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Measuring Nonprofit Performance for Results
Program Evaluation done right can help clarify your organization’s mission and goals to ensure that all stakeholders have a clear picture and are in agreement on final outcome goals. It can also work to identify the success factors that are most pertinent to your organization’s overall mission and guide strategy towards them. Please read Daniel Horgan’s presentation on this essential topic for nonprofit success. Daniel is the Executive Director of Pittsburgh Cares and is also the winner of the 2006 Nonprofit Performance Management Award, presented annually at the Foundation and Nonprofit Performance Conference.
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Nonprofit Human Capital Management in the 21st Century
Nonprofits are facing a human capital crisis, the likes of which have not been seen in the United States in many years. Though there is a constantly increasing number of nonprofits, there is a critical shortfall in the number of new and emerging leaders for the 21st Century. Within the next ten years, much of the current senior leadership in the sector will retire, and there are grave concerns about who will replace these leaders.
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The Ethics of Head Evaluation
Nonprofit boards evaluate leaders in three main ways- backward evaluation anecdotal evaluation, or not at all. Jonathan Schick, President of the GOAL Project, provides an analysis into these types of evaluation. The article focuses on charter schools but the lessons can be applied to any nonprofit organization.
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Costing Rules & Regulations For Federal Grants
All grants, but especially federal ones, have associated regulations and compliance issues that few organizations concern themselves about in the grant writing process. Winning a federal grant comes with it a great deal of responsibility in the form of hidden requirements and potential penalties. Paul Calabrese, a senior executive with Rubino & McGeehin, Chartered, CPAs and Consultants, provided a basic overview for complying with federal government grant guidelines at the recent Grants Management for Results Course in Arlington, VA.
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Nonprofit Group to Build More Affordable Homes
Tenants to Homeowners in Lawrence, KS is using an innovative use of a land trust to add more affordable housing in the city and ensure new developments don’t ever become rentals, maintaining their value to the community. The project engaged several nearby neighborhood associations as well as the city of Lawrence, representing “a picture-perfect example of community-based affordable housing,” according to Tenants to Homeowners executive director Rebecca Buford. The land trust allows the prices of the homes to be greatly reduced, as the structures are sold but the land they rest on remains property of the nonprofit, allowing them to guide the use and development of the properties. |
Community Programs to Improve Health for Senior Citizens Funded by HHS
Senior citizens in the US are debilitated by more chronic illnesses than any other population. In an attempt to remedy this, the Department of Health and Human Services has teamed with The Atlantic Philanthropies to improve the quality of life for America’s elderly. Using a results based approach to analyze effective means of improving care for senior citizens, HHS will be investing resources in community-based, joint public/private partnerships. Results based approaches in government spending is one of the pillars of the Performance Institute philosophy on improving government performance. |
Advocates Cheer New State Child Aid Agency
In an innovative and ambitious step to improve the lives of young people and families in New Jersey, Governor Jon Corzine has created a state-Cabinet level agency solely focused on family issues. The Department will replace the consistently under fire and poor performing Division of Youth and Family Services in an effort to raise the level of accountability and transparency and allow for better management than was possible inside the massive Department of Human Services.
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Healy Awards Gang-Fighting Grants to 15 Communities
On May 18, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts awarded 15 communities grant money to combat the growing problem of gang violence in their communities. Grants were given to communities, such as Springfield , that have created regional strategies in dealing with their gang violence problems. Strategies include partnering and coordinating for intervention programs, as well as programs to prevent recidivism. |
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Nursing Career
Lattice Program
In May, The Performance Institute hosted the 2006 National Conference on Health Care Workforce Development. As one of the high-growth industries, health care is getting lots of attention these days, particularly the field of nursing. In most areas around the country, the health care system is experiencing, or will experience in the next few years, a severe nursing shortage. To help combat this problem, the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), through the Department of Labor, has started an apprenticeship program for potential nurses. This combines a mentoring program with an apprenticeship program so that new employees are better trained, which provides for better job retention as well as higher satisfactory ratings with patients.
Pat Lees , a senior consultant with CAEL, presented on this topic at the conference. |
Educational Service District 112
In July, The Performance Institute will be hosting the 2006 Youth Services Summit. Attendees will learn about best practices and innovations from the leaders in youth services. One of the case studies will focus on Educational Service District 112 in Vancouver , Washington . At ESD 112, they have implemented a structure of academies in their youth workforce programs. Since the implementation of the career fields, success rates have substantially increased, with more students than ever completing the programs and moving into career fields. You can view their website and the various academies at www.esd112.org/ywp/index.html , and hear their strategies for success along with many others at the 2006 Youth Services Summit, July 17-19, 2006 in Washington , DC . |
2006 One-Stop Career Center Summit
In March, The Performance Institute hosted the 2006 National One-Stop Career Center Summit. Representatives from one-stops, employment commissions and local governments gathered to learn new strategies and innovations for improving the effectiveness of their local one-stops. Alice Oliver, who manages the Racine County Workforce Development Center in Racine County , Wisconsin presented about Racine County and the strides it has made through cost allocation in creating an effective one-stop system. In 2002, the center received the national Pyramid Award for excellence in customer satisfaction.
 View Alice's presentation here |
The Campaign for Affordable Housing
Julie Bornstein, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Campaign for Affordable Housing gave this presentation at the 2006 Affordable Housing and Community Redevelopment Summit in Arlington , VA. The focus of the presentation is the rising costs of housing and the fact that many people such as teachers, emergency medical technicians, policemen, truck drivers and child counselors cannot afford housing. By promoting affordable housing, communities will be revitalized and children and families will have stable homes. |
"Outcome-Based Initiative: Collaboration with the Private Sector"
In Ohio , the Clermont County Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Clermont Chamber of Commerce have entered into a pay for performance contract. The contract works in such a way that the Chamber has knowledge of employment opportunities in the area while DHS has a list of potential candidates for these positions. The Chamber is paid by Clermont DHS based on the services provided to the participants of Ohio Works First (OWF), the system that provides Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The partnership was started as an outcome-based initiative to help meet the work requirements of OWF, which places emphasis on self-sufficiency, personal responsibility and employment.
To learn more about Ohio Works First, visit their website |
Ensuring the Successful Transition into the Workforce: Improved Solutions for Urban Systems (ISUS)
In Dayton , OH , one charter school is helping youth make the transition to the workforce, and they are earning their high school diplomas while doing it. Improved Solutions for Urban Systems (ISUS), founded in 1992, began by offering training for construction jobs, with students repairing and rebuilding boarded up houses and then selling them to low-income families. Now students can earn a high school diploma and industry certifications or credits towards an associate's degree. Industries in which students can acquire training, closely aligned with the industries in Dayton , are health care, manufacturing, construction and technology. ISUS was the first school in Ohio to offer competency-based diplomas to out-of-school youth, and because of ISUS, four other schools in Ohio have adopted the same practice. To learn more about ISUS, visit their website at www.isusinc.com |
In Maryland , School Says No to Gangs of the Past
Students at Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville , MD are seeing bright colors splashed upon their school hallways-only this time, it's not from graffiti. It's brightly colored paintings and murals, created by more than 100 students in a summer school. |
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Creates Performance Center Database
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) has created a Performance Center database. The center utilizes performance measures and analysis to improve productivity and ensure accountability of its program s. Designed to support the Department's desired end outcomes. |
The WorkKeys Program: Improving the Quality of America 's Workforce
WorkKeys is a job skills assessment system which measures "real world" skills that are believed by employers to be critical to job success. The WorkKeys program enables educators to identify the gaps between student skills and employment needs to boost students' success in entry-level jobs in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, law enforcement, and other high-growth training industries. WorkKeys offers assessments to measure various foundational workplace skills such as teamwork, writing and listening skills, applied technology, etc.
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Electronic Health Records Underway in Arizona
Arizona has recently created a top-level committee charged with the goal of making electronic health care a reality by 2010, four years earlier than the federal goal . According to Napolitano , Arizona already has much of the infrastructure in place, and will vastly improve the quality and reduce cost of health care in the state.
Click here for more information |
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