The Grant That Changed How I Think About Reporting

The Call

"We need to talk about your Q3 report."

That's never a good way to start a conversation with a funder. I spent the next hour explaining why our housing placement numbers had dropped 30% from the previous quarter.

The real answer? We'd gotten better at screening. We were placing fewer people but they were staying housed longer. Our "failure rate" was down significantly.

But I couldn't prove that easily. The data existed in different spreadsheets, tracked by different people, reported in different formats.

What We Changed

After that call, we rebuilt our outcomes tracking from scratch. Every metric we reported externally now had a clear internal source. Every number could be traced back to individual records.

More importantly, we started reporting context alongside data. Raw numbers without explanation are dangerous. A 30% drop can mean failure or success depending on what you're measuring.

The Template We Use Now

Every quarterly report includes:

• The numbers (obviously)
• Comparison to previous quarters and same quarter last year
• Explanation of significant changes (up or down)
• One client story that illustrates the work
• Honest acknowledgment of challenges

Takes longer to write. But funders now call to say they appreciate the clarity, not to ask what went wrong.