book

Trust, Impact, and Fundraising for Nonprofits

Name: Trust, Impact, and Fundraising for Nonprofits
Author: Kenneth Phillips
ISBN: 9781000842456

by Kenneth Phillips

March 2023

Intermediate to advanced

272 pages

10h 17m

English

Routledge

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Cover
Endorsements
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Contributors
Foreword
Preface

Acknowledgments
Notes
About the Author
Look for these paperback books and e-books in Ken Phillips’ Civil Society Series
Bibliography
Introduction The importance of the charitable sector and its two biggest challenges
The two biggest challenges – Ethics and evaluationWhat is the question?Trust and impact are the answersLet's be perfectly clear …NotesBibliography
Part I: Meaningful ethics for trust
Nonprofit ethics and building trustTo be awesome!Teamwork is exhilarating!NotesBibliography
1 Funding in the charitable sector – Large but underperforming
The U.S. charity sector is large but underperformingTotal donations of $484.9 billion could grow to $969.8 billionNonprofits need to look inwardValue of money to the donor and to charity – How to increase total social value to societyWhat about the value of money for the recipient charity and society?NotesBibliography
2 Possible causes for the underperformance of funding
Hypothesis 1: People don't have enough moneyHypothesis 2: The needs are already being metHypothesis 3: Tax benefits don't provide enough incentive for donationsHypothesis 4: Charity and generosity have decreased these days – People just don't careMuch research has confirmed that helping others is important for the helpers, too. Two examplesHypothesis 5: Nonprofits don't have enough trust, impact, or non-fundraising communicationNotesBibliography
3 Decrease in public trust in NGOs and the importance of speaking up
Some good news …Earn trust through six qualitiesA new mandate for nonprofits: Send communications that do not ask for moneyCHALLENGE #1: NGOs must communicate more about all they do for beneficiaries and for society (not just fundraising)Here's the proof communications helpCHALLENGE #2: Nonprofit leaders must step up and speak out as authorities on the needs in society, the many roles of NGOs, and progress toward important goalsCHALLENGE #3: Corporate CEOs should step up and speak out as business leaders and advocates for NGOs about the importance of civil societyTrust is precariousNotesBibliography
4 How to earn trust and implement the seven imperatives for meaningful ethics to be trusted and to increase funding
PRIORITY #1: Make sure your nonprofit is functioning well – An absolute requirementSpecial obligations for nonprofitsNonprofit roles and responsibilitiesExcellence in governance and management – A first priority for trustPRIORITY #2: Achieve real impact for beneficiaries and results for societyPRIORITY #3: Adopt and enforce a meaningful organization-wide code of ethicsWhat is a meaningful code of ethics?PRIORITY #4: Commit to transparency and accountability and establish an independent Chief Trust Officer in the organizationPRIORITY #5: Enable everyone in the organization to step up with responsibility to improve operations, especially to ensure trust and impactSpotlight on the five prioritiesNotesBibliography
5 InterAction case study – Drafting a code of ethics in a participatory process for greater ownership
Developing the code of ethics (called the InterAction PVO Standards)A participatory process results in greater ownershipInterAction's experience with the PVO Standards (NGO Code of Ethics)Assistance and complianceNotesBibliography
6 Three progressive case studies – Developing stronger codes of ethics with external verification
Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations' self-assessment and peer review processNational Council for Voluntary Organization's self-assessment and external verification processInternational Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' self-assessment and external expert review process with the possibility of sanctionsIt is critical to supplement self-assessment with an independent reviewNotesBibliography
7 Rhode Island case study – Ensuring enforcement and sanctions for more effective codes of ethics
Learn from the Rhode Island experience to achieve meaningful ethicsNotesBibliography
8 Twelve lessons to earn trust – Clarity, assessments, sanctions, reporting, and more
LESSON 1: Both financial support and volunteer support for nonprofits depend on trustLESSON 2: Board members, staff, and volunteers need clear ethical standards to assure they are doing things in a proper way and to be held accountableLESSON 3: Board members, staff, and volunteers should be involved in a participatory process to develop, apply, and assess the code to assure ethical behaviorLESSON 4: The board of directors should draft and affirm its own written code of ethicsLESSON 5: Every organization should have a system to encourage and act on complaints, concerns, and whistleblowing about possible infractionsLESSON 6: Individual NGOs and NGO associations must be serious about their codes of ethicsLESSON 7: An organization should be prepared to deal with a scandalLESSON 8: Nonprofits and their NGO associations benefit by developing a culture of sharing about ethicsLESSON 9: It has often been the initiative of one person to introduce and generate support for a code of ethics for an NGO or associationLESSON 10: The fundraising director can take the lead in all these activities when there is need to do soLESSON 11: You can play a role at the national level and become known as an advocate for strong codes of ethics for all nonprofitsLESSON 12: To gain a full measure of trust, an organization needs self-assessments, external verification, enforcement, sanctions, and reporting to support a code of ethicsTwelve realities to considerNotesBibliography
9 Worksheet for ethics and trust
Questions before implementationDrafting a meaningful code of ethics (or code of conduct) for your organization
PART II Strategic evaluation for respect
10 Strategic evaluation for impact
Data about trust and impact and donations are clear and convincingPhilanthropy in America is in deep crisisNotesBibliography
11 Problems with monitoring and evaluation – Resistance and donor mandates
Overcoming resistance to monitoring and evaluationWhat's right and what's wrong with donor-mandated evaluationWhy not more funding for nonprofit organizations?NotesBibliography
12 From project management to capacity building to strategic evaluation
Let's step backWhat is strategic evaluation?Cautions from examples: Why every nonprofit needs strategic evaluationThe better approach for mentoring and learning (M&L) for better resultsNotesBibliography
13 Strategic evaluation – A powerful tool for learning and increasing impact
To become a more supporting, verifying, and learning organizationSteps to make evaluation strategic – Strategy is about how you will do somethingEight priority disciplines in the strategic evaluation process – Each is a tool for mentoring, evaluating, learning, and improvingAre YOU up to this challenge?NotesBibliography
14 How to implement the eight priority disciplines in strategic evaluation for better programs, more funding, expanded programs, and more engaged employees
DISCIPLINE 1: Board responsibility – Establish strategic evaluation as policy and priorityAction steps for the board of directorsDISCIPLINE 2: Management responsibility – Implement strategic evaluation as strategy and practiceAction steps for managersA brief digression on good strategic and operational planningDISCIPLINE 3: A culture of learning – How to assure mentoring and learning (M&L) improve resultsAction steps for a culture of learning and developmentDISCIPLINE 4: Mentoring (with monitoring) – How to be an effective supervisor for supporting, correcting, learning, and achievingAction steps for effective monitoring as mentoringDISCIPLINE 5: Evaluation of program strategy – How to be certain your program strategy is validAction steps to validate strategyDISCIPLINE 6: Evaluation of long-term results – How to know what impact you actually achieveAction steps for evaluation of results and lasting impactDISCIPLINE 7: Organizational self-assessment – How to learn and improve from each otherAction steps for organizational self-assessmentDISCIPLINE 8: Mutual accountability – How to know you are working well with partnersAction steps for mutual accountability with partnersNotesBibliography
15 Eight case studies – Progressing to strategic evaluation with data, research, learning, and accountability
Case study: Embedded evaluation in everything you do, so you always know where you areCase study: Action research or action learning as a first step to learn and developCase study: Training in monitoring and evaluation as a standard for good managementCase study: Measurable results and quality control to know how you are progressingCase study: From progress tracking to strategy assessment to getting a better program strategyCase study: Monitoring and evaluation with data for better learning and greater impactCase study: Integrated participatory planning, monitoring, and evaluation for learning and impactCase study: From an M&E beginning to a complete MEAL with accountability and learningCase study: Measurement, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) for partner NGOsNotesBibliography
16 Three case studies – Developing strategic evaluation in practice
EXAMPLE 1. Save the Children US – Evaluation for program development and learningDeveloping new program strategy at Save the Children USUsing ongoing evaluations to learn and growHow evaluation has changed for the best NGOsHow evaluation contributed to a poverty alleviation and nutrition program in VietnamData-driven evaluations help to win a $50 million grant for newborn childrenDevelopment of retrospective impact evaluation (RIE) and research evidence and learning (REL)EXAMPLE 2. Plan International – A comprehensive approach to evaluation and learningEarly efforts at evaluationNext steps included new grants, more meaningful evaluations, and an emphasis on qualityImplementing a new corporate planning, monitoring, and evaluation system (CPME)The next step: Adding a program audit (PA)Strategic thinking is informed by evaluation dataOngoing, in-depth evaluation is key to becoming a learning organization (LO)Improving habitat: An example of evaluation, learning, and development (ELD)Plan's current approach: Monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL)EXAMPLE 3. InterTeam – A model for smaller organizations that cannot afford sophisticated evaluation processesDeveloping a new evaluation method in a consortiumSoft indicators versus measurable verificationConclusions from the shared evaluation processHow can YOU implement strategic evaluation to improve your impact?NotesBibliography
17 Lessons for leaders, managers, fundraisers, and grantmakers for trust and impact
To have better results and raise more money, address ethics for trust and evaluation for impactLessons about earning trust by behaving well and achieving impactLessons about demonstrating excellence in managementLessons about involving participants in sustainability and impactLessons to strengthen the NGO sectorLessons from grantmakersLessons for grantmakers to further the development of societyLessons about stepping up to lead inside your NGOConclusionNotesBibliography
18 Worksheets for evaluation, learning, and impact
Worksheet I: Assessment of the evaluation process by an evaluation specialistWorksheet II: Review – How we used the different evaluation disciplinesWorksheet III: Report by each department directorWorksheet IV: Report by the person responsible for monitoring and evaluation
About the author Get involved! Step up! It is easy to do.
As initiator and supporter of codes of ethics and evaluationAs author on NGO ethics and evaluationAs a presenter on ethics and evaluation at workshops and classesAs a researcherHonored with many awards and recognitionAs an activist where I lived or worked – I did it and you can, too
Index

Overview

Distilling decades of leadership expertise into an effective framework, this is a practical guidebook for nonprofits around the globe, with practical recommendations for the urgently needed steps to make this a better world.

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