Blog entries

5 practical tips for successful program design using logic models : Tip 1

Tomas Erlandsson — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:00:00 +0100

Setting strategy, and sticking to it, can be an arduous climb. Done successfully, it's remarkably satisfying.

The key is having the right tools and knowing how to get the most out of them. In the same vein as rope, ladders, pitons, and gloves are indispensable climbers' Read More...

Who Are Foundations Betting on in Tough Times?

John B Nash — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:00:00 +0100

Guidestar has just released the results of a survey entitled "The Effect of the Economy on the Nonprofit Sector: A June 2010 Survey.”

Chuck McLean and Carol Brouwer wrote the report, the purposes of which were “to explore how charitable organizationsRead More...

More money leads to better environment — Right?

Gunnar Backman — Wed, 26 May 2010 07:20:15 +0100

The increased appropriations in the Swedish Environment bill, from 15 to 20 billion SEK, caused the Minister for the Environment Andreas Carlgren to exclaim “Never before has this much been done for the environment”. It is probably true in economic terms, but what does it reaRead More...

Help Wanted - Impact Designers for Philanthropy

Tomas Erlandsson — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:52:32 +0100

The other week I sat down to read through a newly released Swedish regional development strategy. It described how, with a couple of inputs here and a few activities there, enhanced regional growth and competitiveness will occur in Sweden. It contained a SWOT analysis and plans for a mid-term and final summative evaluation. Weighing in at 83Read More...

Foundation and Nonprofit Effectiveness: What Should We Address as a Field? Part 1 - Foundation ...

John B Nash — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 22:11:40 +0100

A little over four years ago we started to ask people what some of the root causes were to better organizational effectiveness in the foundation and nonprofit sectors within the United States. We talked with personnel at large and small nonprofits, and program staff from smaRead More...

5 practical tips for a successful partnership

Tomas Erlandsson — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:34:24 +0100

During the last decade the partnership model has really advanced and become central to activities in all sorts of fields. The interagency and public-private nature of broad partnerships naturally provides benefits for implementation of anything from health initiatives to local and regional growth iniRead More...

Activating Your Program's Strategy and Evaluation

John B Nash — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:34:03 +0100

In November we teamed up with Kairos Learning to deliver two online hour-long courses, Building Accountability Into Your Team and Activating Your Program's Strategy and Evaluation.

Below you'll find the recording of the second virtual class, Activating Your Program's Strategy and Evaluation, which presents an approachable perspective on setting strategy for achieving goals in education, nonprofit and community programs.

Building Accountability into Your Team

John B Nash — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:18:59 +0100

In November we teamed up with Kairos Learning to deliver two online hour-long courses, Building Accountability Into Your Team and Activating Your Program's Strategy and Evaluation.

Below you'll find the recording of Kathleen Sexton's interactive virtual class, Building Accountability Into Your Team, which is directed towards managers and directors in nonprofit organizations who would like to learn strategies for increasing accountability amongsRead More...

How much regional development did you buy today?

Gunnar Backman — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:11:06 +0100

The total amount Sweden spends on regional development is at least 100 times bigger than the biggest number that fits on the display of a regular calculator. We are talking about the Regional Growth Programs, the EU Structural Funds, The Rural Development Program, The European Fisheries Fund, The Regional Service Programs and others Read More...

Want to Measure Your "Impact Capacity" With Us?

Tomas Erlandsson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:15:43 +0100

A challenge for every organization and its leaders is maintaining a heightened sense of situational awareness that’s necessary to leverage different strands of your operations at the right time to create tangible impacts.

For some time OpenEye has been crafting Read More...

Takeaway from TCI 2009: Strategy and Evaluation are Elusive

John B Nash — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

I appreciated Madeline Smith’s remarks (may require login) at TCI 2009, wherein she outlined her thoughts on how regional clusters can become learning clusters. Clusters, she noted, are complex animals wherein you have “good companies, strong research universities and supportive policy makers, and you sort of mix them all togetheRead More...

Bringing Impact Design to the TCI Global Conference

Gunnar Backman — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:52:16 +0100

The theme of the TCI annual global conference Oct 2009 in Jyväskylä, Finland is “Learning Clusters”. We are joining business leaders, cluster coaches, funders and researchers who will investigate ways to enhance competitiveness on a global market. We will partner with VINNORead More...

Will innovations in philanthropy drive smarter organizations?

John B Nash — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:00:00 +0100

In this inspiring talk, Katherine Fulton talks about the future of philanthropy – a future where innovation is a key to success. For Fulton, the democratization of philanthropy is allowing citizens to be more empowered than ever act as social innovators of change. She suggests that individuals and organizations can work across and through organizations adn disciplines to find solutions to challenges heretofore unsolved. Through a democratization of philanthropy, itRead More...

A mature theory breaking out

Tomas Erlandsson — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:00:00 +0100

Stewart I. Donaldson is one of the leading figures in the area of theory-driven evaluation. In this book from 2007 he presents several interesting cases where program theory has been used. The reason for this is that Donaldson believes that there is a need for more literatuRead More...

Development programs without external funds – good or bad?

Gunnar Backman — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:00:00 +0100

In Sweden, when government agencies kick off domestic development initiatives, we've become accustomed to a common routine: program guidelines are released, criteria for partnerships are set, desired outcomes are described, and an amount of special funds are allocated for the work.

Recently, the Swedish Consumer Agency, Konsumentverket, issued guidelines for an upcoming round of the socRead More...

Are you a planner or an innovator?

Tomas Erlandsson — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:00:00 +0100

This book is a very interesting reflection on why so many well-intended aid efforts to do good still fall short. The author, William Easterly, is a development economist who has been involved in global poverty issues for his whole professional life. He is a professor of economics at New York University and amongst many positiRead More...