Lower-cost nonprofit client feedback solutions, such as the ‘Lean Data’ product by 60 Decibels, enable nonprofit leaders to make programmatic changes based on representative phone surveys that reduce the need for literacy and internet connections. Nonprofit leaders use these insights to adapt to customer needs quickly.
Impact evaluations can lead to programmatic changes that improve the livelihoods of thousands of clients. For example, BRAC Uganda conducted an experiment to measure how women-owned businesses’ profits changed when women received their loans via mobile money rather than cash. The results found that mobile money led to monthly profits increasing by 15%, and the nonprofit is now scaling the mobile money disbursement program across their branches.
Philanthropic funding is hard to predict, but there are some funders that are highly focused on making grants to support evidence-based solutions. For example, after One Acre Fund published their impact evidence in 2009, they received funding from Echoing Green, Mulago, DRK Foundation, and a $15 million grant from the Global Innovation Fund. After SokoFresh demonstrated its impact effectiveness, impact investor Acumen made an undisclosed investment.
In contrast to philanthropic grants, government funding is often more transparent about evidence requirements. One study found that in 2015, five United States federal agencies (including the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services) administered $800 million in annual grants to evidence-based grantees as part of their ‘tiered-evidence’ grantmaking model. Supporting nonprofit organizations to better demonstrate their impact may lead to additional funding and scaling of their programs.