Crutchfield, Grant, and McLeod in Chapter 8 talks about the three things that a nonprofit should do to keep the impact they are creating in their society. One of those things is to find the appropriate source of funding. By the way I found this article in internet that announces the Oregon legislature is moving closer to passing a bill that aims to punish Charities with high fund-raising costs. I think this is a big step towards transparency in nonprofit´s operation. Today we are talking about high costs for fund-raising, tomorrow the debate in the local legislative may be about the high salaries of nonprofit managers.
What do you think?
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
How much is enough?
As we read through the whole semester, we found useful reading materials that helped us build the criteria for our organization assessments. We found the Charity Navigator has listed many useful criteria, but we also felt some of the criteria might not be able to truly reflect an organization’s condition. In the last presentation, I saw our classmates have come up with some really important criteria.
How many pages will we need to make an objective assessment of an organization? We want to measure not only an organization’s output, but also outcome. The outcome can be very difficult to measure. In Charity Navigator, there is a whole list of questions for this measurement. And many of us found that getting the answers for some questions was very time-consuming. Still some classmates proposed to add case study section to show the social impact the organization has caused in the past. This is a very good suggestion, but is it realistic?
In this week’s reading, Crutchfeild and Grant talked about a steady funding source, overhead and staffs’ salary in nonprofit organization. I feel these are also very important, and a true reflection of them in an organization’s assessment would be very important, especially a steady funding source. But to merely objectively measure these, a long list of criteria can be developed. There can be so much that needs to be included in an objective assessment. Hopefully, organizations like Charity Navigator will come up with reader-friendly and effective measurement.
How many pages will we need to make an objective assessment of an organization? We want to measure not only an organization’s output, but also outcome. The outcome can be very difficult to measure. In Charity Navigator, there is a whole list of questions for this measurement. And many of us found that getting the answers for some questions was very time-consuming. Still some classmates proposed to add case study section to show the social impact the organization has caused in the past. This is a very good suggestion, but is it realistic?
In this week’s reading, Crutchfeild and Grant talked about a steady funding source, overhead and staffs’ salary in nonprofit organization. I feel these are also very important, and a true reflection of them in an organization’s assessment would be very important, especially a steady funding source. But to merely objectively measure these, a long list of criteria can be developed. There can be so much that needs to be included in an objective assessment. Hopefully, organizations like Charity Navigator will come up with reader-friendly and effective measurement.
DCMF YouTube Video
Hi all,
I wish this video (made by the David Cornfield Melanola Fund) had come to my attention back at the beginning of the semester, but I thought it was still worth posting about now. It's on YouTube.
I think this is a such an effective short film-- it's educational, but with funny lines spaced throughout. The people in it have real experiences with melanoma, and I think their stories are extremely memorable. They also do a great job of including a broad range of people. More relevant to our class material, the video ends with a call to spread the video on Facebook or Twitter-- and I have already seen it several times on friends' Facebook page. It's difficult to say whether the video will have a measurable impact on quicker diagnoses of melanoma, or on fewer cases as people learn to prevent it, but I think it will make a difference in some way.
What do you think? Is the video a bit too much? Would you spread it to your 16-year-old relatives or your Facebook friends?
I wish this video (made by the David Cornfield Melanola Fund) had come to my attention back at the beginning of the semester, but I thought it was still worth posting about now. It's on YouTube.
I think this is a such an effective short film-- it's educational, but with funny lines spaced throughout. The people in it have real experiences with melanoma, and I think their stories are extremely memorable. They also do a great job of including a broad range of people. More relevant to our class material, the video ends with a call to spread the video on Facebook or Twitter-- and I have already seen it several times on friends' Facebook page. It's difficult to say whether the video will have a measurable impact on quicker diagnoses of melanoma, or on fewer cases as people learn to prevent it, but I think it will make a difference in some way.
What do you think? Is the video a bit too much? Would you spread it to your 16-year-old relatives or your Facebook friends?
I Want Answers
After finishing Forces for Good, I found myself wanting more than the book is able to give. Let me explain. This book provides us with some "best practices" of high-impact nonprofits; however, at the end of the book, we are left wondering "How can I identify high-impact nonprofits?" This book does not really provide us with an answer to that question (and it wasn't intended to). Crutchfield and McLeod Grant (2008) explain the need for people to develop new ways to identify nonprofit organizations' impact in the following paragraph:
"Of course, it is harder to quantify the impact City Year has had through its advocacy efforts or its work with business. And information like this is not always published on an organization's Web site, let alone on ratings Web sites - you have to ask for it. We need new ways of measuring success in the social sector - and we need new systems and intermediaries to tackle this challenge" (p. 221).
While this book showed us what success looks like within a nonprofit organization, it didn't teach us how to measure success. Over the course of this semester, we've learned how difficult it is to come up with criteria to measure organizations' effectiveness and impact, and how difficult it is to assess organizations based on these criteria from their website content alone (as Kristen noted in class, and as Rebecca stated in her blog post for this week). In the years ahead, though, nonprofit leaders, funders, and other stakeholders will increasingly need to determine how to measure the impact of organizations, despite the difficulty in doing so. Perhaps in 10 or 20 years, Charity Navigator will have found the "answer" to measuring the impact of organizations, and perhaps we can help supply that answer.
"Of course, it is harder to quantify the impact City Year has had through its advocacy efforts or its work with business. And information like this is not always published on an organization's Web site, let alone on ratings Web sites - you have to ask for it. We need new ways of measuring success in the social sector - and we need new systems and intermediaries to tackle this challenge" (p. 221).
While this book showed us what success looks like within a nonprofit organization, it didn't teach us how to measure success. Over the course of this semester, we've learned how difficult it is to come up with criteria to measure organizations' effectiveness and impact, and how difficult it is to assess organizations based on these criteria from their website content alone (as Kristen noted in class, and as Rebecca stated in her blog post for this week). In the years ahead, though, nonprofit leaders, funders, and other stakeholders will increasingly need to determine how to measure the impact of organizations, despite the difficulty in doing so. Perhaps in 10 or 20 years, Charity Navigator will have found the "answer" to measuring the impact of organizations, and perhaps we can help supply that answer.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Too Focused on Process or Not Enough Focus on Results?
"Too often in this sector we let the tail wag the dog. We've become so focused on a process that at times we've forgotten to focus on results. We get caught up in measuring the wrong things, because the things that really matter are often more difficult to measure" (Crutchfield and Grant, 2008, p.28). I think this quote sums up the entire semester. We spent a lot of time this semester looking at a process and developing a process to evaluate organizations. We picked criteria to evaluate organizations based mainly off of the Charity Navigator website. However, last week we freely discussed the problems with our criteria. The main problem that most of us agreed on was that the criteria we chose came mainly from information off websites. This concerned us because as Kristen said "any idiot can build a website!" However, after evaluating different organizations based on this criteria, we almost all came to the conclusion that we wanted to donate funds to two organizations. I also think most of us could say that we felt confident that even though our criteria for choosing the organizations was not ideal, the organization we chose deserved the funds. So I ask everyone, did we spend an entire semester measuring the wrong things? Or did we become so focused on the process that we forgot to look at results?
Sustain The Impact in Nonprofit Art Organizations
In the Forces for Good, the author summarizes three critical elements to sustain impact in nonprofit organizations. I will take my internship in nonprofit art organization this summer, so I focus on how to apply them in art organizations.
People: develop a people strategy and invest heavily in top performers.
Capital: find the right sources of funding.
Infrastructure: invest in overhead, despite the pressure to look lean.
The last one is explained as "they needed to invest heavily in information technology, buildings, or management systems and build their own organizational capacity". The most significant difference between nonprofit art organizations and others is that they need someone has more knowledge in art (specific fields) than management skills. How to communicate between two groups of people is a tough question. Interestingly, in the organization I will work in, the bridge is internship student.
Internship students are divided into three groups: one for art, one for funding, and one for both. I belong to the last one. Two groups of people are in charge of different things: daily operations and fundraising. By this way, everyone in the organization can understand everything fast. It is a kind of leadership sharing. Moreover, everyone can play to their strengthen in the organization.
In Conclusion...
Throughout the course of this semester we have learned so much about accountability, impact, effectiveness, etc. Sometimes it seemed like we were reading a lot of the same stuff from week to week, but then in class new ideas would be brought up and it helped to gain even more insight into what we've been studying. I think the reading we were asked to do for this week is a great one to end on. In describing the hard work that the founder of Teach for America had to put in, the words "passionate and persistent" were used. This is exactly what it takes to make a difference. Yes, all of the things that we have discussed this semester are extremely important in the functioning of a nonprofit organization, but we must all remember that if we are to make a difference, we must always remember to believe in what we are doing and work as hard as we can to achieve what we set out to do.
Being able to be a part of the charity navigator project encouraged us to apply the things we have been learning in a real world setting. We were put in the position to actually make a difference. The last writing assignment gave us a chance to take everything we've learned this semester and decide what we thought the most important pieces were. It has been so great to work with such an intelligent and insightful group of people!
Pay, Again
After feeling as though I was on the “wrong side” of the salary debate this semester, I was interested to see what everyone thought of the Forces for Good reading this week.
Perhaps, my time in the Navy taught me that requiring a great deal for very little pay might not be the best approach. Ironically, the argument in the Navy is very similar. They tell everyone that is about supporting “God and Country,” that is what they call the “mission.” Yet, it is difficult to concentrate on those elements of service when simple things, like rent and gas, are close to mathematically impossible. So, I once again agree with what may be the “wrong side” of the salary debate. If you want the best, you have to pay for it - at least a little. Not millions, but perhaps it is possible to earn $250,000. If you are a primary “force” in the accomplishment of “good” perhaps people should, and will, be willing to pay you.
I know that the Navy lost a lot of great people because they didn't want to nickel and dime their families year after year while they were deployed. Ironically, these individuals are probably the ones who understand things that could have saved Millions overall. The Navy is one case where increasing salaries may have decreased total costs and I cannot imagine it’s the only one.
(I'm not saying that $600,000 is frequently justified!)
I hope everyone has a great summer and incredible internships for those who are completing them.
Andrew, Rebecca, Hayley, and Kate, I hope everything works out exactly as you hope after graduation (and that someone pays you well someday!!)
Dan and Matt, capstone is coming in the fall…should we cheer or run for the hills?
Concluding Thoughts
Similar to other students, I thought I would use my last blog entry to summarize some final thoughts from the semester. I seem to remember a quote that said something about learning being the process where we learn to ask more questions, instead of having all the answers. In a way, that is true in the case of many topics we have discussed in the course. After a semester of talking about accountability, impact, and effectiveness, I am still not sure that I could easily define or measure any of them. I am sure that each is a necessary component for organizations working to make social change, and I have been convinced that it is necessary for organizations to keep track of what they are doing and how well they are doing it. However, the systems for evaluating accountability, impact and effectiveness are much more complicated than I thought at the beginning of the course. Despite the questions I still have about the best ways to track effectiveness and impact, and to maintain accountability, I did appreciate the Crutchfield & Grant text. I thought this book provided a practical framework of basic practices that nonprofits need to engage in to make significant impacts. I am looking forward to more nonprofit work in the future and seeing how some of these practices could be implemented.
How can local nonprofits “cross the chasm”?
It seems like most obstacles of making sustaining impact are about funds. It would be much easier to make sustainable impact by getting sustainable funds. In Chapter 7, Cruchfield and Crant raised examples of how national nonprofits such as Teach for America and CitiYear managed to get over the chasms by their relentless efforts.
Since this semester we also evaluated local nonprofits, it interested me to think about “how can local nonprofits get through financial or other crisis, since they are more easily to collapse without a solid fund basis to withstand emergencies as national nonprofits do?” When we are making our decision about which local nonprofits to donate, Professor Campbell and Andrea both mentioned that Suicide Prevention and Crisis Services has a over $7,000 deficit last year, which can be considered as a downfall of the organization and make us reconsider whether to donate to it based on its failure to managing funds. So can this be a vicious circle for local nonprofits once they failed to perform well in a single year? On one hand, faced with financial crisis, the most urgent need for local nonprofits is continuous funds, on the other hand, donors, after seeing the deficit of the past year, might decide to change their options of donation or stop donating. So what would happen when the local nonprofits lose their fund when they need money the most? Is that true that as a local nonprofit, it has to maintain a good performance all the time to attract donations? Is it a choice between either expands continuously or collapse after a chasm occurs?
So when it turns to local nonprofits, I would suggest donors to think twice before they decide this organization is not worth donating, by looking at their annual reports, and financial report in the past few years rather than concentrate on just last year’s performance.
Since this semester we also evaluated local nonprofits, it interested me to think about “how can local nonprofits get through financial or other crisis, since they are more easily to collapse without a solid fund basis to withstand emergencies as national nonprofits do?” When we are making our decision about which local nonprofits to donate, Professor Campbell and Andrea both mentioned that Suicide Prevention and Crisis Services has a over $7,000 deficit last year, which can be considered as a downfall of the organization and make us reconsider whether to donate to it based on its failure to managing funds. So can this be a vicious circle for local nonprofits once they failed to perform well in a single year? On one hand, faced with financial crisis, the most urgent need for local nonprofits is continuous funds, on the other hand, donors, after seeing the deficit of the past year, might decide to change their options of donation or stop donating. So what would happen when the local nonprofits lose their fund when they need money the most? Is that true that as a local nonprofit, it has to maintain a good performance all the time to attract donations? Is it a choice between either expands continuously or collapse after a chasm occurs?
So when it turns to local nonprofits, I would suggest donors to think twice before they decide this organization is not worth donating, by looking at their annual reports, and financial report in the past few years rather than concentrate on just last year’s performance.
Final Thoughts
Like Dan, I thought I would take this opportunity to post my overall, final thoughts about the semester. Although I responded to his post, I have my own ideas as well.
It is amazing how many theories and concepts we have been presented with through our readings and class discussions. Ideas such as networked nonprofits, feedback, accountability, effectiveness, impact, advocating, financial performance, form 990, philanthropy, evangelists, collaboration, sharing leadership and sustaining impact. Whew! It has definitely been an abundance of information. All of these topics have given me much more insight about what the challenges are of ensuring that a nonprofit organization is doing what it is supposed to do, or as we MPA students like to say "fulfilling its mission."
This is my final class before my Capstone and it has truly proven to be a useful one. I have been through all required core courses and two other electives and this class is does a fine job in capturing subjects from all of those other courses. I have stated many times throughout the semester that I DO NOT have very much experience with nonprofit organizations. The complexity involved with how to be an effective leader and run an effective organization is through the roof. It takes a special person to want to truly make a difference in the nonprofit sector. I commend everyone who progresses through this program and decides that this is the right path for them. I am sure most of your thoughts are just like mine in that this class has helped prepare us for what is ahead.
It is amazing how many theories and concepts we have been presented with through our readings and class discussions. Ideas such as networked nonprofits, feedback, accountability, effectiveness, impact, advocating, financial performance, form 990, philanthropy, evangelists, collaboration, sharing leadership and sustaining impact. Whew! It has definitely been an abundance of information. All of these topics have given me much more insight about what the challenges are of ensuring that a nonprofit organization is doing what it is supposed to do, or as we MPA students like to say "fulfilling its mission."
This is my final class before my Capstone and it has truly proven to be a useful one. I have been through all required core courses and two other electives and this class is does a fine job in capturing subjects from all of those other courses. I have stated many times throughout the semester that I DO NOT have very much experience with nonprofit organizations. The complexity involved with how to be an effective leader and run an effective organization is through the roof. It takes a special person to want to truly make a difference in the nonprofit sector. I commend everyone who progresses through this program and decides that this is the right path for them. I am sure most of your thoughts are just like mine in that this class has helped prepare us for what is ahead.
Three Cups of Tea: An NPO warning?
I wanted to share a blog post I read that really emphasizes why I feel that rating sites like Charity Navigator are doing good. Saundra Schimmelpfennig writes about the Three Cups of Tea Scandal in which Greg Mortenson is being sued for fraud and racketeering and how his organization, Central Asia Institute, failed to supply evidence or measures of impact to support its claims.
Charity Navigator’s results reporting criteria are crucial in forcing a NPO to think about what is does and providing evidence. I do not think it is an undue burden on the organization to keep records of what it does. To me that seems a very basic organizational practice. Taking everything a step further and bringing in independent evaluations seems within the capacity of organizations that compensate directors with a six-figure income.
Some in class have stated that nonprofit organizations should be allowed to do what they do best without holding them to a long list of standardized criteria. But there has to be a balance, and I think that balance is freedom to utilize given funds, but provide evidence of any independent evaluations and measures of results after a period of time has lapsed.
You can watch the 60 Minutes report here. And this is an impressive list of links covering the story (check out the story on “Founders Syndrome” at Forbes which touches on what we have read about leadership).
It Depends..... Insights at the End of the Semester
Being that this is the last post of the semester, I thought it might be prudent to share the development of my ideas concerning effectiveness this semester. Indeed, trying to peg down what constitutes nonprofit effectiveness has been a daily struggle. That is why my definition of nonprofit effectiveness, while more nuanced, is much the same as it was in the beginning of the semester. I really do not think that there is one, or even numerous, ways to determine the effectiveness of a nonprofit due to the diversity of such organizations.
However, there is one 'idea' that I DO think is demonstrative of an effective nonprofit organization. Based upon all the reading that we have done this semester, an effective nonprofit is one that is always seeking to develop, adapt, and improve itself in fulfilling its social mission. We have read that overhead ratios, program ratios, accountability, results reporting are all indicators of effective nonprofits, but, as per usual, all of these things cannot singularly explain nonprofit effectiveness. It largely depends on the organization, its environment, its size, and its mission.
Indeed, I believe that all the measures of effectiveness that we read about are important for future managers in that they provide us with the means to constantly adapt, evolve, and develop when we begin to work in a nonprofit. Being conscious of these indicators allows us to (1) be knowledgeable of environment we will enter; and (2) will provide a way "push the envelope" in both being "effective" and redefining it at the same time.
I guess we weren't far off in the beginning of the semester in our attempt to define nonprofit effectiveness:
It depends....
However, there is one 'idea' that I DO think is demonstrative of an effective nonprofit organization. Based upon all the reading that we have done this semester, an effective nonprofit is one that is always seeking to develop, adapt, and improve itself in fulfilling its social mission. We have read that overhead ratios, program ratios, accountability, results reporting are all indicators of effective nonprofits, but, as per usual, all of these things cannot singularly explain nonprofit effectiveness. It largely depends on the organization, its environment, its size, and its mission.
Indeed, I believe that all the measures of effectiveness that we read about are important for future managers in that they provide us with the means to constantly adapt, evolve, and develop when we begin to work in a nonprofit. Being conscious of these indicators allows us to (1) be knowledgeable of environment we will enter; and (2) will provide a way "push the envelope" in both being "effective" and redefining it at the same time.
I guess we weren't far off in the beginning of the semester in our attempt to define nonprofit effectiveness:
It depends....
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Effectiveness and Motivation
I am glad in Chapter 8 of the Forces for Good the authors finally talked about the performance and ways to keep the employees who reached certain level of competence in the organization.
This issue is really critical for both employers and employees. Many non-profit leaders are coming to the organization because of the mission, some may stays because of being still motivated by mission but others’ motivations may change within years and there should be other strategies to keep competent staff in the team.
My personal experience shows that the organization effectiveness is directly connected with the effectiveness of employees and effectiveness of employees is directly connected with their level of motivation.
I think in non-profit sector besides having bonus system there are many other ways to increase the motivation of employees. Non-profits can give possibility for capacity building, for example, to help the employee to get education/certification, participate in international conferences, trainings, represent organization in different working groups on governmental level, international level and so on.
What would you propose to keep the employees motivated ?
This issue is really critical for both employers and employees. Many non-profit leaders are coming to the organization because of the mission, some may stays because of being still motivated by mission but others’ motivations may change within years and there should be other strategies to keep competent staff in the team.
My personal experience shows that the organization effectiveness is directly connected with the effectiveness of employees and effectiveness of employees is directly connected with their level of motivation.
I think in non-profit sector besides having bonus system there are many other ways to increase the motivation of employees. Non-profits can give possibility for capacity building, for example, to help the employee to get education/certification, participate in international conferences, trainings, represent organization in different working groups on governmental level, international level and so on.
What would you propose to keep the employees motivated ?
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