Return on Investment

Once you know your OUTPUTS (your results-- everything you've been measuring), you can determine your Return on Investment (ROI) by considering your INPUTS. Plain and simple, is what you are putting into the program justified by how much you are getting out of the program? And do your results move you towards your main goal? If the answer is NO, time to make some adjustments!

ex) Does your market make less money than it costs to run, and does that prevent us from our goal of youth entrepreneurship?

ex.) Are we spending thousands of dollars on a garden, only to produce a few hundred lbs of produce in a season?

ex) Are we trying to promote community space, but find that people only come to the garden to volunteer for an hour at a time?

TIME

EXPERTISE

What are you putting in (inputs)?

How much money did it cost?
How much was donated to us?
How many staff/volunteer hours did it take?
Did we rely on certain expertise?
How much extra administration did we use?

REDUCED

FOOD MILES

JOB SKILLS

SALES

INCREASED

SKILLS/ KNOWLEDGE

LBS OF FOOD

GROWN

# PEOPLE FED

MONEY

VOLUNTEERS

DONATIONS

Determining your ROI may reveal some ways you might change your approach. Take a look at the following ROI scenarios:

An Output Doesn't Match Your Goal

You may have an output that is very positive, but still doesn't move you towards your goal. The resources devoted to creating that output might be better applied elsewhere.

Let's say your garden's goal is to teach job skills to young adults. This summer, you ran a half-day camp program for three weeks. A volunteer spent hours planning the camp, seven others helped run activities and teach workshops, and a local church donated dozens of meals. The youth involved enjoyed the camp and learned new skills, but they expressed disappointment that they couldn't go to the camp and work a summer job using those skills. You decide to re-structure your summer programming so they can do both, engaging volunteers to plan year-round events instead.

An Output Meets Your Goal but Exhausts Resources

Some outputs may align perfectly with your goal but put too much a strain on your resources. You may be overextending your volunteer and staff capacity, financial resources, or available expertise. This might mean you need to scale back or refocus.

Your garden rented a farmers' market stand this summer to help youth learn entrepreneurship. The rent was pretty pricey, and each market day took 3 youth and 1 adult five volunteer hours. Plus, it was so early in the morning most youth only went once! You didn't earn a lot of money, and the youth didn't enjoy it. You decide instead to make jam, a long-lasting value-added product to sell at local community events.

You Have Many Outputs and Few Inputs

For a variety of reasons, you may have too many activities; aiming for three to five is plenty. Maybe your garden traditionally makes veggie boxes and has a roadside stand and now people want to add a summer camp. Be honest with your stakeholders about what your organization can reasonably do. If not, your organization will be over-extended and quality or engagement will likely suffer.

You may have to say something like: "Since our garden coordinator retired, I've been managing the garden, so there's no staff person to run a summer camp that is safe and fun."