What Does Character Actually Look Like in Your Organization — and How Do You Know It's Working?
By Dr. Cristin ROllins, Phd
You probably talk about character all the time. Leadership. Responsibility. Empathy. Resilience. Courage. The question is: do you have a shared understanding of what those words actually mean in your program — and can you show a funder that it's working?
If your answer is "sort of" or "we're working on it," you're in good company. And you're in exactly the right place.
I've spent a lot of time lately deep in the work of character development — not just as an evaluator, but as a designer, a researcher, and honestly, as a believer. Through the Character Impact Lab, a planning, research, and design collective I co-lead, we've been working with youth-serving organizations across sectors to help them do two things that are harder than they sound: define character clearly and measure it meaningfully.
Here's what I've learned: most organizations are already doing character development. They just don't always know how to name it, align it, or prove it.
Let me walk you through what we know.
First: What Do We Actually Mean by "Character"?
Character is not a morality checklist. It's not a personality type. And it's definitely not something kids either have or don't have.
Character refers to the inner strengths and values that shape how young people show up in the world — and it develops over time through relationships, reflection, challenge, and meaningful opportunity. It shows up in quiet moments and big ones: how a young person handles a setback, relates to a peer who is different from them, makes a decision when no one is watching, or steps up to lead when it's hard.
At the Character Impact Lab, we organize character strengths into five Pathways — developmental lenses that describe how and where character grows:
Self — How young people understand themselves, manage emotions, and learn from experience. Think resilience, self-regulation, emotional honesty, and growth mindset.
Relationships — How young people build trust, navigate conflict, and care for others. Think empathy, kindness, forgiveness, and trust-building.
Decision-Making & Contribution — How young people take responsibility and show up in shared spaces. Think integrity, accountability, leadership, and service.
Learning — How young people explore ideas and adapt. Think curiosity, critical thinking, open-mindedness, and perspective-taking.
Meaning & Belonging — How young people connect to purpose, identity, and something larger than themselves. Think purpose, hope, gratitude, awe, and interdependence.
Your organization probably doesn't need to develop all of these. But you do need to know which Pathways are central to your mission — and why.
(For outdoor and environmental learning programs, there's a sixth set of nature-related character expressions — care for the planet, gratitude for nature, environmental responsibility, and connection to nature — that weaves through all five Pathways.)
How to Define Character for Your Organization
Here's a simple truth: your mission statement already contains character strengths. You just need to name them.
When we work with organizations through the Character Impact Lab, we start by looking at what's already there:
Does your mission talk about leadership? That points to integrity, responsibility, and service.
Do you emphasize empowerment? That's self-confidence, autonomy, and voice.
Is community central to your work? That's empathy, teamwork, and accountability.
Do you focus on discovery or exploration? That's curiosity, open-mindedness, and love of learning.
Once you surface those embedded strengths, you streamline them into a focused list — typically between 3 and 8 — that becomes your organization's character identity. Not a borrowed framework. Yours.
This matters especially for funders. When your character framework is rooted in your mission, values, and program goals, it tells a coherent story. It shows that your work isn't just activity-based — it's intentional, values-driven, and designed to produce something real in young people.
How Character Actually Develops: Caught, Taught, and Sought
Once you've named your character strengths, the next question is: where does character development actually happen in your work?
The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues offers a framework I love — character is caught, taught, and sought:
CAUGHT — Young people learn character by watching the adults around them. Staff who model empathy, integrity, and courage create a character climate that youth naturally absorb. Does your organizational culture reinforce your stated values?
TAUGHT — Character is also intentionally developed through structured activities, guided reflection, and curriculum. Short "character huddles," reflective discussions, and leadership workshops all count.
SOUGHT — The most powerful character development happens when young people internalize values and seek opportunities to act on them — taking on leadership roles, initiating service projects, making choices that reflect who they're becoming.
A strong character framework creates conditions for all three. If your organization is only doing one or two, that's where the design work begins.
Now the Part I Really Love: Measuring It
Here's where my evaluation brain kicks in — and where so many organizations get stuck.
The instinct is to jump straight to: Did our program increase empathy scores? But that's like checking the harvest before you've planted the seeds. Character evaluation should follow a staged approach that matches where your framework actually is:
Stage 1: Developmental Evaluation Your framework is new or emerging. This isn't about proving impact yet — it's about refinement. Co-construct the language with staff and youth, identify where practices align or drift, and adjust. The goal: a framework that's co-owned and feels real.
Stage 2: Implementation Evaluation Now check whether your framework is actually happening. Are staff modeling the values? Are activities building the right strengths? Are youth getting real opportunities to lead and reflect? Observation, staff surveys, and youth feedback tell you where theory is becoming practice — and where it isn't.
Stage 3: Outcome and Impact Evaluation When your framework is well-integrated, you measure whether it's making a difference. Pre- and post-program surveys, validated instruments, youth interviews, and — for the most rigorous work — quasi-experimental designs that establish causal attribution.
This staged approach is exactly what the Character Impact Lab and Statement House bring to organizations. And because our evaluation work is designed with peer-reviewed rigor, our partners don't just get a report — they get the kind of evidence base that can contribute to published research and make a compelling case to even the most discerning funders.
A Note on Culture and Character
One more thing worth naming: character strengths don't look the same in every community.
What one culture calls assertiveness, another may experience as disrespect. What one names resilience, another may describe as faith, endurance, or collective strength. A good character framework stays curious, listens deeply, and invites youth and families to co-define what strengths look like in their context.
Character is shaped by community. Our job is to make room for it to show up in all its forms.
Where to Start
If you're ready to get clearer on character in your organization, here's your first step:
Look at your mission statement. Circle every word that sounds like a value or a strength. That list is the beginning of your framework.
And if you want a thought partner for the next steps — defining your strengths, designing for caught/taught/sought, building a right-sized evaluation strategy, or positioning your character work for funding — that's exactly what we do at Character Impact Lab and Statement House.
Which of the five Pathways shows up most strongly in your organization's work? I'd love to hear how you're naming and building character with young people. Share below 👇🏼
#CharacterDevelopment #YouthDevelopment #ProgramEvaluation #CharacterInAction #PositiveYouthDevelopment #ImpactMeasurement #NonprofitLeadership #CharacterImpactLab #StatementHouse #OutOfSchoolTime #Afterschool #SummerCamp #EvidenceBasedPractice
Dr. Cristin Rollins is a nationally recognized evaluator, published researcher, and President of Statement House, a woman-owned planning, evaluation, and coaching firm working exclusively with organizations that serve youth and families. She is the Founding Director of Character Impact Lab, a planning, research, and design collective advancing character and leadership development across sectors.
Reach to Dr. Rollins at hello@statementhouse.net for a free 30-minute consultation.