1. Problem Specifications
1a. Evaluation Problem
As of mid 2008, the second year into the institution’s operation, Fusion feels a tension between building self-sustaining social enterprises and its ultimate mission of serving the poor. Recent estimates suggested 60% of the senior manager’s time is spent on administering Social enterprise operations. Furthermore, given the challenges presented by cash flow deficiencies, most of the new (philanthropic) fund raising strategies are aligned to support the Social enterprise side rather than the Social service side. Thus, Fusion feels a significant ‘drift’ of their focus from their Social ‘mission’ in terms of its allocation of time and resources.
1b. Goals & Objectives
Overall Goals - To come up with a “formula” or a systematic set of metrics to evaluate “mission drift” which will effectively raise “red flags” before Fusion finds itself off course as a kind of preventative measure.
Overall Objectives – Create metrics model that Fusion will utilize to assess future venues
Goal 1: Understand social return on investment
Objective 1a: Quantify number of people using the service (percentage of people in the area using the service).
This data collection will give Fusion an understanding of the number of people who are effected by the services provided.
Objective 1b: Quantify what percentage of clients fall into the target market
This calculation will quantitatively determine what portion of clients using services actually fall into the four demographics defined by Fusion (children, youth, women and farmers).
Objective 1c: Evaluate impact on clients
In an effort to maintain mission alignment, it is crucial to clearly define what e-empowerment means for each clientele demographic (children, youth, women and farmers), and to further ensure that this definition is being met for each demographic. {very interesting & highly valid} We believe that this measurement will aid in determining the impact Fusion’s services have on clients. Once a clear definition is proposed for each demographic (micro mission definitions), Fusion may find it useful to conduct a survey with each client in order to determine whether these micro mission definitions are being fulfilled. An example of a micro mission definition for farmers may be that farmers have the ability to access the internet {this is very crucial to identify the indicators that are appropriate to context. In Sri Lanka, internet demand is the least at telecentres, thus we do not pay much attention to internet. Instead access to ‘X information, via telecentres’ would be an appropriate example} at least twice per week to confirm national agricultural commodity prices. Our task here is to determine micro mission definitions, and to create an evaluation based upon the specialized goals (as determined by Fusion/Harsha) in mind for each demographic.
In addition to the customized survey for Fusion clients, our team believes that it may be useful to consider contrasting national statistics {very good idea, but I suspect neither we have required skills in house, nor this is feasible given the lack of detail that National statistics have; for instance National statistics are not falling into micro-regions that we needed}{I encourage you to think something different} (as collected by the United Nations) like illiteracy and unemployment of Fusion clients compared to those who live in the same geographic region, yet are not Fusion clients (the local population at large). For example, if Fusion is able to demonstrate that the local unemployment rate is higher than the unemployment rate for Fusion clients, one could arrive that a correlation (not causation) exists between lower unemployment and being a Fusion client. {I wonder the above indicators sound too broad to capture the true size of the impact that fusion creates}
Goal 2: Understand resource allocation
Objective 2a: Evaluate human resources
Human resources are one of the most important in an organization – by measuring the effort being put in by employees, the organization would be able to have a clearer idea of where they are focusing their energies. Some measures for this include – the number of staff allocated to a project, the number of hours of work being put in by them, and the rate of pay. By viewing a breakup of these measures across various projects, the organization can see, quantitatively, how much effort they are putting into each project and may gauge if this distribution of human resources and effort is in line with their mission or not.
Objective 2b: Evaluate financial aspects (budgeting for each service)
Objective 2c: Monitor strategic/senior management time allocation
The object of monitoring this time allocation is to accurately portray what the company is focusing its energies and resources on. Including the employment time allocation as well as other information such as the projected number of target employees, the average public cost savings per target employee, the average incremental increase in income taxes per target employee {not clear about tax aspect, we are not paying taxes, as no profit generated}, and the projected social operating expenses of the enterprise are central to developing social cash flow projections. These projections are a valuable part of the Social Return on Investment calculation. {very interesting} This is essential to accurately gauging whether mission drift is occurring.
1c. Client and System Conditions
Sarvodaya-Fusion’s mission is E-empowerment of poor rural communities, including children, youth, women and farmers.
1d. Logic Model:
Desired Outcome – Actual Outcome = Mission Drift
1. Inputs & Resources
Human resources
Financial investment
Senior management
Donations
2. Team Activities
Team meetings
Research on metrics
Discussions with Harsha
Feedback from Professor Michael Gordon
3. Short-term & Long-term Goals
Short-term - Create metrics model for Harsha to utilize for Fusion – Finding solid, quantifiable metrics is key to recognizing signs of mission drift.
Long-term – Avoiding “mission drift” in future venues – This will help ensure that Fusion stays aligned to their social mission, while maintaining the for-profit side of business.
4. Potential Stakeholders & Their Involvement
{all are local village community}
Children
Youth
Local villagers (replace with Women)
Farmers
Posted by smilingharsha 
