How do you measure the range of outcomes experienced by the people who engage with your work? How do you understand and communicate the value of your funded programs and activities? Do you know how these measures stack up within your sector?
Culture Counts has carried out extensive work to identify the key elements that contribute to the impact and value of funded programs and activities. This work has included the development of a set of metric statements enabling outcomes to be measured across Cultural, Social, Civic, Economic and Place domains. These outcome metrics statements are able to be benchmarked with relevant organisations and align with the National Local Government Cultural Forum and CDN measurable outcomes framework as well as the Australian Public Libraries (ALIA Guidelines 2015).
Example outcome measures being used by a wide range of arts and cultural organisations; libraries; health, community and education programs; place managers and local governments include:
Cultural Outcomes
Insight: It helped me gain new insight or knowledge
Expression: I feel more able to express myself creatively Respect: It gave me a greater respect for cultural diversity
Social Outcomes
Access: It gave me the opportunity to access activities I would not otherwise have access to
Equality: I was treated as an equal
Civic Outcomes
Belonging: It helped me feel part of the community
Economic Outcomes
Networks: It connected me with other people in my field
Practice Development: It contributed to the development of my arts practice
Environmental Outcomes
Awareness: It opened my eyes to issues in the environment
Place: It made me feel proud of my local area
Library Outcomes
Connection: The library helps me to feel connected to my local community
Digital Confidence: The library has helped me to feel more confident about using digital resources
By using standardised outcome measures, which sit alongside outputs such as membership numbers, attendance figures and lending statistics, organisations can generate comprehensive insights and reinforce the importance of investment in their organisation and the sector.
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