Part of the difficulty that arises for non-profit human service organizations seeking funding, particularly through grant writing is the need for quantifiable ways to illustrate that goals are being met. There are many human success stories which can be compelling, but for those from whom non-profits seek to fund their mission, there should be a measurable benefit to the community coming from a particular human services organization.
The first step in being able to meet goals and accomplish a mission statement is to first define those goals and create a clear mission statement. Goals should be specific to the area in which you work and in as many places as possible include a measurable quantifier:
“80% of all the residents at this shelter for abused women and children will complete the domestic violence awareness and recovery program.”
“After five years in a longitudinal study, 75% of families serviced by our organization will be self-sufficient and free of substance abuse.”
Having these benchmarks and metrics in place may seem cold and calculating when working with improving people’s lives, but the blunt reality is that these families cannot be serviced without funding, and one of the ways to obtain funding is to go through the rigorous grant writing process.
When you have definable goals and a mission statement that properly explains the needs of your organization - your odds of getting one of those elusive grants is greatly improved. As for how to track your organization’s progress in obtaining these goals, this can easily be one with the right case management software program. By inputting your data into a system like FAMCare, progress can be tracked and data analyzed, allowing you to see your organization’s progress towards meeting your objectives.
When looking for a program that will meet the specialized needs of human services management, you have many options. There are programs that will allow your entire case management to GO DIGITAL and even mobile. These full-service suites will allow you to track your clients, get regular alerts for important case dates as deadlines arise, measure progress and give you (and your benefactors) a way to see that the goal and mission of your organization is being met properly.
With the proper reports in hand and included in your grant writing, you can increase your odds of getting your grant proposals approved and by using a software program to track your goals, you can do so along with streamlining your daily workflow.
Grab a copy of our FAMCare Special Report and Video Case Study that provides an example of one agency's struggle with finding the right system to help them with grants... and what happened when they did.
