Strong organizations are built on more than passion and good intentions. They're built on a deep understanding of the communities they serve and the confidence to make informed decisions when resources are limited and needs are growing.
Yet many nonprofit leaders are navigating increasingly complex challenges while trying to understand what their communities need most, demonstrate impact to funders, and make strategic decisions with limited time and capacity.
We spoke with Alexandra Piatkowski, Founder & CEO, Piat Public Health, about how health and social impact organizations can use research, engagement, and data to make stronger decisions, strengthen community trust, and create lasting impact.
We're also proud to recognize Piat Public Health as the presenting sponsor of the WNN Volunteer of the Year Award at the 2026 Women's Nonprofit Network Awards.
1. Nonprofit leaders are constantly being asked to prove impact. What's one thing organizations often get wrong when trying to measure and communicate their impact?
One of the biggest mistakes I see is confusing outputs with outcomes. Organizations are often very good at reporting how many people attended a program, how many workshops they delivered, or how many resources they distributed. Those numbers are important, but they don't necessarily tell us whether people's lives have improved.
For example, delivering 20 workshops and reaching 500 participants tells us about the scale of an initiative. But did participants gain knowledge? Did they change their behaviours? Were they better able to access the services or supports they needed?
I always encourage organizations to ask, "What changed because of what we did?"
That doesn't mean every nonprofit needs a sophisticated evaluation framework or expensive data collection tools. Sometimes a few thoughtfully designed questions, collected consistently over time, can tell a much more compelling story than dozens of activity metrics.
And importantly, impact isn't always captured through numbers. The experiences and perspectives of the people we serve can help explain why change is happening, for whom, and where gaps remain.
2. Leaders often feel like they're collecting lots of data but not getting meaningful insights from it. How do you know if you're measuring the right things?
My advice is always to start with the decision, not the data.
Before collecting anything, ask yourself: What are we trying to understand? What decision will this information help us make? What would we actually do differently based on the findings?
I've worked with organizations that have collected enormous amounts of information through surveys, program reporting, and administrative systems, but haven't had the time or capacity to meaningfully analyze or use it.
More data doesn't automatically mean better decisions.
For example, if you're trying to understand why people aren't accessing a particular service, knowing how many people used it last year is only part of the picture. You might also need to understand barriers like transportation, language, awareness, affordability, or whether the service is meeting people's needs.
I encourage leaders to identify a small number of meaningful indicators that connect directly to their organization's goals and revisit them regularly.
The real value of data isn't in collecting it. It's in what you do with it.
3. Many organizations are making decisions with limited capacity, tight budgets, and growing community needs. How can research and community engagement help leaders make better decisions when resources are scarce?
When resources are limited, understanding where they can have the greatest impact becomes even more important.
Research and community engagement help organizations move beyond assumptions about what people need and make more informed choices about where to focus their efforts.
I've worked on numerous community health needs assessments where organizations were facing far more needs than they could realistically address. By combining population health data, existing research, and conversations with community members and service providers, we were able to identify not just the most significant needs, but also where organizations were best positioned to make a difference.
One thing I emphasize is that prioritization isn't simply about identifying the biggest problem. It's about understanding the intersection of community need, organizational capacity, existing resources, and opportunities for meaningful change.
Sometimes research reveals that an organization doesn't need to launch a new program at all. Instead, it might strengthen an existing service, address an accessibility barrier, or partner with another organization already doing complementary work.
Good research doesn't have to be expensive or complicated. But it should help organizations invest their limited resources more intentionally.
4. Community engagement can feel overwhelming, particularly for smaller organizations. What's one practical way nonprofit leaders can better listen to the people they're serving?
One of the simplest things organizations can do is build regular opportunities for feedback into the activities they're already delivering.
Community engagement doesn't always require a large-scale survey, formal consultation, or months of planning.
It might mean asking participants two or three questions at the end of a program, having informal conversations with service users, or creating a small advisory group of people with lived experience.
The key is to make engagement accessible and meaningful. Consider who isn't being heard, what barriers might prevent participation, and whether people feel comfortable sharing honest feedback.
And most importantly, close the feedback loop.
Too often, organizations ask communities for their input, but people never hear what happened with the information they shared.
Even a simple message saying, "Here's what we heard, here's what we're changing, and here's what we can't change right now," can go a long way toward building trust.
Community engagement shouldn't be something we do once to check a box. It should be an ongoing relationship that helps shape how organizations operate.
5. Can you share an example of an organization that used research, evaluation, or community engagement to make a meaningful change in its programs, services, or strategy? What happened?
One recent example comes from a project I led with York Region Public Health, focused on understanding how older adults experience extreme heat and what supports they need to stay safe.
We conducted focus groups with older adults and caregivers across the region, exploring everything from awareness of heat-related health risks to barriers to staying cool and accessing community resources.
What made this work particularly valuable was the opportunity to look beyond what population-level data could tell us.
We heard directly from older adults about practical challenges, including affordability, transportation, accessibility, and the different ways people receive and trust information. Caregivers also offered important perspectives on supporting older adults during extreme heat.
These insights helped identify opportunities for more accessible communications, targeted supports, and stronger coordination across community partners.
For me, this illustrates why community engagement matters. Data can help us understand the scale of a problem, but conversations with the people experiencing it help us understand what meaningful solutions might actually look like.
The findings provided evidence to inform future planning and decision-making, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that strategies reflect the realities of the people they're intended to support.
6. Many organizations struggle with balancing funder requirements and community needs. How can leaders ensure they are staying responsive to the people they serve while still meeting accountability expectations?
I don't think these have to be competing priorities.
Funders want to understand whether their investments are making a difference, and communities want programs and services that genuinely respond to their needs. A thoughtful approach to evaluation can help organizations demonstrate both.
One practical strategy is to build community-informed measures alongside the indicators required by funders.
For example, a funder might require an organization to report the number of people served or the number of activities delivered. Those are useful accountability measures, but organizations can also ask participants whether the service was accessible, culturally appropriate, helpful, or responsive to their priorities.
I also encourage organizations to involve community members early in program design and evaluation rather than waiting until the end to ask whether something worked.
And when findings suggest that an approach isn't working as intended, that shouldn't automatically be viewed as failure.
Evaluation should be a tool for learning and improvement, not just proving success.
Organizations that can demonstrate how they're using evidence and community feedback to adapt their programs are often telling a much stronger impact story.
7. We hear a lot about "evidence-informed decision making." What does that actually look like in practice for a nonprofit Executive Director or CEO?
At its core, evidence-informed decision-making means bringing together the best available information, professional expertise, and community perspectives to make thoughtful choices.
It doesn't mean every decision requires a formal research study.
For a nonprofit Executive Director, it might look like reviewing program participation trends before deciding whether to expand a service, examining demographic data to understand who isn't being reached, or speaking with community partners before launching a new initiative.
It also means being willing to challenge assumptions.
I've seen organizations discover through community engagement that the barriers they thought were preventing people from accessing services weren't necessarily the barriers people were actually experiencing.
Evidence-informed leadership is about creating a culture where decisions are grounded in curiosity, learning, and a willingness to adapt.
One question I think every leader should ask regularly is: "What evidence is informing this decision, and whose perspectives might we be missing?"
You don't need perfect information to make a good decision. But you do need to be intentional about the information you're using and transparent about what you still don't know.
8. If a nonprofit leader could invest in only one thing to strengthen their organization's long-term impact, what would you recommend and why?
I would recommend investing in organizational capacity to learn, adapt, and use evidence.
That might sound less exciting than launching a new program or expanding services, but I think it's one of the most valuable investments an organization can make.
Too often, organizations are so focused on delivering services, meeting reporting requirements, and securing their next round of funding that they have very little time to reflect on what's working, what isn't, and what needs to change.
Building this capacity doesn't necessarily mean hiring a full-time evaluator or investing in expensive technology. It can start with setting aside time to review program data, asking for regular community feedback, developing a few meaningful indicators, and creating space for staff to discuss what they're learning.
I also think we need to broaden how we think about sustainability.
Sustaining a program isn't necessarily the same as sustaining its impact. Not every initiative needs to continue indefinitely, but the partnerships, knowledge, skills, and systems developed through that work can create lasting value.
Ultimately, I want organizations to feel confident not just in demonstrating the impact they're having today, but in using what they're learning to make an even greater difference tomorrow.
About Piat Public Health
Piat Public Health is a woman-owned public health consulting firm founded by Alexandra Piatkowski, MPH, PMP®, an epidemiologist, project manager, and public health consultant with over 15 years of experience across public health, healthcare, and the nonprofit sector.
The firm helps health and social impact organizations translate data, community insights, and research into meaningful action. Through community health needs assessments, stakeholder engagement, program evaluation, data analytics, and strategic planning, Piat Public Health delivers practical, equity-centred solutions that strengthen organizations, inform decision-making, and advance community health and well-being.