Field Notes
What it takes to keep a scholarship past year three
15 April 2026 · 6 min read
Transparency
How we count what counts: our impact framework
The metrics we publish aren’t the only ones we track. Here’s the full framework, what each number means, and why we chose it.
Junior Baka Wa Bana Sumaili · 18 February 2026 · 8 min read
Every nonprofit publishes numbers. Most of them are either too high (inflated outputs) or too vague (impact without definition). We’ve spent five years trying to land somewhere in the middle: small enough to be honest, specific enough to mean something.
Our published metrics are deliberately narrow. Scholars supported with multi-year scholarships in active delivery. Schools partnered with formal MOUs. Years active. Three numbers, all verifiable, all republished quarterly. We don’t add a metric to the public report unless we can keep collecting it the same way every quarter for the next decade.
Internally, we track more, completion rates by cohort, post-graduation paths, alumni retention into the panel role, partner renewal rates. These move slowly, and we’d rather publish them once a year with the audit than show preliminary versions that drift.
What we don’t track: anything we can’t verify ourselves. Inferred impact, beneficiary counts that double-count, lives changed in any form, none of it makes the report. The framework isn’t sophisticated. It’s just disciplined.
About the author
JB
Junior Baka Wa Bana Sumaili
Co-founder
On a volunteer mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Baka noticed that aid was meeting survival needs but missing the one thing that breaks the cycle of poverty: education. He brought that insight back to Tessy, and Umoja began.
Read the work, then back the work
Posts like this one come out of the same field visits and partner reviews that inform every scholarship. Donate to fund the next cohort.