Grantees walk away with practical skills, clearer impact stories, and a stronger sense of community. Throughout the program, participating organizations receive hands-on support to build or strengthen their impact measurement practices — from defining what success looks like, to collecting better data, to turning insights into compelling stories for funders, boards, and the communities they serve.

They also join a peer learning community where nonprofit leaders can openly share challenges, compare approaches, and learn from one another. This creates connection across organizations that often work in silos, helping them build new partnerships, reduce duplicative efforts, and surface collective insights.

By the end of the cohort, grantees typically report greater confidence in using data, stronger internal alignment, and more efficient reporting workflows — all of which contribute to more resilient organizations and deeper, more measurable impact.

Initial Cohorts typically run for 1 year, but can be extended past year one if desired by the funder.

There is no direct cost for nonprofits to participate in a cohort, but participants will be expected to dedicate staff time during the year towards the onboarding and learning sessions.

Participants will be expected to dedicate 30-50 hours of staff time during the year to the following:

• At least one staff member to participate in the Kickoff meeting (1 hour)
• At least one staff member to participate in platform onboarding sessions and prework/homework (est. 20-25 hours total)
• At least one executive to participate in two Showcase events (two half-day sessions)
• At least one staff member to participate in two Peer-To-Peer Learning Sessions (est. 4 hours total)

The program provides participating nonprofits:

• Access to the UpMetrics Platform for one year
• Onboarding & Workshop Sessions
• Peer-to-Peer Learning Sessions, each focused on a topic selected by the grantees from a menu of options
• Virtual monthly office hours with the UpMetrics team
• An in-person Impact Framework Showcase event that brings together grantees, local funders, and the community to highlight and discuss effective approaches to impact
• A virtual Stories of Impact Showcase event to publicly celebrate the collaboration, learnings, and impact created by the grantees over the year
• Access to templates, Help Center content, and ongoing support

The most successful cohort participants share a few key traits:

• A passion for learning and using data to drive impact. They're eager to explore how data can power storytelling, improve decision-making, and advance their mission in meaningful ways.
• Executive support from senior leadership. The organization’s leaders understand the value of this partnership and actively champion it internally.
• An internal point person to lead the charge. This “data champion” keeps momentum going—bridging teams internally and serving as the primary liaison with UpMetrics. Champions often sit within Program Operations, Monitoring & Evaluation, Data & Analysis, or Development.
• A readiness to commit time and people. The strongest results come when multiple team members engage. At minimum, we ask for an Executive Sponsor and a Data Champion to ensure alignment across strategy, operations, and learning goals.

Ultimately, a great partner is excited to invest in shared learning, ready to collaborate, and committed to making the most of the cohort experience.

Your nonprofit will retain ownership of all your data and can export the data out of the platform at any time using the .csv export function.

Yes! Nonprofits can choose to continue their access to the UpMetrics platform after the cohort concludes by purchasing a subscription directly—with plans starting at just $150 per month.

Alternatively, funders can opt to sponsor ongoing platform access for their nonprofit partners, continuing the momentum built during the cohort.