Making Metrics Meaningful: Defining Expectations for Organizational Success
January 27, 2027 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am CST
Virtual Workshop – Live/Online
Fee: $55 for MCN members / $75 for nonmembers
Nonprofit leaders often face implicit assumptions about staff roles, goals, and organizational priorities. This session explores how Wilder Research made these expectations explicit by aligning key performance indicators (KPIs) and data-driven decision-making with its evolving business model. You will see how Wilder Research defines and operationalizes KPI selection, collects and tracks data, and translates quantitative metrics into actionable insights. We will share strategies for clarifying staff goals and fostering transparency, while highlighting lessons learned in balancing mission impact with operational sustainability. You will leave with practical examples for using KPIs not just to measure performance, but to tell a story, guide decisions, and ensure everyone on the team understands and contributes to organizational success.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe a practical process for selecting, defining, and operationalizing KPIs — from gathering raw information to a metric staff can actually act on.
- Explain strategies for using KPIs to clarify staff expectations and foster transparency across teams, rather than as top-down performance surveillance.
- Translate a quantitative metric into a narrative that guides decision-making and builds shared understanding of organizational success.
Event Details
This virtual event will take place on the Zoom platform. Your access link will be emailed to you the day before the event after 12 p.m.
This session will be recorded. The recording will be made available to registrants for 14 days after the live event.
Captioning is provided automatically through Zoom. For information on requesting CART, ASL, or another accommodation, please visit our Registration Policies page.
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Speaker Information
Kristin Dillon, Associate Director of Research, Wilder Research
Kristin has managed research and evaluation projects across mental health, health care, child welfare, and disability services since 2008. She holds a master’s and doctorate in family social science from the University of Minnesota and has served on the Wilder Institutional Review Board since 2012, chairing it since 2019. Her work spans statewide health system evaluations and long-term studies of families navigating complex service systems.
Alissa Jones, Associate Director of Operations, Wilder Research
Alissa has managed research and evaluation operations at several organizations, including at Wilder Research since 2022. She holds a master’s in anthropological studies of Mexico from the Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, Mexico and a doctorate in organizational leadership, policy, and development from the University of Minnesota. Alissa specializes in strategic planning and supports partners in developing long-term and short-term strategies that focus on organizational effectiveness, advancing tactical initiatives, and assessing results to support organizational vitality, culture, and the achievement of mission-oriented goals.
