CSR, nonprofit, and foundation professionals see the fall leaves turn and smell something in the air – conferences. The economy didn’t change the attendance numbers, energy, or engagement at this year’s Independent Sector Conference in Detroit, Michigan or the NetImpact Conference in Ithaca, New York. This particular thoughtscrap will focus on the highlights from the Independent Sector Conference in Detroit, Michigan.    The opening plenary by Melody Barnes, President Obama’s chief domestic policy advisor, was nothing short of insightful and inspirational. I’m glad she gets to play golf with President Obama.   

A recent article on Change.org addresses the commonly made assertion: There are too many nonprofits.  The author argues, rightly in my judgment, that the total number of nonprofits is irrelevant.  "What we need to be talking about," he asserts, "is how to get more good nonprofits, and fewer bad ones."

  It has become common practice for nonprofits and corporations to partner in a variety of ways. One could involve a corporation sponsoring a nonprofit event. Another kind of partnership could involve co-creation of a product line specific to that partnership. According to Mark Kramer’s recent article, “Catalytic Philanthropy” in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (Fall 2009), it’s not only beneficial but absolutely necessary for the two sectors to collaborate, leveraging all available resources, in order to achieve the next generation of long-term social impact. 

At a recent client meeting, the Executive Director of a large advocacy and policy organization frustratingly asked, “I wish I had a way to measure our work, in a way that makes sense not only internally, but externally…how can I measure policy and advocacy work?” We hear similar sentiments from the majority of clients, especially those that work on policy and advocacy. Achieving policy change can take years and at the end of the day, is typically measured based on whether or not a piece of legislation has been passed. We, and the people who live and breathe policy and advocacy work, understand that there are many intermediate steps that happen in order to get to that point.

FSG recently published an excellent report that profiles the state of nonprofit measurement.  It points to key trends in the sector such as the adoption of web-based data collection mechanisms and the burgeoning importance of operational performance monitoring in a sector that has typically equated “measurement” with longitudinal evaluations.

A pair of studies conducted the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy shows the incredible impact which can be generated through advocacy and policy work. The studies, part of the Grantmaking for Community Impact Project and described here by Philanthropy Journal's Todd Cohen found that "Thirteen groups that work with underrepresented constituencies in North Carolina received $20.4 million from 2003 through 2007 to support advocacy and community organizing, an investment that generated benefits worth over $1.8 billion."  As Cohen points out, that's $89 in benefits for every $1 invested.  In New Mexico, the figure was nearly twice that.