If you are in Philanthropy, operate a Giving Portfolio, or work in a Nonprofit, inevitably someone is going to ask you “How many people did we reach?” or “How many people were impacted by that program?” It might be your board, an investor or funder, your CEO, or even your marketing team.  And while this seems like this should be straightforward—like it should be a simple count—we inevitably find ourselves in a quagmire of numbers. What is the right one? That’s because “reach” is not just a numbers problem. It also signals our values and assumptions as funders and social impact organizations.

In this coached conversation, Raya Cooper Impact Consulting will share and walk attendees through a practical approach to getting to those numbers, including the big questions you need to answer first. And spoiler alert: there’s not going to be a lot of math.

Founder and Principal, Raya Cooper Impact Consulting

Morgan Buras-Finlay is the Founder and Principal of Raya Cooper Impact Consulting. As a seasoned and holistic social impact professional, with experience that cuts across corporate, tech, nonprofit, and policy sectors, Morgan knows firsthand that scaling meaningful change depends as much on the science of measurement as it does on the art of storytelling.  Morgan has advised federal agencies, guided nonprofits in strategy and measurement, and implemented scalable impact frameworks in the private sector—prior to founding Raya Cooper, she spent 5 years at Salesforce.org aligning business objectives with meaningful social outcomes. 

She is known for combining the science of measurement with the art of storytelling to help companies integrate impact authentically and sustainably. In 2023, She founded Raya Cooper Impact Consulting to help foundations, nonprofits and corporations to ask hard questions, learn from their mistakes and celebrate their successes. She has a BA in Psychology from Reed College, Master in Social Work from Columbia University, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and daughter. She is an avid reader of fiction, with a special love for Fantastical Realism, and loves to cook.

Senior Consultant, Raya Cooper Impact Consulting

With more than two decades in social impact measurement and evaluation, Eric has seen how a clearer understanding of impact can improve thousands of lives. He has worked as an internal evaluator for school districts, nonprofits, foundations, and corporations. Throughout his career, he has helped organizations to tell accurate and meaningful stories about the social impact of their work by coupling the application of rigorous methodology with a utilization focus. 

Prior to joining Raya Cooper, Eric spent 8.5 years with Salesforce. During his tenure, he supported the Salesforce Foundation as they solidified their approach to managing and measuring their strategic granting and employee-inspired giving initiatives. He also supported Salesforce.org by building social impact measurement frameworks and data collection and reporting systems. Eric holds a Ph.D. from the UCLA School of Education and Information Sciences. He currently lives in South Africa, where he’s learning about both evaluation in the African context and how to drive on the left side of the road.

Who Counts? Considering Tradeoffs and Claims in How Foundations Define and Calculate Reach