In our recent newsletter, we introduced our summer theme: Centering What Matters During Times of Change.

For us, "measuring what matters" means pairing traditional outcome metrics with information about client experiences, barriers, long-term outcomes, and organizational learning so we can make better decisions. 

As business support organizations navigate funding uncertainty, increasing demand for services, capacity constraints, and rapid technological change, many leaders are asking some version of the same question:

How do we make good decisions with limited time, energy, and resources?

There are no easy answers, but one simple place to start is by asking a related question:

Across conversations with business support organizations, lenders, funders, and ecosystem partners, we continue to hear similar concerns.

Organizations are trying to maintain and expand services while funding feels increasingly competitive. Staff are carrying heavier workloads as demand for entrepreneurial support grows. Many organizations are exploring AI and automation as ways to increase capacity, while also trying to preserve the human connection that helps clients feel welcomed, understood, and supported.

These pressures create difficult decisions. How do we:

When organizations don't have enough information to answer these questions, decisions can become driven primarily by urgency. That's understandable, but urgency alone rarely creates long-term resilience.

The more clearly we understand what matters most (especially to those we serve), the better equipped we are to make decisions that support both today's needs and tomorrow's opportunities.

Before we talk about what may be missing, it's important to acknowledge that many of the metrics business support organizations already track are invaluable.

These metrics help organizations demonstrate accountability, identify trends, and communicate high level impact. They provide important information about economic activity and help funders, policymakers, and communities understand whether programs are achieving their overall intended outcomes.

If we stopped tracking these metrics, we would lose important pieces of the story. The question is not whether these metrics matter, it’s whether they tell the whole story.

Sometimes the foundational numbers look strong, but the deeper story is more complex.

For example, an organization may report a high number of business starts - that's worth celebrating. But what happens six months later? A year later? Two years later?

Without that additional information, it can be difficult to understand what contributed to long-term success and where opportunities to close the gaps exist. Translated: it can be difficult to know which programs to nurture, which to cull, and where to direct those freed up resources.

At other times, traditional metrics may appear weaker than expected while meaningful impact is actually occurring.

An entrepreneur may choose to build a business that intentionally stays small, like someone who starts a home-based childcare center to support their hyper-local community. Another may only need a modest grant rather than a large commercial loan because they operate virtually and don’t need expensive equipment or to buy a building. Someone else may decide that entrepreneurship is not the right path for them after carefully evaluating their circumstances in light of what they learned from a technical assistance provider.

From a purely quantitative perspective, those stories may not always look impressive within traditional metrics, but looking closer, they represent outcomes that support the complex needs of our economy and communities.

This is where context becomes important.

Organizations need approaches to measurement, evaluation, and learning (MEL) that satisfy reporting requirements while also helping them make strategic decisions about processes and programs. When organizations combine traditional metrics with those that add context, it creates a deeper understanding of client experiences, and gives them access to the detail and nuance that will tell them where they are hitting a home run, and where there are gaps. This is where the power of impact measurement lies.

That information can help organizations:

Most importantly, it helps organizations move beyond asking:

"What can we afford to do?"

to also asking:

"What will matter most?"

When resources are limited, that distinction is priceless.

Organizations that ask both questions are often better positioned to make strategic decisions that are both practical and human-centered that meet their current challenges, and also set them up for longevity.

One of the most useful lessons we've learned in impact measurement is that what isn't showing up can be just as important as what is. Consider an outreach event where 3 or 4 representatives from support organizations attend for every entrepreneur who walks through the door. 

The low entrepreneur attendance itself is not the most important piece of information - the questions it raises are:

The absence of participants doesn't automatically tell us what happened, though it does tell us there is something worth exploring.

When organizations approach missing information with curiosity rather than assumptions, they often uncover insights that lead to more effective programs, services, and outreach strategies - and curiosity doesn't cost a thing!

A fuller understanding of impact benefits more than internal decision-making, it also helps organizations tell stronger stories.

Imagine a program that helped twenty-five businesses launch - that's valuable information.

Now imagine being able to show with real data that a higher-than-average percentage of those businesses remained operational years later, created financial stability for their owners, contributed to their communities, and/or helped create opportunities for younger generations.

That is a powerful story.

Stories like these help: 

And it helps everyone involved see that impact often extends far beyond the timeframe of a grant report, and doesn't always take the shape initially imagined.

Sometimes, as organizations gather new information and refine their impact measurement, they discover unexpected things. Maybe they:

These discoveries can feel uncomfortable, but they are not signs of failure - they are signs of learning.

As communities evolve, staff change, new information emerges, and needs shift, opportunities for deeper alignment - and deeper impact - naturally appear.

Organizations that embrace curiosity are often better able to adapt because they treat new information as an opportunity for learning rather than evidence that something is wrong or someone isn't up to par.

They ask questions, test ideas, and refine their approach.

Over time, they become more responsive to the people and communities they serve, and they become centers for growth and learning for their own staff.

Question: Why should business support organizations measure more than funder-required metrics?

Answer: Your organization exists to make entrepreneurship attainable for more people today, tomorrow, and for years to come. In order to do that, you need funding, resourced staff, and a clear plan. Traditional metrics are important, but they’re one part of the picture. It’s the context and nuance that show you your strengths and growing edges, identify how best to support staff, and uncover the most powerful client stories that highlight your organization’s full impact. Together, those insights help you make strategic, human-centered decisions that strengthen both your organization and the communities you serve. 

As you reflect on your own organization, here are some questions that we are sitting with:

If you're feeling the pressure of funding uncertainty, capacity constraints, and growing demand, you're not alone. These challenges are real, and they are affecting organizations across the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

By becoming clearer about what matters most, gathering information that reflects those priorities, and approaching what we learn with curiosity, we create opportunities to make decisions that meet the moment, and also help us create stability for the longer term.

Later this month, we'll keep building and explore another aspect of centering what matters: how organizations keep their programs, processes, and practices aligned with their mission, values, and purpose as conditions continue to change.

In Partnership,
Tricia + Chandra
Collective Agency

P.S. Know a resource partner who’d love this kind of support and community?
Feel free to forward this email or invite them to sign up - we’d love to welcome them in.

And bonus - as our community continues to grow, you'll begin seeing more content tailored to the different roles people play within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This summer series is designed specifically for business support organizations, funders, policymakers, and ecosystem partners.