Governing

Urban Institute researchers evaluate federal, state, and local government programs and policies. Early on, we pioneered performance-management techniques government agencies still use to evaluate and improve public services, from economic development to garbage collection. And now we're adapting those strategies for the nonprofit sector—at home and abroad.

Big changes in government lay at the heart of our two most ambitious past projects, Changing Domestic Priorities and Assessing the New Federalism—the first examining the broad policy shifts of the "Reagan Revolution" and the second analyzing welfare reform as states' assumed more responsibility for social services.

Our research helps government and nonprofits identify which outcomes to track, how to gauge results, and how to use performance information to manage and improve their work.

Performance Measurement: Getting Results, an Urban Institute Press bestseller now in its second edition, covers the performance measurement process from A to Z. Our "Legislating for Results" action guides offer practical advice for measuring and managing performance.

Funders are demanding more outcome information from nonprofits, but few organizations are equipped to collect and analyze their program results. Our Outcome Indicators Project helps nonprofits develop or improve monitoring systems. Our standardized approach to performance measurement can be applied to programs ranging from community organization to youth mentoring.