Bringing Funders into the Conversation

This blog has been focusing mostly on what non-profits and other mission-based organizations can do to protect their mission and improve the quality of the services that they provide. Today I found an interesting article that brought the funders into the conversation. Room for Improvement: Foundations’ Support of Nonprofit PerformanceAssessment is a report released by the Center for Effective Philanthropy that shows how non-profit organizations are interested in focusing more on outcomes, but that they need support from the foundation community to do so.

I appreciate this article and argument because it is starting to take a systems approach to protecting your mission. Like it or not non-profit organizations are in partnership with a lot of different people: participants, community members, donors, funders, local governments and staff. Understanding how these stakeholders work together and what each of them can do to support the overarching goal will allow for a stronger movement and more effective changes. I think that the most powerful element this article presents is  the opportunity to for collaboration. Non-profits voiced their need for support and hopefully foundations are hearing this call and will find a way to provide financial backing and also technical assistance to support this growth.

What ways can you see foundations supporting non-profit organizations in developing stronger metrics? What barriers might come through this partnership?