Assessing the effectiveness of a performance measurement framework for non-profit organizations: A nicaraguan agroforestry case study

In the field of performance measurement, previous research focuses more on addressing what to do to effectively measure an organization’s performance and less on describing how an organization can successfully implement a performance measurement system (PMS). Not surprisingly, many non-profit organizations (NPOs) are still unable to implement meaningful and robust performance measures since they lack the resources and expertise to effectively design and use a PMS. Even though data may be collected, it is not always used effectively for decision-making. As a result, NPOs struggle to assess the impact of their programs and identify further program development opportunities. Based on the existing work of scholars and consultants to address the need for a system that is useful to non-experts, a PMS for non-governmental organization (NGO) was developed and piloted in ViviendasLeón (VL), a NGO operating in the rural communities surrounding León, Nicaragua. The objective of this research is to validate the effectiveness of this performance measurement framework with regards to accessibility. By working with VL’s agroforestry program to successfully solve their practical problem, this research is aimed to address the previous gap found in the literature by providing a PMS that describes how to measure performance. Further, the implementation with VL guided development to account for real-world limitations and constraints, allowing for a more robust framework, able to be generalized with future work for NGO and NPO use.