The challenge of proving that an idea has these attributes remains. I would suggest that the Balanced Scorecard and the Strategy Map can instrumental in evaluating how an idea stands against these attributes.

Real Impact Outcomes: Results caused by your intervention is what is needed here. This is the role of the outcome perspectives on the Balanced Scorecard – the Mission Perspective and the Customer Perspective. What is the reason your organization exists? What is the result for the beneficiary or customer? Answering these questions and identifying the critical measures that as purely as possible isolating the outcomes that are caused by your intervention.

Cost Effective: Kevin Star emphasizes that [having a cost number] "doesn't tell you if something is worth doing, just what it costs to do." He adds that cost per impact can guide decisions and reveal impact. Making explicit the cause and effect linkages that underlie the strategy is critical for strategic cost management. Only in this way can the impact of cost drivers be evaluated and prioritized.

Sustainable: Will the impact last or be reinforced as the intervention ends? Do job programs foster independence from social support? Does microfinance start the "flywheel" that ends the cycle of poverty? Selecting the correct measures that reflect the status of you customer is essential. It must be an honest medium to long term evaluation of their benefits and long term health.

Replicable: Can your social intervention be replicated by other organizations, governments or any suitable provider? Formally documenting the cause and effect linkages that support the organization will aid the evaluation of replicability. Breaking down your theory of change into the four perspectives of the Balanced Scorecard and their measures will make your organizational model transparent and therefore more easily replicated.

Not all ideas can be scaled and are not worthy of continued investment. Some great ideas are readily scalable. Most, however, require deliberate management and modification as an idea and organization grows. Using the Balanced Scorecard for your nonprofit can help your organization mature your implementation such that it can be replicated and exponentially increase its impact.