We Manage Good.

Title

BURT CUMMINGS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Starwood Foundation

“We have big goals in terms of moving the needle on social

change… With our grant management system, we can track

results, prove our impact and demonstrate alignment to the

overall business goals.”

Kristin Meyer, Associate Director, Community Partnerships, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

I’m going to talk you through an interesting case we just implemented for our client, Starwood. We learned a lot about Impact Reporting through this experience, and wanted to share it with you.

All slides and additional material will be available at the end.

How many of you wish you had more connections with your grant partners throughout the grant cycle?

How many of you don’t have the time?

The Center for Effective Philanthropy released a report recently that showed 2/3 of nonprofits feel they don’t receive enough support from their grant partners.

Here’s what I promise you’ll walk away with after this presentation:1. An initial understanding of how an impact-focused approach can transform your fundraising/giving programs. Including giving you more fundraising

opportunities & empowering you to prove your value.2. Steps to getting started on an impact-focused approach for your program.3. Understand a better way to partner with your grant makers and grantees.4. A link to where you can get a copy of this presentation, and more materials about the Starwood case and, selfishly, about my company: Versaic.

• Make better decisions • Maximize your investment - Social Return

• Tell better stories • Save time

Benefits of an impact-focused approach

So why should you even be thinking about impact?

It’s a lifeline for making your program sustainable. By taking steps toward understanding impact you can:

1. Make better decisions•Tracking results and means that data is available for grantees, staff, board members, stakeholders - everyone to use! Which means making

INFORMED key decisions about the future of the program and how to improve results.2. Maximize your investment

•Get very clear about the potential of your philanthropy. What is the return on investment? Not just how much was the funding and how many people or places did you serve with that funding, but whose behavior and conditions did you change - the “social return” of investments.

3. Tell better stories•By combining the data (results) with anecdotes, videos, photos, narratives - you can create a powerful “result story” to describe your impact

across your entire program or grant portfolio.•For non-profits, not only is this fantastic PR (assuming it’s good!), but it’s a golden opportunity for increased funding. You can prove

your value!•Corporate foundations could also use good PR, and impact can demonstrate return the corporation expects.

4. Save time•How much time do you spend on administrative tasks, like manually entering data, piecing together email and spreadsheets that track your

program? It’s a waste of time. A system that automatically collects data and communicates goals and guidelines based on your specific goals upfront means you focus on what really matters - engaging with partners, your mission and impact.

1. Ask better questions

I’m going to share some examples of our work with the Starwood Foundation showing what an impact-focused approach looks like. Your takeaway should be: it’s easier to get started than you think! Take baby steps. It does not have to be intimidating or complex.

Here are 3 things you can do right away to get started on impact.

#1: Ask better questions [next]

1. Ask better questions

#1: Ask better questions •Right up front, figure out what social change you want to make and results you want to show. The Starwood Foundation decided on these focus

areas. Thinking about the important questions/answers will drive the results/impact you want to see.•Communication is key! Guidelines and clear goals help everyone get on the same page. Don’t waste time on something that’s not a fit (for

grantees AND grantors).•The Starwood Foundation did a lot of work to develop its areas of focus, and it did them in concert with the company goals, even needs.

•[Next] E.g. a challenge for Starwood is hiring local employees for its properties, hence a focus on workplace readiness - by supporting that you improve the local talent pool from which to hire.

2. Collect stories

#2: Collect stories

We call this “story banking” - after partnering with a grantee or grantmaker, you collect (or submit) videos/quotes/pictures about how the program went. This supplements the results. You now have qualitative data in addition to quantitative data, and a really powerful way to tell stories.

One of Starwood’s partners is UNICEF and they have a great website for their Check Out for Children program with pictures, videos, and stories to tell their impact.

3a. Communicate with stakeholders

And #3: communication and coordination.

No matter whether you’re a non-profit, a private foundation or a corporation, you have stakeholders who need to understand the work you’re doing and the impact you’re making.

1. Can’t overemphasize the power of a good report - one that shares the right data in the right context and helps your stakeholders connect with what you’re doing.

•Doing a report at the end of the grant period isn’t enough. Mid-period progress reports are an essential tool for staying on track. This is an example of Starwood’s mid-year progress report they send to grantees for completion.

•Tracking and reporting effectively gives you insights into what’s working and where you need to improve so you can quantify the value of your program and incorporate what you’ve learned into your program.

2. Communicating insights on results to team, management and community can yield significant benefits.•Starwood grantees reported increases in funding after implementing Starwood’s results-focused approach.•The Starwood Foundation is including its “Journey to Impact” in the company’s CSR report to shareholders and other stakeholders - this is

the kind of information that their customers, employees, and shareholders want to hear.

3b. Communicate with impact

©Community Impact Consultants

This is a Results Card developed by one of our partners, Community Impact Consultants, and shows the power of combining data with visual storytelling.

Your stakeholders - whether inside your organization or outside - are inundated with information and if you make it easy for them to quickly grasp the results of your program, your levels of engagement and support will increase.

The path to impact

FrontStream and Versaic have partnered to provide a best-in-class solution for grants management and employee engagement that helps you build impact.

At each point in the lifecycle, you can make changes that help you increase your impact, improve engagement with your grant partners and stakeholders and increase funding to your programs.

Yes, implementing a full results-focused program takes time and effort. But don’t let that stop you from making some simple changes now that will start you on the path.

Remember - ask better questions, collect powerful stories and communicate with your stakeholders. If you’re interested, we’ve created a website of resources for FrontSteam customers that will help you learn more.

More information

Access these slides along with other valuable resources:

go.versaic.com/FSCon

burt@versaic.com

Visit this website, go.versaic.com/FSCon, to download the slides I shared today along with details of the Starwood project and more examples of an impact-focused approach.

Any questions or comments please feel free to find me or my team here at the conference, email me or contact your FrontStream rep.

Thank you all very much for your time.

Thank you.Thank you.