By Michael Hickey, Independent Community Development Consultant - Ask anybody, and I mean anybody, about evaluating the effectiveness of nonprofit service providers and you will be greeted by winces, whines, shrugs, groans, gnashing of teeth, sighs, and the burying of faces in flattened palms. And by anybody I don't just mean any nonprofit service provider - I mean as well our beloved philanthropic leaders and public sector partners. After all, we're talking about an industry that in 2009 paid 9% of all wages, contributed 5.4% of GDP, reported revenues of $1.4 trillion, and held some $2.56 trillion in assets. Why can't we find a way to tell how effective this industry is with our money (both public and private dollars)? How hard can it be? Read more >>
News & Views
A blog for those interested in what affects, motivates and drives the New York City Nonprofit Sector — written by CRE’s crackerjack consulting team. We hope you use this space to share your thoughts, ask questions and engage in conversations about our city, social justice and the nonprofit sector.
Why Evaluation Stinks
Evidence of Doing Good
by Louisa Hackett - For those of us trying to make the world a better place, figuring out a way to study, understand and assess the interventions we make is critical to improving the work we do. Read more >>
Is Your Agency (or Grantee) Starved for Data?
By Barbara Blumenthal - Funders dream about collecting data from agencies that will answer important questions about participant progress and agency performance. Read more >>
Paying the Piper or Capacity Costs
by Valyrie Laedlein - Today I feel compelled to use this forum as a soap box -- to express my dismay with what seems an incongruous set of assumptions that are embedded in a critically important program being launched by our Federal government – assumptions which should concern all nonprofits. Read more >>
Is Evaluation an Infection?
by Louisa Hackett - Recently, a few community-based organizations, evaluators and funders gathered at the City University of New York Graduate Center to discuss, as one participant described it, the accountability regime eating us. Read more >>
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