We've all read an annual report that lists each grant made in detail, page after page of painful detail in some cases.  Ok, so they gave $2,000,000 to the Mr. and Mrs. Do-good Foundation.  I wonder what they were able to do with that money.   I wonder why they chose $2,000,000.  If it's such a good cause, why not $3,000,000? ...

Nonprofits fall on difficult financial times. Competition for funding is getting fierce. Foundation endowments decline by 25%. Donors want to understand their return on investment. Organizations are closing their doors.  While these are the current and most pervasive headlines about the nonprofit sector, there is another kind of conversation and groundswell of activity percolating: how to best measure or assess social impact. It is no longer enough for organizations to say that they do good work because their mission statement references the social change that they aim to generate. Today, more and more organizations are looking for, developing and finding meaningful ways to understand and communicate the results of their work.  ...

To all of you who thought comparing apples and oranges was impossible – think again.  Scientists at Yale University’s Griffin Prevention Research Center have developed a food scoring system intended to help consumers make better decisions about the food they eat.  Using a scale from 1-100, the algorithm scores foods ranging from apples to oranges to hamburgers to tomato soup to… ...

To all of you who thought comparing apples and oranges was impossible – think again.  Scientists at Yale University’s Griffin Prevention Research Center have developed a food scoring system intended to help consumers make better decisions about the food they eat.  Using a scale from 1-100, the algorithm scores foods ranging from apples to oranges to hamburgers to tomato soup to…

A lot can change in 10 years.  But can high school drop-out rates be cut in half by 2018?  United Way of America (UWA) recently announced, among other things, that it will strive to do just that.  At first blush, this is an impressive statement!  At second glance, one wonders how UWA will accomplish this, given that decades of effort and millions of dollars have failed to solve the issue.   ...

For consumers looking to reduce the size of their carbon footprint, an examination of the food they purchase seems like a logical place to begin. Aside from sleeping and working (for better or worse), what aspect of day-to-day existence owns a more prevalent role than eating?  Environmentalists have numerous suggestions about how to green our diets.  Just as nutritionists refer dieters to the Nutrition Facts label, environmentalists would like to guide food purchases based on a Carbon label placed on each product.  And much like traditional dieting fads, eco-dieting advice has changed dramatically in recent years, as the environmental efficiency of food becomes more accurately measured. ...

For consumers looking to reduce the size of their carbon footprint, an examination of the food they purchase seems like a logical place to begin. Aside from sleeping and working (for better or worse), what aspect of day-to-day existence owns a more prevalent role than eating?  Environmentalists have numerous suggestions about how to green our diets.  Just as nutritionists refer dieters to the Nutrition Facts label, environmentalists would like to guide food purchases based on a Carbon label placed on each product.  And much like traditional dieting fads, eco-dieting advice has changed dramatically in recent years, as the environmental efficiency of food becomes more accurately measured.

Recently, a client asked me to review a new grant proposal that they received from a current grantee. The proposal outlined a very interesting new project to address issues of interest to our client – a funder. As we discussed the proposal, I asked “Which of your priority outcomes does this grant help you to accomplish?”My client colleague said “Hmmm, I am not sure. This is a great partner, a good organization and work that seems really interesting, but as I look at our Impact Framework (an organized list of the funder’s priority outcomes that they aim to achieve), I am not clear about how this new project fits with the things that we have articulated as our priority outcomes.” ...

Great article below! Yesterday at the Kellogg School of Management class that I teach, I proclaimed “strategic planning” dead. Morbid, I know. But the point is that “old school” tools and consulting techniques– like strategic planning, board governance and program evaluation - are increasingly irrelevant in today’s world of social change. Instead these are being replaced by new more business-derived techniques like Benchmarking, Success Equations, even dare I say Logic Models. These new set of tools are practitioner-focused, easy-to-use, non-academic and tied directly to mission success. Anyway, the below is further to the point… ...

Great article below! Yesterday at the Kellogg School of Management class that I teach, I proclaimed “strategic planning” dead. Morbid, I know. But the point is that “old school” tools and consulting techniques– like strategic planning, board governance and program evaluation - are increasingly irrelevant in today’s world of social change. Instead these are being replaced by new more business-derived techniques like Benchmarking, Success Equations, even dare I say Logic Models. These new set of tools are practitioner-focused, easy-to-use, non-academic and tied directly to mission success. Anyway, the below is further to the point…