Blog

Prioritizing grant projects wasn't anything new to us as a nonprofit, but when we started delving into consulting projects, we grappled with the best processes for ensuring they were on budget, on time and of high quality, and the best way to select new projects. Many nonprofits are already familiar with concepts like the Dual-bottom Line matrix for prioritizing grant projects, where organizations are trying to find a happy medium between financial sustainability and strong mission impact alignment. High mission impact, high sustainability projects are no brainers to take on. Low mission impact, low sustainability programs are probably opportunities the organization should stop pursuing. Then deciding between high impact low sustainability and low impact high sustainability projects depend on resources such as time and money. Hopefully, your organization has a good portfolio of projects allowing for an overall organizational balance of mission impact and financial sustainability. read more »

On Learning Communities and Networks...

A new case study from Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and RCLA is available, The Power of Learning: How Learning Communities Amplify the Work of Nonprofits and Grantmakers, which explores the learning community at the heart of the Community Clinics Initiative’s (CCI) Networking for Community Health program. Valdis Krebs offers a summary of core-periphery networks in The Network Thinkers blog. A link to the Building Smart Communities through Network Weaving white paper is included here.

On Evaluation...

Beth Kanter, author of Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World, interviews Mario Marino who wrote the book, Leap of Reason:  Managing to Outcomes, on the question, “What is the Funder’s Role in Supporting Good Measurement?” in her recent blog post. Curtis Ogden summarizes thoughts from the second Vermont Farm to Plate Network Convening, where participants defined how the network has enabled new and positive accomplishments.

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Global Action Networks: a Breakthrough Innovation
By Steve Waddell of Networking Action: Organizing for the 21st Century

Steve Waddell follows up on his recent webinar Global Action Networks, and provides links to resources and information on the upcoming Virtual Course: Network Development Challenges below.
 

Common good global action has never broken down:  only with globalization do we understand the need to build it up.  Some lament the lack of global government to address critical issues and opportunities, some theorize about the way global government should be developed, and some are actively creating new ways to take decisions and action for the global common good.  The way that interests me most is Global Action Networks (GANs).  These are emerging as meta-networks, catching in their webs the vast variety of organizations that exist, including governments, corporations and NGOs.  They are an organizational innovation that will undoubtedly become increasingly important. read more »