The Role of Measuring Impact in our Work to Decriminalize Mental Illness

Dear Friends,

In our last newsletter, we considered the role of patience in the decriminalization of mental illness. Today, I’d like us to consider the role of measuring impact in our shared efforts.?

In philanthropy, impact measurement seeks to ensure accountability for grants made, effectiveness of the intervention/program, and organizational willingness to change course as the data reveals the need to do so. Yet not all organizations have equal capacity to undertake impact measurement. This is particularly true in the work to decriminalize mental illness, which is complex — lacking standardized data collection tools across interventions and suffering from siloed data between systems.

At the Sozosei Foundation, we recognize these complexities and, because of them, we are as eager to learn how organizations collect data, as we are to learn what insights the data offers. As a new foundation, we have also been eager to measure our own impact. As many of you know, we chose to engage RAND this year to help us answer the question: What tools can the Sozosei Foundation use to effectively measure its interrelated grantmaking, convenings, and communications activities??

Today, I am excited to share the report seeking to answer this question?here; as always, we welcome and encourage your input on our work, to do so, please click?here.?In 2024, we will begin rolling out these measurement tools with the hope that they will be of service to our shared commitment to decriminalizing mental illness.?

We are extremely grateful to those who took the time to speak with RAND as part of this process, and we are also grateful to RAND for doing such extraordinary work.

In solidarity,

Melissa M. Beck, Esq.

Executive Director

Sozosei Foundation