What is a board deciding when it asks for numbers?
When a board asks for numbers, it's usually trying to carry out its responsibilities for the organization: making sure resources are used well, deciding whether to continue, expand, or change a program, and being able to speak accurately about the organization's work in the community and with funders. Board members may have limited time and little day-to-day contact with the program itself, so numbers can feel like the quickest and most objective way to evaluate how the organization is performing.
That makes it worth identifying, before you prepare anything, which decisions are coming up. A board approving next year's budget needs different information from a board considering whether to expand the program to a second location, and both need different information from a board preparing to meet with a major donor. If you aren't sure what the board will be deciding, ask your board chair or executive committee. The answer will help you determine which of the many numbers available to you are worth presenting.
Which numbers belong in front of the board?
The numbers that belong in front of the board are the ones that answer the board's questions about participation, results, and resources. A board will usually want to know who the program reached, what changed for participants, how the program is performing against its goals, and what it costs to operate. A count of activities can be part of that picture, but it shouldn't represent the whole picture. If you aren't sure whether a number shows activity or change, What's the difference between outputs and outcomes, and why does it matter to funders? explains the distinction.
A made-up example of matching numbers to a board's questions
| What the board needs to know | A number that answers it | The context that goes with it |
|---|
| Whether the program is reaching the people it's intended to serve | How many people enrolled, and which communities or groups they represent | Which groups the program hoped to reach and didn't, and what may explain the gap |
| Whether the program is making a difference for participants | How many participants completed the program, and what changed for them | How those results compare with the program's goals or with the previous year |
| Whether the organization can sustain the program | What the program costs to operate each year | What that cost covers, and what would change with additional or reduced funding |
| What the program team plans to do next | The one or two changes the team is making | Which results led the team to make those changes |
This table is a made-up example. Your board's questions, and the numbers that answer them, will depend on your program and the decisions in front of your board.
How do I give the numbers context without overwhelming the board?
To give the numbers context without overwhelming the board, write one or two sentences for each number that answer the question a board member is most likely to ask next, which is why the number matters. Those sentences can explain what the number means, how it compares with your goal or with last year, whether it differs for one group of participants or one site, and what may explain it. If the evaluation includes interviews, focus groups, or participant feedback, a single finding from that work can explain a pattern the number shows but can't explain on its own.
Keep each explanation in proportion to the importance of the result. A result that matches what the board expected may need only a sentence, while a result that surprised the program team deserves more, including what you understand about why it happened and what you don't know yet. Whether to lead with a participant's story or with the statistics is a separate question, and Should we lead with stories or statistics when we talk about impact? covers it.
What goes on a one-page board briefing?
A one-page board briefing should include the decision or question in front of the board, the few numbers that relate to it with a sentence of context for each, what's working and what isn't, what the program team plans to do next, and anything the team needs from the board. A board member should be able to read it in a few minutes before the meeting and arrive prepared to discuss it.
Give what's working and what isn't the same plain treatment. A board that hears only about successes may be surprised later by a problem the program team already knew about. If the results are disappointing and you also have to tell your funder, How do I tell my funder the results aren't what we hoped? covers that conversation. The full evaluation report can be attached for board members who want more detail.
The Grantibly perspective
Angelika's perspective
Data don't make decisions. People do. Our job is to help clients turn information into understanding and action, and a board meeting is one of the most important places where that translation has to happen.
A percentage in a table may be technically accurate but still leave people asking, "So what?" We want to go further, by asking what the finding means, why we might be seeing it, whether there's an important difference between groups, and whether it suggests something the program should change.
We're educators as much as consultants. We don't just want to deliver findings. We want people to understand what those findings mean and how they can use them, and that includes the board members who are responsible for the organization's future.
