How to report mentoring outcomes to funders

Funders usually ask about three things:

Reach: how many people you served.

Delivery: how much mentoring actually happened.

Outcomes: what changed for participants.

The easiest report is one you don't have to rebuild. Record sessions, hours and goals as the program runs, so the numbers already exist at reporting time.

1. Reach: count people and matches, not sign-ups

Report the number of mentees served and active mentors in the period. Also report how many matches started, how many completed and how many ended early. Funders trust a program more when it reports early endings honestly. It shows you know what is happening in each pair.

2. Delivery: sessions, hours and attendance

Count completed sessions and total hours. Split them into online and in person if your funder cares about format. Add the attendance rate, plus no-shows and cancellations. These numbers tell a funder whether pairs are actually meeting.

Pairs often meet outside your scheduling tool, such as a coffee or a phone call. Make it easy for mentors and mentees to log those meetings afterwards, or your hours will undercount.

3. Verified hours: the number funders increasingly ask for

Self-reported hours are easy to inflate and hard to check. A verified hour is one that both the mentor and the mentee confirmed happened. Report verified hours next to total hours. The gap between the two is useful too: a large gap tells you which pairs to follow up with.

4. Outcomes: goals, not anecdotes

Set goals with each pair at the start, using a template if your program has a standard outcome such as job readiness. Then track progress through the year. Report how many goals were set and completed, and how many of those both people confirmed. One or two short stories can sit alongside the numbers, but they shouldn't replace them.

5. Protect participants' privacy

Funders need totals, not names. Keep mentee identities out of the report. A per-volunteer table of mentor sessions and hours is usually fine, and many funders ask for it to value volunteer time.

6. Match the funder's format

Most funders have their own template. Export your figures as CSV and paste them in, or print the report to PDF when they accept your own format.

How BraveStrides helps

BraveStrides produces a funder report for any date range. It covers reach, sessions and hours (online and in person), attendance, verified hours and goals, monthly totals and a volunteer table. It exports to CSV or prints to PDF and never includes mentee identities. See how BraveStrides works for nonprofits. It's free during early access for organizations of up to 100 users.