Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bermuda

About Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bermuda

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bermuda (BBBS), an affiliate of Big Brothers Big Sisters International, is an organization dedicated to pairing young people – primarily from single parent homes – with caring adult mentors that can serve as positive role models and help the children realize their potential. By matching the strengths and interests of the volunteer mentor with the needs of the child, or mentee, BBBS strives to foster a long-term relationship that will enable the child to build personal values like self-esteem and respect. Through this process, BBBS hopes to one day achieve its goal of ensuring that the children of Bermuda have the necessary support to meet their developmental needs.

BBBS’s Approach to Performance Measurement:

BBBS developed a performance measurement system that would enable the organization to make continuous improvements to its methods of recruiting mentors and fostering constructive mentoring relationships. The indicators they chose to track focused particularly recruitment processes, the quality and length of the mentoring relationships, and the long-term impacts of the relationships on the lives of the mentees.

To implement their plan for measuring performance, BBBS has developed a customized database for tracking inquiries, acceptances, and matches made. On weekly basis, office coordinators enter key data from the application files into the database. Once applicants are accepted into the program, the files are transferred to a BBBS case manager who oversees them until the applicants are placed in a mentoring relationship. In addition, BBBS conducts surveys – developed with the help of a local evaluation expert – with mentors, mentees, parents, and teachers to assess the quality of the mentoring relationships and their long-term impacts.  BBBS also measures the quality of the matches made through phone conversations with mentors, mentees, and parents.

Data are reviewed several times a week by office and case managers. On a monthly basis, a BBBS staff member prepares a management dashboard for review by the management team. The results from BBBS’s performance measurement process are then included in an annual report card that the organization presents to funders.

Performance Measurement as a Tool for Learning and Growth:

Collecting and analyzing data regularly has enabled BBBS to learn about and improve its activities in a variety of ways. For example, by creating two separate graphs to display data for inquiries from people interested in being mentors – one for cumulative inquiries for the year and one for each month of the year – BBBS was able to not only observe a drastic increase in inquiries in 2008 from the previous year, but also identified the months in which inquiries spiked each year. They learned that these spikes coincided with newspaper coverage of their programs. By looking closely at the format and content of the coverage during those peak months, the team began to formulate messaging that could help them replicate their success with future media outreach. BBBS also determined that it could benefit from a marketing strategy that would maintain a more continuous presence among key media outlets.

In addition, reviewing data on the number of inquiries that ultimately resulted in applications from potential mentors led BBBS to change some of their recruitment practices. The organization decided to devote more staff time to following up on inquiries and helping those interested in applying to complete the application process. This has led to a significant increase in the number of applications received by converting more inquiries into applications.

Keys to Success

• Choose indicators that link closely to your mission and the activities that help you accomplish that mission. BBBS has been able to reap the benefits of performance measurement by tracking indicators that inform the work it does to recruit mentors, manage mentoring relationships, and ultimately improve the lives of mentees. 

• Make data review and analysis by your management team a central part of your performance measurement efforts. Collecting the right data is not enough. The real benefits of performance measurement come from the lessons about the organization that result from analyzing the data and considering the questions and opportunities raised by that data.