I forget when and where I saw him. I forget actually who the person was. But I’ll never forget what he said, “That report of yours, it still comes up. People are still quoting from it in our leadership team meetings.”
WorldVenture (then CB International) asked me to do a report on their impact around the world. At that time this international Christian NGO had about 500 professional workers in about 50 countries, doing spiritual, educational, development, and medical work. They had excellent financial statistics, to the penny. They had good personnel statistics, knowing who was working for them and where. But they had almost nothing for field impact statistics. They could tell their donors exactly how much money was being given, and how many workers were being supported, but only incidental stories about what was coming from all that investment of funds and people.
So I did the research and gave them the best report they had seen in decades, maybe ever, about what was being accomplished out there.
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a nonprofit leader say, “Yeah, there was this big research report, but it just went on the shelf and gathered dust.” It doesn’t always happen like that. My report sent a jolt through the organization. There was an immediate response. Its findings were a hot topic. The NGO was abuzz. And then years later, I’m thinking it was about five years later, one of their leaders said to me, “People are still quoting from it.”
Research can be dry, impractical, and ignored. But not always. Don’t believe the stereotype of the dust-laden report.
The moral of this story is: The right research, done in the right way, can have a powerful and lasting impact.
love, joy, peace … Michael
www.michaeljaffarian.com. Michael is a freelance consultant to nonprofits, with an emphasis on research. Contact him for a free, one-hour consultation. emichaeljaffarian@gmail.com.
Vol. 1 No. 11