Measuring What Matters

For far too long, community development organizations have measured their impacts in terms of their widgets or outputs, e.g., number of housing units built, number of commercial square feet created, number of small businesses created, etc. Opportunity 360 can add more substantive context to evaluate investments by examining the underlying conditions and community dynamics in the places where they are making investments. While not all of the changes in the community can be attributed to a single organization or actor, as cross-sector collaborations make concerted and aligned investments in places, over time, they can use the data in Opportunity360 to evaluate how those communities are changing.

Opportunity360 can help community organizations and investors:

• Benchmark neighborhood conditions at the time a community investment is made
• Monitor neighborhood conditions and dynamics over time
• Make the case for a comprehensive investment strategy that is cross-sector in orientation
• Align investments with organizational strategy through portfolio assessments 
• Monitor community investment portfolios over time

See examples of how community organizations and investors are applying a comprehensive opportunity framework to their work:

Better Understand Outcomes for Residents and for the Neighborhood
Foundation for Success: Section 4 Capacity Building Report, 2015-2016

Measure Impact
Miller's Court: An Enterprise Impact Case Study

Begin the Analysis of the Social Return on Investments

  -   More than a Home: Investing Together to Create Opportunity
  -   Aligning Home and Health Care Through Strategic Investment: Enterprise Community Loan Fund's Social Return on Investment