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Together we measure: Improving public service outcomes via the co-production of performance measurement

ABSTRACT Not-for-profit organizations (NFPs) aim to deliver public services and achieve outcomes for their beneficiaries. However, little attention has been given to how NFP professionals engage with beneficiaries to develop the performance measures that inform service improvement and accountability. Our findings illustrate how a co-production approach to performance measurement can enhance the meaningfulness of outcome measures, hence supporting service improvement and facilitating ‘collaborations for accountability’ between NFPs and their beneficiaries. IMPACT Measuring service outcomes can be challenging for not-for-profit professionals. This research illustrates, in a charity setting, how these challenges can be addressed by using a co-production approach to performance measurement that involves beneficiaries. By capturing beneficiaries’ voices and experiences, this co-production approach enabled not-for-profit professionals to better understand their beneficiaries’ needs. It also helped them to produce reliable, outcomes-focused performance information that was useful for demonstrating their organisation’s effectiveness and directing funders’ attention to the interventions that mattered to the not-for-profit organization and its beneficiaries.