Leadership Trends of the 21st Century
The CEOs of three nonprofit organizations reflect upon the speed and tact with which they must adapt their strategies and directions in a new century.
Saisir les clés du financement social
Pierre Carpentier, Jean-Michel Lecuyer, & Céline Claverie join for a panel discussion on social innovation and finance; not translated from French to English.
Jeff Mason - Improving Philanthropy Effectiveness
How do we know that the nonprofit organizations we support are actually effective? In this audio interview, host Sheela Sethuraman converses with Jeff Mason about his efforts, along with key organizational leaders, to develop an assessment tool that evaluates nonprofit management performances. Their work could become a major contribution to the world of philanthropy.
Randy Komisar - Online Capital Markets for Philanthropy
How do we create an efficient capital market for philanthropy? What are the best ways to marry program evaluation with powerful dynamics among online giving places? What role should public policy take in all this? In this free-ranging audio lecture, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, Randy Komisar offers a venture capitalist's perspective on these questions and more.
Mark Kramer - Moving From Insight to Action
At its worst, program evaluation is a useless activity that generates lots of boring data and irrelevant conclusions. But at its best, argues Mark Kramer in a talk he gave at the 2008 Nonprofit Management Institute, it can be a strategic tool for the genuine improvement of a nonprofit. He offers exemplars of organizations that have used evaluation effectively to advance their missions.
Robert Searle - Can Nonprofits Get More Bang for the Buck?
If you haven't bought a flat-screen TV yet, chances are you're waiting for the prices to drop. Technologies get cheaper by virtue of the "experience curve," a phenomenon where, as companies get better at what they do, costs become lower. In this Stanford Social Innovation Review sponsored audio lecture, Robert Searle argues that nonprofits also can have experience curves, achieving a greater volume of outcomes for the same cost. He discusses the types of outcome metrics on which nonprofits should focus.
Good Measures Conference - Evaluation: New Ways of Working Together
How does an organization get through the evaluation process and live to tell about it? In this panel, part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, funders and fundees on both sides of the table from a variety of organizations in the areas of education and social services talk about what it was like to be in the trenches of successful evaluation processes. They tease out common success factors, including how to work collaboratively across sectors and with multiple constituents.
Good Measures Conference - Evaluation for Learning
Nonprofits tend to collect a great deal of evaluative data but often have no idea how to use it to assess their performance—particularly because doing so properly is a complicated process requiring serious social sciences knowledge. In this panel discussion, part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, two experts talk about how an organization may better use such data—as well as "external" information in the form of theory and advice—to create a "culture of inquiry" focused on learning and improvement.
Carol Larson - Assessing Performance and Refining Strategy
What does it take to keep a large foundation focused on evaluation for self-improvement? As part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, Carol Larson, CEO of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, shares tools, lessons, and strategies for assessing performance to create a "culture of inquiry." Organizational qualities such as innovation, collaboration among stakeholders, and freedom to make "mistakes" are critical elements to foster an effective learning enterprise.
Panel Discussion - Skoll World Forum: Assessing Impact
In considering the effectiveness of your social enterprise, are you making a difference? Do you add value to your constituents' lives? Are you as effective as possible per dollar output? In this panel discussion at the 2008 Skoll World Forum, talented experts talk about the challenges of social enterprises and how metrics can impact organizational learning and innovation, and lead the more effective use of resources.
Good Measures Conference - Evaluation in the Nonprofit Sector
Evaluation is one of the most powerful mechanisms a nonprofit organization can use to unlock its potential, become more effective, and achieve success. But traditional evaluation methods are expensive, require thorough knowledge of the social sciences, and take a good deal of time to perform. In this part of the Stanford Social Innovation Review's conference on evaluation, Mark Kramer details how nonprofits can better incorporate evaluation to achieve their mission and bring about social change.
Alana Conner - Evaluation for Normal People
In the frenzy over accountability, funders, donors, and the general public are calling for more program evaluation. Yet few understand how expensive and complex good evaluation is. Speaking at the 2006 Nonprofit Management Institute at Stanford, Alana Conner, senior editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review illustrates how half-hearted evaluation can do more harm than good. Rick Aubry and Victor Kuo join her to give nonprofit and foundation perspectives.
Making Supply Chains Socially Responsible - Measuring Corporate Social Responsibility
Companies around the world are trying to figure out how to evaluate their performance—as well as that of their suppliers—on a host of corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimensions in areas such as diversity, community development, and environmental issues. How can CSR influence business initiatives and the value of CSR efforts be measured? In this panel discussion, Stanford 2007 Responsible Supply Chains Conference panelists share lessons and resources.
Using Evidence in Nonprofit Management
In nonprofit management, as in business, organizations should make decisions based on facts as well as careful evaluation of their specific situation.
Council on Foundations Annual Conference - Philanthropy and Nonprofit Acountability Practices
In the field of philanthropy, are foundations' grantmaking and reporting processes aligned with nonprofits' strategies? In this panel discussion exploring data from a Center for Social Innovation study on nonprofit accountability practices and the costs of conflicting demands, experts debate ways in which evaluation requirements may help or hinder mission delivery.