Steve's Book
DaBook: How to Show Off Your Wicked Strong Sexy and Incredibly Effective Nonprofit
…while attracting the supporters, funders, and partners you’ve always wanted…while being the change you want to see […]
EVALUATION
PROGRAM EVALUATION
The Corrupting Power of Numbers
There’s a hopeful mantra going around in evaluation circles that “you get what you measure.” Personally, I don’t believe it; I’ve been trying to measure social justice for years, and I can’t say I’ve seen […]
PROGRAM EVALUATION
Wanted: Better Evaluation Practices for a Better Philanthropy
Philanthropy by definition is a noble endeavor. Yet people want to know, “what good does philanthropy do?” The answer is hard to get, partly because philanthropy doesn’t really want to know, and evaluation doesn’t really know how to serve up good answers. This article illuminates the dilemma. […]
EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY
The Way We Think About Charity Is Dead Wrong
In his TED talk, “The way we think about charity is dead wrong,” Dan Pallotta, activist and fundraiser, makes many interesting and provocative points about the dysfunctional nature of our society’s “philanthropic market.” I cheer […]
JUST PHILANTHROPY
Fundable goals for advocacy: strong networks of support
In my last post, I described advocacy as giving voice to a cause — say homelessness prevention, or gun violence prevention, or downtown viability – so that it might progress and succeed. And I said […]
JUST PHILANTHROPY
What is “advocacy”?
“Advocacy” is from Latin, meaning to give voice to a cause that it might progress and succeed. The practice of advocacy has recently gained legitimacy and momentum as a strategy for promoting social change. Wikipedia […]
PROGRAM EVALUATION
Evaluating “Occupy Wall Street”
Like many, I’m intrigued by this Occupy Wall Street movement. And why not? It purports to voice both the pain and the interests of the 99% of Americans who are harmed by the richest 1%. […]
EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPY
Power Dynamics in the Philanthropic Sector?
There has long been perceived a kind of class warfare between foundations who have the money, and nonprofits who beg for the money. This is summed up by one of my favorite quotes, “Ah, philanthropy, […]
PROGRAM EVALUATION
A Stakeholders Union for Philanthropic and Nonprofit Services
In developing our Stakeholders Union, an independent philanthropy testing service, we’ll need to develop a testing process. But first we’ll need to decide what kind of philanthropic service we want to test – our neighborhood […]
PROGRAM EVALUATION
A Consumers Union for Philanthropy?
In response to a comment on the subject of “pay for performance in the social services” I suggested that rather than have government workers police the cost of outcomes, it would be useful to form […]