At their core, non-profits have funders that have a desire and vested stake in seeing the organization grow and achieve its mission. If done successfully, then these funders are likely to donate again, or entice new funders — ensuring the continued success of the organization.

As such, while an organization may have a Board and mission to be held accountable to generally, only funders have the ultimate authority to hold it accountable. Without them, the organization could not continue its work.

To ensure that its program is successful, it should seek to set and measure benchmarks quarterly that ensure the organization is hitting the necessary goalposts that could allow for additional funding. While doing so, it should measure data annually on its program, and the impact its had, by using a counterfactual they can measure against.

If this does not happen, then it becomes entirely unclear the impact of the organization, and how it spends its money. It becomes difficult to maximize the efficiencies of the organization, and how to be spending its money accordingly.

Overall, by not measuring these benchmarks and the impact of programs, an organization sets itself up for failure.