This discussion of measurement in the non-profit world has been going on for some time now. In an article in the Summer 2004 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Katie Cunningham & Marc Ricks argue that major donors aren't really that interested in performance measurement. In fact, the note in the article that "only four of the 22 interviewees were strongly interested in getting better data on the performance of nonprofit organizations. Much to our surprise, the rest expressed skepticism – or even outright disapproval of the concept."

• Telescope or a Microscope: How do you focus on a problem? (August 18, 2010)
• Data, Data, Everywhere (February 2, 2009)