The Boston Indicators Project:

“Measuring What We Value – a Project of Greater Boston’s Civic Community”

Learning Exchange: Portland ORSeptember 27, 2010

The Journey from Data to Impact

Data: Stakeholder Selection of Indicators

Goals Benchmarks Systemic Analysis Storytelling Reports/Engagement Shared Understanding Agreement on Solutions Shared Agenda

Strategic Alignment Collaborative Action Impact

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The Boston Indicators Project A partnership of the Boston Foundation, City of Boston and Metropolitan Area Planning Council

ITS GOALS ARE TO:

1. Democratize access to data & information;

2. Foster informed public discourse;

3. Track progress on shared civic goals.

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The Boston Foundation Information. Innovation. Impact.

MISSION As Greater Boston’s community foundation, the Boston Foundation devotes its resources to building and sustaining a vital, prosperous city and region, where justice and opportunity are extended to everyone. We fulfill this mission in 3 principal ways:

1. Making grants to nonprofit organizations and designing special funding initiatives to address this community’s critical challenges;

2. Working in partnership with donors and other funders to achieve high-impact philanthropy; and

3. Serving as a civic hub and center of information, where ideas are shared, levers for change are identified, and common agendas for the future are developed.

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The Project has a long time frame—through 2030—and two tracks:

1) Data 2) Civic Agenda

The Project has a long time frame—through 2030—and two tracks:

1) Data 2) Civic Agenda

1997 2000

2006

2004

2002

2030

Long Term

Vision

Indicators Data & Reports

…updated website, report every two years to measure progress towards a

vision for 2030

---deepening data, creating tools for access to data, training and education

Civic Agendacivic leadership,

deliberation, and action on a high-leverage civic agenda

2006

2004

2002

Benchmarks aligned to vision for 2030

Project Launch

Identifying indicators framework

1st Report

The Wisdom of

Our Choices

DATA TRACK: A comprehensive framework –

10 sectors, 6 “cross-cuts”

PRIMARY SECTORS

1. Civic Vitality

2. Arts

3. Economy

4. Education

5. Environment

6. Health

7. Housing

8. Safety

9. Technology

10.Transportation

CROSS-CUTS:

• Children & Youth

• Boston Neighborhoods

• Racial/Ethnic Disparities

• EnvironmentalSustainability

• Economic Competitiveness

• Fiscal Health

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1: DATA TRACK:Goals and measures for each sector tracked

through a synthesis of reliable sources

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10 Sectors, 70 Goals, 150 Indicators

SOURCES:

Public, Private & Nonprofit Data

Academic Research Findings

Periodical Coverage

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Sub- Sub- neighborhoodneighborhood

NeighborhooNeighborhoodd

MunicipalMunicipal

Sub-regionSub-region

State(s)State(s)

Physical a

nd

Physical a

nd

socia

l

socia

l

chara

cteris

tics

chara

cteris

tics

NationalNational

GeographyGeography

New EnglandNew England

RegionalRegional

PMSAPMSA

PopulationPopulation

Characteristics

Characteristics

NESTED DATA

LONG-TERM IMPACTCONTEXT

DESIRED END STATE

ANNUAL STRATEGY SCORECARD: ARTS STRATEGYOBJECTIVE: Enhance civic and cultural vibrancy in Greater Boston STRATEGY: Strengthen and celebrate the region’s diverse audiences, artists and nonprofit cultural

organizations

45001,000# Orgs in Mass CDP

30TBDArts Capitalization

Fund, # NPO’s

• In Progress

• In Progress

Sustainable

Orgs. Est.

Advocacy & Policy:

• MAASH

• MassCreative

ACTUAL

(2010)

BASE

(2009)

GOAL

(2014)

ArtsBoston.org

•Cultural Org’s Listed

• Monthly Visitors

• Audience profiles

• 60

• TBD

• TBD

• 30

• 500K

• TBD

• TBD

• TBD

• TBD

Sch

oo

ls

&

nei

gh

bo

r- ho

od

s

Cap

acit

y &

Su

pp

ort

:

Org

s, A

rtis

ts,

A

ud

ien

ces

BPS Arts Ed. Fund ($) $700K$550K

Neighborhood Arts

Programming ????Chinatown, Rox.

Pilot 2010

STATUSPROGRAMMATIC

All (Greater Boston)

2.6M

2.4M

791K

7.4M

14.8M

1.6M

--paid

--free

--student

TBD TBD 1.2M

701K

170K

1.3M

1.9M

341K

Reg’l Marketbasket Neigh. Marketbasket

TBD TBDTBD

--FT

--PT

--IC

93

773

3,602

348

1,649

5,586

TBD TBD

--93

--773

--3,602

348

1,649

5,586

TBD TBDTBD

Actual

(FY09)

n=89

Base

(FY08)

n=152

Goal

(2014)

Actual

(FY09)

n=89

Base

(FY08)

n=152

Goal

(2014)

Actual

(FY09)

Base

(FY08)Goal

(2014)Status

% Achieving FiscalHealth

TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD TBD

Att

en -d

anc

e

Art

ist

Em

ply

.

2: CIVIC AGENDA TRACK Stakeholder and expert convenings to surface

trends, accomplishments and remaining challenges

Provocative biennial Indicators Reports A “Civic Agenda” with numerical goals Forums and briefings Public discourse

GOAL: Shared understanding of Boston’s key trends, challenges & opportunities as a key to aligning strategies and resources to achieve major goals

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Administrative Overview• Longevity: 1997 – 2010 - Intensive engagement in

development of framework prior to1st report in 2000;

NOW - refreshed website, biennial reports based on sector and other convenings to identify trends and themes, w/ other occasional and regular short reports

• Staffing: Currently 2; never more than 3.75• Budget: $250,000 - $450,000/year ($400,000 from

the Boston Foundation currently), with partners• Organization: Special initiative within with Boston

Foundation with MULTIPLE partners• Governance: Focus on content, collaboration and

engagement, with blurred institutional “ownership” (Leadership Group for content advice)

Success Factors

• Ongoing support from the Boston Foundation -- with encouragement to be creative and provocative (independent analysis and perspective)

• Strong internal collaboration at key times (production of biennial reports, for example)

• Strong external collaboration, such as long-time partnership with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council and relationships with data providers

• Both/And approach to indicators selection• Respect for and broad sense of shared mission and

ownership by stakeholders, participants, experts, public officials

Thank you.