Search Results for: non-profit

  The goal of the Community Analytics and Learning team at nFocus Solutions is to support learning that creates positive social change in the youth and community-based sectors. Today, as a way of contributing to the larger conversation around how best to use data and research in creating social impact,...

Since at least the early ‘90s, those involved in the generation of more than money have been on a quest to capture the right balance between documentation of impact and claims to same. For me personally, I have been a reluctant crusader in this quest for coming on thirty years....

  To dramatically expand opportunity and improve the lives of young people, their families and communities, government policy and funding decisions must be informed by the best possible data and evidence about impact. In short, government at all levels must be committed to “investing in what works.” To make this...

In November, I facilitated a mini-innovation lab on measuring impact for grantees of the Google Nonprofit program at the Impact Hub. The hot button issue was capacity, skills, and lack of resources. It was articulated as: “We don’t have the skills to analyze, slice and dice, and make sense of our data,...

  Several months ago we published an article highlighting a website called ‘DIY Toolkit’ – a digital ‘do it yourself’ online resource for nonprofits.   The reason for us bringing this (back) to your attention, is they have updated their website with new videos and blogs to better support nonprofits....

  Recently, I co-facilitated the “Impact Leadership Track” at the NTEN Leading Change Summit with John Kenyon, Elissa Perry, and Londell Jackson. Our track was one of three, where participants could take a deep dive into a topic and learn from peers through dialogue. The event also included plenary speakers,...

  “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”   –  Buckminster Fuller Today’s social and environmental challenges seem to be more complex and intractable than ever before. Will we be able to resolve critical global...

  For the past several years, the philanthropic world has tested strategies to create programs that don’t rely solely on grant funding. Because self-sustaining programs can have impact beyond the duration of a grant, they are a more efficient use of philanthropic funds. In this post, I’m going to examine...

In The Death of Evaluation, Andrew Means writes an obituary for “traditional, social science driven program evaluation.” His second post, The Role of Data, more finely articulates his argument. This post is my reaction to both, as well as my reflections on the appropriate role of evaluation and data in applied nonprofit...

‘We need a global conversation about data, social change, and digital civil society’ states Lucy Bernholz in a fascinating new blogpost. Lucy documents her recent travels to Beijing, China, and São Paolo, Brazil – two thriving cities in countries with similar attitudes to data, yet stark contrasts in position and ability to...