Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Assessing Organizations
As our group worked to assess the nonprofit organizations that were assigned to us for our group project, we spoke about something that I think is worth bringing up. One of my group members pointed out that it seemed odd to create criteria against which to assess two very different organizations, and then to assess them. The reason it felt "odd" to do so is because as donors, we wouldn't create criteria and then decide how any two organizations match up against those criteria. We would be more likely to first decide we want to donate to support a cause (e.g., clean water for everyone) and then look to see which organization(s) that supply clean water to those in need meet certain criteria. We wouldn't try to decide which organization is more deserving of a donation when one is an organization that supplies clean water, and one is an organization that provides housing for the homeless. That being said, I think that the group assignment was beneficial, because it taught us how difficult it is to assess organizations, especially when the organizations' missions are so different.
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Kate,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more as far as defining the proper criteria when comparing organizations that offer completely different services. However, there are some items that I do think all organizations offer up to the public. So, although a museum and an agency that serves the homeless are so different, they should still have all the "basics." Believe it or not, some of these organizations do not.
I have stressed through all of my assignments thus far that organizations should be networked, and joining Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Missions can be different of course, but they ALL need to be clear and concise. Some organizations do not give a good description of what they are setting out to accomplish.
Results are very important. How have they created an impact? Who have they served? How have they helped these people?
Board member and key staff and employees. Very important! Contact information and who does what? It's amazing how some organizations do not have this information.
These are just some of my thoughts. I know for sure that it's difficult to compare organizations but some of these things must be done no matter what.
We had very similar situation while we were assessing our three organizations. We developed criteria and then assessed the organizations accordingly. While discussing which organization we would like to recommend and we chose one which was not the best in fulfilling our developed criteria. We will recommend this organization base also on other indicators. For us it was also important to look at 1.the need of the community in that type of organization, 2. the variety of funding sources that can insure the sustainability of the organization projects, 3. projects that serve the mission and 4. the specifics of the target groups the organization is serving. I think assessment of the organizations’ effectiveness will be always difficult and there will be not a single way to assess them and be for 100% sure that the way chosen is the right way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts on the 'extra-criteria' building in order to match our organizations and assess them properly. Although our group did not have such problem, what is clear is that Charity Navigator is very limited regarding criteria of evaluations. Specially I agree with Matt suggestion about the network criteria, given that such indicator is a good sign that we are evaluating an organization that has broken-down their walls and turned over to be more interactive with the public it meant to serve.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone,
ReplyDeleteThis discussion is very useful and I'd like to continue it in class next week. My hope is that your take away from the process is less about "which organization is best" and more what constitutes effectiveness or high impact or accountability. For me, what matters is that you as you move on to work in and lead nonprofit organizations you have clear ideas about what practices would make an organization accountable or effective. While you are playing the role of donors in this class, I am hopeful you are evaluating organizations as potential employees, stakeholders, board members or clients. The primary role most of you will play in your professional careers is not "donor," but rather practitioner, board member or stakeholder.
I hope the assignment enables you to evaluate the practices of organizations and to make judgments about the practices of those organizations. If we use Kate's example, perhaps the standard that matters most to you is results. Does Project Water achieve results that matter to you? Is it more effective at achieving results than another organization? Or, in the end, do you think it's easier for Project Water to achieve results than an organization with a different mission? Can you even get results information from other organizations? Do results matter to you? If not, what does in assessing an organization's practices?
In the end, the question is not necessarily about which is best, but how confident are you in the practices of a wide range of organizations? Do the practices of some organization stand out to you as unusually valuable while others as particularly bad? One thing that stood out in your group presentations is that each group was willing to make distinctions between organizations and identify practices they liked and practices they disliked. Why was that? I'm not going to assume it was only because of the assignment, because some of you offered rather strong defenses for the choices you made.