732. Measuring What Matters: The 3-Step System for Measuring Your Impact - Ginneh Baugh, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
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About This Episode
Big Brothers Big Sisters has been collecting data for 120 years. When an economist finally studied it, the case for support changed completely: young people who were mentored are 20% more likely to attend college and earn 15% more.
Ginneh Baugh, Chief Impact Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, has spent two decades helping nonprofit leaders measure what actually matters. Her system is three steps — know your data, show it as a story, grow the movement around it. 🩵
In this episode, you'll hear:
Know: Why you don't need 25 data points — you need two you know inside and out
Show: How to turn a stat into something a human can feel (1 in 3 kids lacks a mentor → in a classroom of 30, only 10 have someone in their corner)
Grow: What happens when you take that story to funders, volunteers, and businesses — and why 85% of young adults are asking for a mentor
You'll walk away with a repeatable way to measure what matters, no matter the size of your team. 🩵
Episode Highlights:
(3:12) Ginneh's origin story: teachers, mentors, and one very clarifying IRS internship
(5:52) The path to Big Brothers Big Sisters and a network hungry for data
(7:56) Data maven meets storyteller: why the pairing cuts through
(9:26) Step 1 — Know: two stats, inside and out
(13:04) Step 2 — Show: falling in love with your data by getting curious first
(16:12) The career confidence crisis and the rise of young adult mentoring
(20:41) Step 3 — Grow: why the future of work won't be automated, it will be mentored
(23:34) What happens when an economist studies your impact data
(25:18) A playground in Nashville and a gift from MacKenzie Scott
(28:44) One good thing: make it sweet
Meet Ginneh: The Data Maven Who Turns Spreadsheets Into Reasons People Show Up
Ginneh Baugh is Chief Impact Officer at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, where she leads the program and impact team driving a national push to ensure every young person has a champion in their corner. Before joining the network nearly four years ago, she helped build United Way of Greater Atlanta's Child Wellbeing Index and taught a national network at Purpose Built Communities to know, show, and grow their impact — training thousands of nonprofit leaders in a single year.
She's the voice behind Big Brothers Big Sisters' research on the career confidence crisis, and she says it plainly: the future of work won't be automated, it will be mentored. Off the clock, she's a Johns Hopkins and University of Georgia grad, a wife, a mom of four, a baker who delights her friends with sweet treats, and an unapologetic crime drama enthusiast.
Powerful Quotes
"Know, show, and grow impact has really been a throughline for me." – Ginneh
"If the data didn't make sense to you, you really didn't know it yet." – Ginneh
"You don't have to know all the data, not all the stats. You've got to know two. You've got to know five. Know them inside and out." – Ginneh
"It's not just the zeros and ones like in the matrix. We want you to really understand the context around it." – Ginneh
"It is not the amassing of tons of things. It's, ‘Tell me more about the people we served.’" – Ginneh
"Curiosity will drive really good data, useful data, meaningful data." – Ginneh
"When an economist shows up and they want to study your data, it's a totally different set of questions." – Ginneh
"What automation is not going to do is replace empathy. It's not going to open doors." – Ginneh
"The future that we want is going to be built on human infrastructure." – Ginneh
"They wanted it to last." – Ginneh, on her grandparents' gift
"Make it sweet. Find the thing that is a delight and pursue that with such passion." – Ginneh
Resources Mentioned
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: bbbsa.org; connect with Ginneh on LinkedIn
Big Brothers Big Sisters career confidence research: findings on young adult mentoring needs
Long-term economic study on mentoring outcomes: college attendance and income impact
United Way of Greater Atlanta Child Wellbeing Index: Ginneh's prior work
Purpose Built Communities: where "know, show, grow" was taught nationally
18th Avenue Community Center, Nashville, TN: the playground her grandparents helped remodel
MacKenzie Scott: funder whose gift to Big Brothers Big Sisters reflected long-term trust
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana episode: referenced in-episode
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