A couple of people have asked me questions about how you measure value when it is for a not-for-profit or government agency. At least one of them posted the question under the New Measurement Challenge section of this forum and some sent similar questions by email. I explained in the New Measurement Challenge in replay to a thread called the poster called Trending Measurements that economics is about the allocation of limited resources to meet various – usually competing – desires or needs. Whether a benefit is paid out to shareholders of a corporation as a dividend or if the benefit is for the greater public good, an ROI calculation can be done just the same. Just think of a dollar as a measure of value and don’t worry about whether an accountant would count it. See that thread for more detail.
