Presentation at the Mission Driven Management Summit sponsored by Ascendant Strategy Management Group. This presentation discusses the advantage that NGOs truly motivational values to inspire staff.
Ours to win Flipping the argument for nonprofit effectiveness
1. Ours to Win:
Flipping the Argument for Nonprofit Measurement Effectiveness
Daniel Hayden, Rare
dhayden@rareconservation.org
2. 2
Two Key Points
1
2
Non-profits have a competitive advantage
in creating impact measures
You can use process measures to help you
get to measuring impact
3. Founded: 1973
Central office: Arlington, VA, USA
Regional offices: Indonesia, China, Mexico,
Micronesia, Philippines
Total staff globally: 120
# of countries Rare has worked in: 56
Our specialty: Social marketing to reduce
environmental threats.
Method Summary: Rare trains partners to run
“Pride campaigns” that change attitudes
and behaviors, provide sustainable
alternatives, and help communities protect
biodiversity at the local level.
3
Rare at a Glance
4. Measure Across the Project
Program
Goals
Campaign
Baseline
Campaign
Process
Campaign
Near-term
Program
Impact
Campaign
Sustainability
• Focus groups
• Quantitative
Social Survey
• Baseline
Biophysical
• Weekly Ops
Reports
• Monthly
leading
indicators
• Quantitative
Social Survey
• Follow up
Biophysical
• Assess
actual vs.
goals
• Lessons
learned
At about ½ of
sites:
• Quantitative
Social
Survey
• Follow up
Biophysical
• Social goals
• Biophysical
goals
1 year 2 years 3- 5 years
A Pride campaign is a 2 -3 year project
lead by local partners that creates
opportunities for local communities to
adopt new behaviors and reduce threats
to biodiversity.
5. 5
Two Key Points
1
2
Non-profits have a competitive advantage
in creating impact measures
You can use process measures to help you
get to measuring impact
7. Situation: For Profits
Consistent, comparable, meaningless data
Strengths
+ Standardized measurement systems (FASB,
Tax laws, SEC, etc.) enable quick set up
+ Wall Street Measures (share price, revenue,
costs) provide clear accountability
Challenges
∆ Driven by quarterly targets
∆ Mission is not compelling or motivating
∆ Links between standard measures and value
creation unclear
8. 8
Situation: Non-profits
Innovative, challenging, impactful measures
Strengths
+ Innovative measurement systems: Not constrained
by FASB, Tax laws, SEC, etc.
+ Motivating and compelling mission
+ Enduring mission
+ Not constrained by short-term goals
Challenges
∆ Easy measures don’t matter: e.g.: revenue,
expenses, etc.
∆ Measures not comparable
∆ Requires more thought
10. 10
Two Key Points
1
2
Non-profits have a competitive advantage
in creating impact measures
You can use process measures to help you
get to measuring impact
11. How Rare Came to Measure Impact
1. Mission – Action Oriented
2. Commitment to Accountability
3. Belief in Organizational Transparency
4. Culture of “Courage to Take Risks”
5. Organizational Support
6. Long-term Planning and Patience
12. 12
1. Mission – Action Oriented
Strategy Map Defines the Actions to Achieve Mission
14. 14
3. Belief in Organizational Transparency
Online, Open Reporting
15. 4. Culture of “Courage to Take Risks”
We were not expected to get it right the first time
CEO & COO
Sr. Director Global
Programs
Internal Experts
• Sets strategy and priorities
• Signs off on goals
• Manage processes
• Aligns groups
• Quality assurance
• Ensure sound methodology
• Align with key process
• Ensure quality assurance
Divisional Heads
• Align with global goals
• Set divisional goals
We moved this
responsibility from
Finance to Global
Programs
Annual update sets new targets, refines measures
and allows for some revisions
CEO & COO
Sr. Director Global
Programs
Divisional Heads
16. Program
Development Team
Quality
Management &
Improvement
Global Programs
• Manages the recruitment of partners
• Helps select which partners and sites we should work with
• Helps set standards for all Pride campaigns
• Monitors campaigns against set goals
• Designs training for programmatic staff
• Creates training for our Pride campaign managers (partner staff)
Pride Management Process
Select
Theme
Recruit &
select
Partners Train & Support Partners
Program Management
Initial Planning Pride Campaign Execution
Supporting Global Teams
1
1 1 2
2
3
3
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4. Organization Support
Measurement is integral to operations
17. 5. Long-term Planning and Patience
To conserve imperiled species and
ecosystems around the world, Rare
inspires people to care about and
protect nature.
Our mission is protecting biodiversity, but
realizing change isn’t easy …
1. Our programs tend to last just 2 to 3 years
2. Biodiversity rebounds over many years
3. Many factors affect biodiversity
18. 5.1 Our programs last just 2 to 3 years
Ensure measurement systems are in place
• For lots of reasons we chose to time constrain our programs
to a few years
• However, during the campaign we can measure the process
Quarterly Measure the Implementation of Monitoring Protocols
19. 5.2 Biodiversity Rebounds Over Many Years
Build partner commitment for long-term monitoring
• Set goals to measure impact after the program ends
• Get partners that are committed to measure
Track Long-term Commitment to Monitoring
20. 5.3 Many Factors Affect Biodiversity
Create an credible culture
• Document all
the factors that
affect
biodiversity
• Focus on
contribution to
biodiversity
improvements,
not causation
• Be transparent
with funders
22. Lessons Learned: Tactical
1.Perfection is the enemy of good
2.Take a long-term view
3.Okay to use process measures as an
interim step towards impact
4.Assign clear roles to people
5.Link to performance management
6.Mistakes are part of learning
23. Lessons Learned: Strategic
• A mission focus is an asset
• There is lots of room to innovate
• Organization must be committed to
measuring impact
There are two points that I want to make today:
It far better to do performance management at a nonprofit than a for profit
You can use process measures as an intermediate step towards guiding you to impact measures
Let me give you some quick stats, just for context.
Let me give you some quick stats, just for context.
At Rare measurement is part of program design
Read Top to Bottom, Left to Right
Let me give you some quick stats, just for context.
As a non profit community we need to rethink measures – instead of envying the for-profit sector, we need to think through the opportunities we have.
We should not measure just because it is interesting or to comply with some reporting. Measures are about better management. Better management requires constant change. So your performance management system must engage the brain, engage the spirit and set a clear pathway to get there.
In summary, the benefits from innovation that non profits have far exceed benefits from the rote, standardization that the for profit world has. So if I had to chose to align our measures around the tax laws or our mission, I’ll take the mission focus any day.
Let me give you some quick stats, just for context.
Mission: Influencing behavior to protect biodiversity
Strategy: Build Capacity, Change Constituencies and Reduce Threats to achieve Conservation results
Enabling Processes: Maximize the effectiveness of each Pride campaign, take Pride to Scale, Unlock alumni … raise money
Mission statement?
Conserve imperiled species and ecosystems around the world by inspiring people to care about and protect nature
This is a an online tool that all staff have access to
Also post BSC results to shared drive
Sent to Board
We have been using the BSC for about 8 years, and really the first 3 or so years were kind of a mess – of too many measures, too little data and too little accountability.
Now we have clear roles & responsibilities
Clear revision process
Clearly aligned to our programs
What is important is that measurement is NOT a separate measure from operations
Measurement is intrinsic in setting operating objectives
What this means is:
It is easier to collect measures, because it is not an afterthought
The measures have meaning because they are part of operations
If you are in the field of conservation you need to be comfortable with two things:
Taking risks
Waiting to see results
While these two factors are somewhat in contradiction, with the right long-term view it can be done.
This brings me to the Second Point – it is okay to use process measures on your way to measuring impact. Here is how we overcame three key challenges:
Our programs tend to last just 2 to 3 years
Biodiversity rebounds over many years
Many factors affect biodiversity
In general, I don’t recommend process oriented measures for the BSC , we really should focus on outcomes. However, when it comes to programmatic measures that take many years to measure. It is fine to do this a bridge to measure actual outcomes.
Challenge 1
Because we implement our programs through partners it is not enough to mare sure that we want to monitor, they need to want it too.
Challenge 2
Towards the end of our projects we contract with select partners to get long-term data.
Challenge 3
While we do a lot, we can’t assume that we have everything right or take the credit for things that have gone wrong.
Read the main elements of the slide
And so after about four years of working on this and measuring process, we can finally report conservation outcomes on the majority of our campaigns.
Here are some of our Tactical and Strategic Lessons on our to measure innovation and using process measures to help get to impact measures.
Here are some of our Tactical and Strategic Lessons on our to measure innovation and using process measures to help get to impact measures.