Trust, Impact, and Fundraising for Nonprofits: How Meaningful Ethics and Strategic Evaluation Can Multiply Your Revenue and Expand Your Program

Description

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. Charities in the United States and NGOs globally need to overcome two glaring and persistent weaknesses in the eyes of potential donors: trustworthiness and effectiveness. After examining possible causes for these deficits, fundraising and organizational development guru Ken Phillips guides readers through the process that leads to greater trust and respect by donors, better results for beneficiaries, significantly increased funding, and better and bigger programs. Alongside helpful worksheets, he presents seven steps to make sure ethics are meaningful, eight disciplines to ensure programs achieve good results, and a communications approach to demonstrate responsibility and accountability, all interwoven with inspiring case studies from his own international experience and other organizations’ stories. Staff and volunteers at registered nonprofits around the world, as well as any individual or group raising funds more informally, will value this guide to empower organizations to win trust, raise more funds, and achieve greater program impact. 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 evaluation What is the question? Trust and impact are the answers Let's be perfectly clear ... Notes Bibliography Part I: Meaningful ethics for trust Nonprofit ethics and building trust To be awesome! Teamwork is exhilarating! Notes Bibliography Chapter 1: Funding in the charitable sector - Large but underperforming The U.S. charity sector is large but underperforming Total donations of $484.9 billion could grow to $969.8 billion Nonprofits need to look inward Value of money to the donor and to charity - How to increase total social value to society What about the value of money for the recipient charity and society? Notes Bibliography Chapter 2: Possible causes for the underperformance of funding Hypothesis 1: People don't have enough money Individual giving as percent of disposable income Corporate giving as a percentage of corporate pretax profits Hypothesis 2: The needs are already being met Hypothesis 3: Tax benefits don't provide enough incentive for donations Hypothesis 4: Charity and generosity have decreased these days - People just don't care Much research has confirmed that helping others is important for the helpers, too. Two examples Hypothesis 5: Nonprofits don't have enough trust, impact, or non-fundraising communication Notes Bibliography Chapter 3: Decrease in public trust in NGOs and the importance of speaking up Some good news ... Earn trust through six qualities A new mandate for nonprofits: Send communications that do not ask for money CHALLENGE #1: NGOs must communicate more about all they do for beneficiaries and for society (not just fundraising) Here's the proof communications help CHALLENGE #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 goals CHALLENGE #3: Corporate CEOs should step up and speak out as business leaders and advocates for NGOs about the importance of civil society Trust is precarious Notes Bibliography Chapter 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 requirement Special obligations for nonprofits Nonprofit roles and responsibilities Excellence in governance and management - A first priority for trust PRIORITY #2: Achieve real impact for beneficiaries and results for society PRIORITY #3: Adopt and enforce a meaningful organization-wide code of ethics What is a meaningful code of ethics? PRIORITY #4: Commit to transparency and accountability and establish an independent Chief Trust Officer in the organization PRIORITY #5: Enable everyone in the organization to step up with responsibility to improve operations, especially to ensure trust and impact Spotlight on the five priorities Notes Bibliography Chapter 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 ownership InterAction's experience with the PVO Standards (NGO Code of Ethics) Assistance and compliance Notes Bibliography Chapter 6: Three progressive case studies - Developing stronger codes of ethics with external verification Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations' self-assessment and peer review process National Council for Voluntary Organization's self-assessment and external verification process International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' self-assessment and external expert review process with the possibility of sanctions It is critical to supplement self-assessment with an independent review Notes Bibliography Chapter 7: Rhode Island case study - Ensuring enforcement and sanctions for more effective codes of ethics Learn from the Rhode Island experience to achieve meaningful ethics Notes Bibliography Chapter 8: Twelve lessons to earn trust - Clarity, assessments, sanctions, reporting, and more LESSON 1: Both financial support and volunteer support for nonprofits depend on trust LESSON 2: Board members, staff, and volunteers need clear ethical standards to assure they are doing things in a proper way and to be held accountable LESSON 3: Board members, staff, and volunteers should be involved in a participatory process to develop, apply, and assess the code to assure ethical behavior LESSON 4: The board of directors should draft and affirm its own written code of ethics LESSON 5: Every organization should have a system to encourage and act on complaints, concerns, and whistleblowing about possible infractions LESSON 6: Individual NGOs and NGO associations must be serious about their codes of ethics LESSON 7: An organization should be prepared to deal with a scandal LESSON 8: Nonprofits and their NGO associations benefit by developing a culture of sharing about ethics LESSON 9: It has often been the initiative of one person to introduce and generate support for a code of ethics for an NGO or association LESSON 10: The fundraising director can take the lead in all these activities when there is need to do so LESSON 11: You can play a role at the national level and become known as an advocate for strong codes of ethics for all nonprofits LESSON 12: To gain a full measure of trust, an organization needs self-assessments, external verification, enforcement, sanctions, and reporting to support a code of ethics Twelve realities to consider Notes Bibliography Chapter 9: Worksheet for ethics and trust Questions before implementation Drafting a meaningful code of ethics (or code of conduct) for your organization Part II: Strategic evaluation for respect Chapter 10: Strategic evaluation for impact Data about trust and impact and donations are clear and convincing Philanthropy in America is in deep crisis Notes Bibliography Chapter 11: Problems with monitoring and evaluation - Resistance and donor mandates Overcoming resistance to monitoring and evaluation What's right and what's wrong with donor-mandated evaluation Why not more funding for nonprofit organizations? Notes Bibliography Chapter 12: From project management to capacity building to strategic evaluation Let's step back What is strategic evaluation? Cautions from examples: Why every nonprofit needs strategic evaluation The better approach for mentoring and learning (M&L) for better results Notes Bibliography Chapter 13: Strategic evaluation - A powerful tool for learning and increasing impact To become a more supporting, verifying, and learning organization Steps to make evaluation strategic - Strategy is about how you will do something Eight priority disciplines in the strategic evaluation process - Each is a tool for mentoring, evaluating, learning, and improving Are YOU up to this challenge? Notes Bibliography Chapter 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 priority Action steps for the board of directors DISCIPLINE 2: Management responsibility - Implement strategic evaluation as strategy and practice Action steps for managers A brief digression on good strategic and operational planning DISCIPLINE 3: A culture of learning - How to assure mentoring and learning (M&L) improve results Action steps for a culture of learning and development DISCIPLINE 4: Mentoring (with monitoring) - How to be an effective supervisor for supporting, correcting, learning, and achieving Action steps for effective monitoring as mentoring DISCIPLINE 5: Evaluation of program strategy - How to be certain your program strategy is valid Action steps to validate strategy DISCIPLINE 6: Evaluation of long-term results - How to know what impact you actually achieve Action steps for evaluation of results and lasting impact DISCIPLINE 7: Organizational self-assessment - How to learn and improve from each other Action steps for organizational self-assessment DISCIPLINE 8: Mutual accountability - How to know you are working well with partners Action steps for mutual accountability with partners Notes Bibliography Chapter 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 are Case study: Action research or action learning as a first step to learn and develop Case study: Training in monitoring and evaluation as a standard for good management Case study: Measurable results and quality control to know how you are progressing Case study: From progress tracking to strategy assessment to getting a better program strategy Case study: Monitoring and evaluation with data for better learning and greater impact Case study: Integrated participatory planning, monitoring, and evaluation for learning and impact Case study: From an M&E beginning to a complete MEAL with accountability and learning Case study: Measurement, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL) for partner NGOs Notes Bibliography Chapter 16: Three case studies - Developing strategic evaluation in practice EXAMPLE 1. Save the Children US - Evaluation for program development and learning Developing new program strategy at Save the Children US Using ongoing evaluations to learn and grow How evaluation has changed for the best NGOs How evaluation contributed to a poverty alleviation and nutrition program in Vietnam Data-driven evaluations help to win a $50 million grant for newborn children Development of retrospective impact evaluation (RIE) and research evidence and learning (REL) EXAMPLE 2. Plan International - A comprehensive approach to evaluation and learning Early efforts at evaluation Next steps included new grants, more meaningful evaluations, and an emphasis on quality Implementing a new corporate planning, monitoring, and evaluation system (CPME) The next step: Adding a program audit (PA) Strategic thinking is informed by evaluation data Ongoing, 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 processes Developing a new evaluation method in a consortium Soft indicators versus measurable verification Conclusions from the shared evaluation process How can YOU implement strategic evaluation to improve your impact? Notes Bibliography Chapter 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 impact Lessons about earning trust by behaving well and achieving impact Lessons about demonstrating excellence in management Lessons about involving participants in sustainability and impact Lessons to strengthen the NGO sector Lessons from grantmakers Lessons for grantmakers to further the development of society Lessons about stepping up to lead inside your NGO Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 18: Worksheets for evaluation, learning, and impact Worksheet I: Assessment of the evaluation process by an evaluation specialist Worksheet II: Review - How we used the different evaluation disciplines Worksheet III: Report by each department director Worksheet 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 evaluation As author on NGO ethics and evaluation As a presenter on ethics and evaluation at workshops and classes As a researcher Honored with many awards and recognition As an activist where I lived or worked - I did it and you can, too Index