 

• Moving an idea far enough that there is something to build on next year 

These may not be the ultimate outcome an organization is working toward, but they are signs that something is moving. 

And they are worth documenting. 

Knowing what progress looks like helps organizations make better decisions about what to continue, where to invest, what to change, and how to communicate the value of their work to funders, partners, communities, and other stakeholders.