tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.comments2022-01-24T06:47:11.761-05:00billions of drops dot comSteve Goldberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06106824600318886347noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-33717484772222710272018-02-18T12:25:56.760-05:002018-02-18T12:25:56.760-05:00Thanks, Anonymous. Nice to see it’s still useful.Thanks, Anonymous. Nice to see it’s still useful.Steve Goldberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06106824600318886347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-17212617899562073512018-02-18T10:27:08.667-05:002018-02-18T10:27:08.667-05:00Hurrah, that's what I was looking for, what a ...Hurrah, that's what I was looking for, what a material! present here <br />at this webpage, thanks admin of this site.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-50178038217791941332013-05-29T11:50:16.895-04:002013-05-29T11:50:16.895-04:00hi steve, you did a very good post.hi steve, you did a very good post.tim mccallanhttp://www.timmccallan.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-4481290822999357152013-05-19T12:03:58.248-04:002013-05-19T12:03:58.248-04:00Investment is on the most important part for every...Investment is on the most important part for every country and every economic things. above comment of chairmen of capital society of London, I like his comment “Government is out of money and out of breath.” personally I mean people are totally owner of the capital of their country.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.seekingtechnicals.com/" rel="nofollow">slow stochastic</a>reajpethttp://www.seekingtechnicals.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-81454346178268600302013-03-31T04:05:42.109-04:002013-03-31T04:05:42.109-04:00there is a growing body of evidence suggesting tha...there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that there are promising and effective approaches to improve outcomes for children and families in which abuse and/or neglect has taken place or is likely to take place. <br /><br /><a href="http://presswire.com/pr.php" rel="nofollow">Public Relations</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14055400903924385698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-19657189170095200162013-03-13T07:48:58.131-04:002013-03-13T07:48:58.131-04:00I really wanted to send a small word to say thanks...I really wanted to send a small word to say thanks to you for the fantastic points you are writing on this site. My time-consuming internet look up has at the end been honored <a href="http://www.invoicefactoringuk.com/about-invoice-factoring/invoice-factoring-services.html" rel="nofollow">invoice factoring services</a> with extremely good ideas to exchange with my pals. I'd express that many of us site visitors actually are extremely endowed to exist in a notable community with so many lovely individuals with useful points. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04074017023079702899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-79925516548653013772013-02-06T12:10:22.727-05:002013-02-06T12:10:22.727-05:00Thank you kindly, Ashleen.Thank you kindly, Ashleen.Steve Goldberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06106824600318886347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-42254203032882979642013-02-05T21:43:18.569-05:002013-02-05T21:43:18.569-05:00It can be such an honor to have the opportunity to...It can be such an honor to have the opportunity to join the discussion of this fantastic weblog web website! I desire to extend my thanks for this.<br />Many children will have a good future for this.<br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/familycarefoundation" rel="nofollow">family care foundation review</a>ashleenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614661465199764250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-40879597201121640832013-02-05T17:25:42.427-05:002013-02-05T17:25:42.427-05:00Before making such an investment, I would want to ...Before making such an investment, I would want to know 2 things:<br />-what will the SIB part pay out for particular outcomes?<br />-what does the evidence suggest is a likely range for those outcomes?<br /><br />I don't know the structure of the Essex SIB but I assume the payment is based mainly on the reduction in the number of days spent in care by the children who are served. What is the formula for going from this to the amount paid out? Are the details of how much will be paid secret? If not, where can they be found?<br /><br />In the literature on the bond, the way that returns on the SIB part will be calculated is left very vague, which makes it difficult to make a financial judgement about whether it's worth investing in. (Expected returns are obviously not the only reason for investing but are an important part of deciding whether or not to invest rather than, say, a mixture of giving to charity and investing conventionally)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-74587729400106820102011-11-23T21:27:55.134-05:002011-11-23T21:27:55.134-05:00At last! I found a good post like this.. Thanks fo...At last! I found a good post like this.. Thanks for this informative post! By the way, can you write a post about <a href="http://ysseo0.cafe24.com/Importance-of-Facebook-in-SEO" rel="nofollow">facebook seo importance</a>? Thanks again!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-88865572707368651942011-04-19T09:48:59.680-04:002011-04-19T09:48:59.680-04:00I was pointed here by a thread starting with Duflo...I was pointed here by a thread starting with Duflo and Banerjee's new book, and your article has helped me understand more about the underlying principles of RCTs. I think the other issue with RCTs is that their results tend to support "giving away" products and services. In a micro-system, that is OK, but it assumes either full subsidy by public sector or corporate gifts... neither of which is likely to scale or be sustainable, and therefore building an organizational structure on a defective business model. I blogged about this further in my post "Is it Right to have the Poor Pay" http://bopreneur.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-it-right-to-have-poor-pay.htmlBopreneurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18394890260699883067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-71945167271229584802011-02-22T18:36:56.224-05:002011-02-22T18:36:56.224-05:00Nine years is a long time in the charity evaluatio...Nine years is a long time in the charity evaluation business, Ken. Until you became CEO about 2 years ago, "change" was not a word often associated with CN, but it turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Keep up the good work.Steve Goldberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06106824600318886347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-54922571328005521902011-02-22T18:28:32.790-05:002011-02-22T18:28:32.790-05:00An excellent post as always Steve, however I submi...An excellent post as always Steve, however I submit to you that the not yet 9 year old Charity Navigator is anything but musty! As you well know, we have already begun to change our rating system and plan to continuously improve it over time to focus more and more on charity performance as we move ahead. That said, it is a pleasure to be a part of the movement with a crusty old fellow like you (kidding) to "move the needle of social change"!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00911635314701982449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-87553759791523424092010-12-27T16:00:08.492-05:002010-12-27T16:00:08.492-05:00Steve
Wow - I, too, am gobsmacked. But gobsmacked...Steve<br /><br />Wow - I, too, am gobsmacked. But gobsmacked that my writing was so cursory or your reading it such that you read this much into a quick blast blog post. <br /><br /> No, there is no old and new Lucy. All the things you point to about where we might going are good, and most are meaningful, and I hope there are more of them. <br /><br />My description of philanthropy as it is designed "fragmented, etc" is not a wish, it is a statement of fact. That is what we're working with and from. Are some things in place to change it, sure - and you mention many of them (as do I and as does Matthew). <br /><br />But here's the rub - the innovations you, Matthew and I are so impressed with and spend much time promoting, are primarily financial innovations. Business model innovations. These are important. Yes. But they are new players in the game. <br /><br />But philanthropy as an industry is "designed" by policies. It is a regulated industry. It is shaped by the rules. And the rules, currently, favor "donor centric, fragmented, etc" as I describe it above. The game itself doesn't change because there are new players - it needs new rules.<br /><br />The "design" part is about the rules. The rules currently not only allow, but favor, "cause de annum" philanthropy as Bishop noted in his video. All I was doing was pointing out that the very fact that we can make such "cause of the year" predictions is indicative of the donor-centric, fragmented design of philanthropy. As it is now, and as it will be until the rules change. Not just the players (social enterprise, SeaChange partners, etc. etc) but the rules themselves.<br /><br />I just today picked up HBR which features a solid article from Porter and Kramer on "Reinventing Capitalism" It has a compelling argument and great examples of businesses creating shared value and how this is reinventing capitalism. Where does the article fall short (in my opinion) - in thinking that these new behaviors, new players, are by themselves enough to change the rules of the game. To their credit, they include two short sidebars on new regulations. I know its HBR and no one in business wants to talk about regulation (Except behind closed doors to manipulate them to their advantage). But that's the issue - new players are great - they incite and promote and innovate new futures. But the design element is in the rules. <br /><br />To clarify, I did not mean to comment, positively or negatively, on any of Bishop's predictions OTHER than the "causes of the year" comment. Nor was I taking issue with the causes he picks, who knows, he may well be right. But as long as philanthropy functions in such a way that "this year is Blue and next year is Pink" then its not designed to solve long term problems. <br /><br />Should it be? Now, that's a different question. <br /><br />BTW - I don't have a middle name.Lucy Bernholzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09253941214286179394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-5601018702250263862010-12-22T22:32:01.038-05:002010-12-22T22:32:01.038-05:00This comment has been hidden from the blog.Pathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00863234038530540216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-10497451118301232702010-12-02T15:06:10.535-05:002010-12-02T15:06:10.535-05:00A hearty "hear, hear!" to your comments ...A hearty "hear, hear!" to your comments here, Steve -- could not agree more. <br /><br />I would add that this train is heading down the tracks and there is little point in trying to derail it now -- "vast improvements over the information donors have now" is increasingly all that donors need to hear in order to take these new tools seriously. Arguing that donors should wait until perfectly fair and comprehensive tools are available, with their only alternatives being either to keep flying blind or to become personal experts in all the intricacies of evaluating the effectiveness of non-profits -- that's just a nonstarter now in the real world, particularly with the generations of adults younger than us Boomers.<br />Personally as a professional lifer in this wonderful sector I'm enormously glad of that shift in attitude/assumption, am only frustrated that it's taken so long to start gaining traction. But whether you love it or hate it is at this point immaterial -- it's here.Paul Bottshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18408795160241389856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-11712540680594451462010-12-01T13:09:42.627-05:002010-12-01T13:09:42.627-05:00I have to agree that few donors want to put in the...I have to agree that few donors want to put in the time and effort to evaluate charities themselves. I developed the online tool The Charity Rater to walk donors through the steps of evaluating a charity, unfortunately few people have been willing to commit the 10 - 20 minutes it takes to go through the process themselves.Saundrahttp://goodintents.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-77272984341018485932010-12-01T11:46:42.097-05:002010-12-01T11:46:42.097-05:00Thanks for the very thoughtful response. The reas...Thanks for the very thoughtful response. The reasons for the disconnect between funding and performance are myriad and complex. There are no easy ways to connect philanthropy to impact, as is apparent by how many smart people have been thinking about the issue for a really long time. I agree with your premise that money often doesn’t flow to the most highly effective nonprofits and that many donors won’t or can’t do the type of analysis required to ascertain social impact. <br /><br />Better analytical tools and the aggregation of financial and programmatic data can certainly help donors make more informed giving decisions. But I don’t think the answer to is to pick winners and losers based on new measures or ratios that may have unproven correlation to performance and that often don’t account for business model variation. Likewise, I fear we too often assume that organizations that provide more information are necessarily imparting more evidence of success. More is often just more, not better. <br /><br />There are many interesting experiments out there. I look forward to seeing whether they ultimately activate higher impact philanthropy.Rebecca Thomashttp://nonprofitfinancefund.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-37558007489501362862010-10-07T12:41:23.035-04:002010-10-07T12:41:23.035-04:00Steve,
This is a very comprehensive post indeed ...Steve, <br /><br />This is a very comprehensive post indeed on the future of nonprofit financing and collaboration. It's my hope that as you develop this, efficiencies will be further imbibed in the daily processes of nonprofit organizations.Yancey Arts Consultinghttp://yanceyartsconsulting.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-72317869779364181902010-09-22T13:02:09.098-04:002010-09-22T13:02:09.098-04:00Steve, I don’t think our arguments are that far of...Steve, I don’t think our arguments are that far off from each other. I absolutely agree with you that capacity capital is an enormous need in the nonprofit sector, and what George is doing for growth capital should be done for capacity capital.<br /><br />However, there are a couple of areas where I do disagree with your argument.<br /><br />First, I don’t think anyone has yet come up with a final definition for scale. What is “scale”? Does it mean that everyone in a city who could benefit from a nonprofit’s program has access to that program? Or everyone in the county, state, country, world? Or does it mean that the underlying system is changed? Or does it mean that policy has changed? What is true scale? I imagine that it’s probably different for each organization.<br /><br />Therefore, if there is a small organization that is providing a powerful and unique solution, shouldn’t they be able to expand that solution, not through incremental growth, which is the nonprofit norm, but by factoral growth, which growth capital allows? Take my example of English at Work that provides a unique solution to English language needs at the workplace. They are currently offering their program only in Austin, TX, but the program could address enormous needs in the state of Texas, or in the Southwest region, or perhaps throughout the country. And honestly, they don’t have a lot of competitors right now. So what’s holding them back from really expanding this program to an ever growing population of immigrants? Growth capital. But English at Work would never catch the eye of the Nonprofit Finance Fund or New Profit or any other venture philanthropy fund or proponent of growth capital. So what English at Work and Social Velocity are doing instead is creating a growth plan and then educating their current and potential funders in their network about the power of growth capital.<br /><br />Nonprofits like English at Work and the countless others who have a great solution and a vision for growth don’t have the luxury of sitting around waiting for the nonprofit capital market to evolve to a place where the bottom 80% of nonprofits have access to growth capital.<br /><br />Second, creating a growth capital campaign doesn’t have to be prohibitively expensive for smaller nonprofits. Sure they can’t afford the larger fees that Nonprofit Finance Fund might charge, but they also don’t need that kind of money to be able to grow. Heart House is another example. They want to expand their afterschool program for at-risk kids throughout the state of Texas. They’ve put together a comprehesive growth plan to do this and the price tag is just north of $1 million. They have already raised a good chunk of that money, not from venture philanthropy funds, but again from their own circle of donors and friends who they are educating about the power of growth capital.<br /><br />I think George, the Nonprofit Finance Fund, Charity Navigator, you and many others are doing a phenomenal job of bringing the ideas of growth capital and capacity capital to the consciousness of funders, regulators, nonprofits, etc. The case studies that NFF has provided are fabulous tools for those on the frontlines of the nonprofit sector wanting to raise growth and capacity capital, but needing help articulating and providing examples to donors, board members and others about what it is and what it can do.<br /><br />The good news is that growth and capacity capital are already being raised among smaller nonprofits. So let’s not tell them to wait. Let’s give them more tools and examples to do more. Because the number of problems facing local and regional communities is only getting worse. Those smaller nonprofits that have solutions need all the help they can get to bring those solutions to more people.Nell Edgingtonhttp://www.socialvelocity.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-19201692656025044842010-09-15T15:52:46.647-04:002010-09-15T15:52:46.647-04:00Very interesting post. Couple of quick comments.....Very interesting post. Couple of quick comments....<br /><br />1) In my experience many people (funders, nonprofits, philanthropists) try to paint these issues as two extremes: purist and pragmatist. However, much like life, there are many shades of gray here. I think the key is getting people to understand that there are many kinds and types of evaluation appropriate for different situations. <br /><br />2) Funders and philanthropists are both very focused on "scalability" and "replication". These concepts are really targeted towards services and interventions that are VERY well focused and serve populations with risk factors and needs that are VERY well defined. And that is why RCTs are strongly supported for these programs. However, most nonprofit interventions don't fit these criteria, and over the years, it seems like 'is it scalable?' has become a more important question than 'does it work?'<br /><br />3) The evaluation community itself is probably 3-5 years ahead in their thinking (compared to funders, philanthropists, and nonprofits) on these concepts. Most evaluators now value the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods to measure effectiveness, and most shy away from RCTs unless very specific conditions exist. Unfortunately, others (funders, politicians, and philanthropists) only know the language of RCTs and create pressure on evaluators to use methods that might not be the most appropriate so they can win a contract. <br /><br />4) It is possible to do an RCT and do performance management at the same time - the key is all in program design, evaluation design, and articulation of research questions. We are doing exactly this with our SIF funded program called the Promotores Pathway. <br /><br />Isaac Castillo<br />Director of Research and Evaluation<br />Latin American Youth CenterIsaac Castillohttp://www.layc-dc.org/index.php/results.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-81539019424389237302010-09-01T13:14:39.679-04:002010-09-01T13:14:39.679-04:00This comment has been hidden from the blog.sector3reporthttp://wwwsector3report.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-60903183208075658722010-09-01T13:05:15.714-04:002010-09-01T13:05:15.714-04:00Great post, Steve. I would love to get your thoug...Great post, Steve. I would love to get your thoughts on my blog post in response to Sean Stannard-Stockton's comments about "giving away" the entire grant applications submitted to SIF. You have provoking ideas and I always like and am open to a good challenge. <br />http://sector3report.com/archives/227#comments<br /><br />thanks - Bethsector3reporthttp://www.sector3report.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-48222372434242789902010-08-30T18:59:39.616-04:002010-08-30T18:59:39.616-04:00Isaac, congratulations on your SIF grant and for i...Isaac, congratulations on your SIF grant and for integrating evaluation into strategic planning. LAYC's approach confirms that performance management can attract funding.Steve Goldberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06106824600318886347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141831867777566890.post-78057979648338841392010-08-30T15:57:51.126-04:002010-08-30T15:57:51.126-04:00You can find all of the Latin American Youth Cente...You can find all of the Latin American Youth Center's (LAYC) publically availalbe outcome data here: <br /><br />http://www.layc-dc.org/index.php/results.html<br /><br />LAYC is one of Venture Philanthropy Partners' pre-selected subgrantees. The specifc program that is supported throught the SIF (the Promotores Pathway) can be found here: <br /><br />http://www.layc-dc.org/index.php/programs/promotores.htmlIsaac Castillohttp://www.layc-dc.org/index.php/results.htmlnoreply@blogger.com