What gets Measured Gets Done

Last week United Way of America released a report which finds that the "Common Good Index" score for the United States has declined since 2000. The index is based on 12 categories used to evaluate conditions in education, income and health including high school graduation rates and the percentage of children not covered by health insurance. United Way of America (UWA) has publicly announced a shift in its goals to target these three areas. United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley President Mike Durkin played a significant role in developing UWA's new indicators through his work chairing a national United Way Committee on Metrics.

The Washington Post covered the story and will be hosted an online discussion with United Way of America president Brian Gallagher.  Questions in the discussion, included:

• How is this different from the work UWA is already doing?
• Will United Way provide annual updates on its progress?
• What made the United Way decide to take action on these issues now? Was there a tipping point?
• Will this initiative do anything to explicitly encourage local United Ways or human service organizations (as an example) to track these outcomes on behalf of the clients they serve, and on a more frequent basis?

Read Brian's answers to these questions and more here.

United Way of America's Report can be downloaded here.

I'd love to hear your reactions to the report and to the questions in the online discussion.  Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.