What Are Outcomes? How Are They Different from Outputs?

Outcomes are the results of a program’s services for its clients or community. They measure changes in clients’ circumstances, conditions and attitudes that result from the program’s work or changes in organizations and institutions directly affecting clients’ lives. Outcomes are fundamentally different from outputs, which are measures of the amount and type of activities a program conducts and the services it provides. Outputs are things the program produces. A program’s outputs—e.g., the services provided clients—are necessary to achieve benefits for clients, but outputs data can provide no information about what benefits, if any, those services provided clients.

Outcomes

The major types of outcomes data most widely used by legal services providers are financial outcomes and non-financial outcomes. These typically correspond to or are based on the LSC Case Services Reports (CSR) system “problem code” areas—e.g. Consumer, Housing, Family, and Employment. And, as discussed in more detail here, the data are typically collected only for extended services cases (LSC CSR case closing codes F-L), not for limited services cases (LSC CSR case closing codes A and B).

Some examples of non-financial outcomes include:

• Evictions prevented or delayed
• Foreclosures prevented
• Divorces obtained
• Domestic violence protective orders obtained
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or other public benefits maintained or obtained

Some examples of financial outcomes include:

• The monetary value of benefits obtained, such as the retroactive amount and monthly amounts of SSI benefits
• The monthly amount of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, or food stamps
• The amount of back pay recovered
• The retroactive amount and monthly amounts of child or spousal support

Other financial outcomes include the value of resources preserved through actions such as bankruptcy protection, stopping debt collections or utility cutoffs, and stopping a wage garnishment.

Outputs

Outputs are the activities a program conducts and the services it provides to address the needs of its client community. Primary examples of outputs data include:

1. The numbers of persons served
2. LSC CSR data regarding the type and levels of services provided in different substantive law areas
3. LSC “other services” (“matters”) data such as:
   • Pro se clinics conducted and persons participating in the clinics
   • Community education sessions conducted and persons participating in those sessions
   • Pro se and informational materials posted on the program and/or statewide website
   • Web analytics or similar data sources regarding page hits and document downloads
4. Research analyses produced
5. Press releases distributed and op-eds and other materials published by program staff