’Coolest classroom in the world’
Wednesday’s National We Day marks the 50th such event staged by Free The Children. Launched in Toronto in 2007, We Day aims to educate and inspire young people in Canada and around the world. Andrew Duffy talks with co-founder Craig Kielburger about their
Q Why try to measure the impact of We Day?
A If you can’t measure it, you can’t prove it, and more importantly, you can’t improve upon it. Not just We Day, but with all our programs, we want to strive for continual improvement.
Doing good isn’t enough. We want to do it to the highest level and seek higher value outcomes. Many organizations look at youth and seek to simply keep them away from negative things. I think we can strive for a higher-value outcome: not only keep them away from dropping out, bullying, gangs, but help to make them agents of change.
Q That sounds difficult to measure. How do you go about doing it?
A I have to credit Mission Measurement, a U.S. company recommended to us by the Skoll Foundation. Its founder, Jason Saul, has a blistering critique of the charitable world and says, “Stop selling based on emotion and sell based on impact.” He believes that charitable giving should be a social investment.
We asked him if he could help us measure our domestic impact, to identify the short-term milestones that lead to long-term change. We want to make young people active citizens, but that’s a lofty goal. How do you measure it? Well, one way is to understand whether you cast a ballot in elections as an adult. But we don’t want to wait 10 years to see if our work is effective, so Mission Measurement found earlier milestones that have a causal relationship with that longterm outcome. They know, for instance, that if a youth consumes news today, they’re far more likely to cast a ballot in the future. So we track that kind of thing.
Q For you, what results have been the most meaningful?
A Well, one interesting finding was that at-risk youth really benefited from our programs and became better students and citizens. We have always been able to talk about our activities — that 8,000 schools operate chapters, for instance — but now we can tell you about the results of that activity: 80 per cent of our alumni keep volunteering; 83 per cent give to a charity every year; 79 per cent of our eligible alumni voted in the last election.
Q How does that data inform what you do?
A Extensively. It has reshaped our thinking around We Day and We Act. We’ve reshaped We Day to make it the coolest classroom in the world: We’re baking in more educational content. But it has also shaped our year-long program significantly. We Day has an impact on the life of a young person, but we now know the greater impact comes from the yearlong program associated with it, We Act.
Q Most people would associate these kind of metrics with a business. Why would a charity use them?
A A business seeks efficiencies to maximize its shareholder value. We seek efficiencies on behalf of our donors to more deeply change lives.
Q Since the inaugural We Day, the program has expanded to 14 annual events, including stops in Chicago, San Jose, Seattle and London. What’s next?
A The future of We Day involves continued growth. Last year, we had two mini We Days in China. I think that holds amazing possibilities. In a world where so many things divide us — conflict in the Middle East, the competition between the U.S. and China — there’s something wonderful when something unites us, like young people choosing to better their communities.