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Session Title: One Size Does Not Fit All: Capturing Change in Non-profit Capacity
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Panel Session 360 to be held in Pacific D on Thursday, Nov 3, 1:35 PM to 2:20 PM
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Sponsored by the Non-profit and Foundations Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Clare Nolan, Harder+Company Community Research, cnolan@harderco.com
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| Discussant(s):
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| Len Finocchio, The California HealthCare Foundation, lfinocch@chcf.org
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| Shane Goldsmith, Liberty Hill Foundation, sgoldsmith@libertyhill.org
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| Abstract:
As more foundations become interested in capacity-building as a means of helping nonprofits cope with current economic pressures, evaluation has been challenged to find meaningful measures of organizational effectiveness, along with methods that capture the true impact of capacity-building interventions. This session will compare and contrast approaches used to evaluate two very different foundation-sponsored initiatives to increase nonprofit capacity: (1) Liberty Hill Foundation's efforts to strengthen fundraising and advocacy capacity among minority-led and minority-serving organizations in Los Angeles, and (2) California HealthCare Foundation's efforts to strengthen the management and financial capacity of California safety net dental clinics. The presentations will highlight how different objectives of capacity-building and the strategies used to achieve these objectives affect evaluation design and measurement. Merits and limitations of standardized nonprofit capacity metrics will also be discussed. Staff from both foundations will serve as discussants for this session, which will also invite audience discussion and feedback.
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A Fine Balance: Mitigating the Financial Changes Faced by Safety Net Dental Clinics
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| Fontane Lo, Harder+Company Community Research, flo@harderco.com
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The recent economic downturn and state budget crisis have made it increasingly difficult for community dental practices that serve low-income populations to uphold their mission and still keep their doors open. To address this issue, the California HealthCare Foundation and the California Pipeline Program funded a demonstration project to test the effectiveness of practice management consulting, a relatively new model for strengthening the viability of safety net dental practices, as a strategy for helping California's community clinics survive and thrive. In this presentation, the evaluator will describe how use of a multi-case study design combined with analysis of clinic financial data provided insights about success of this capacity-building model. Lessons learned include the importance of context in interpreting financial metrics, the necessity of building collaborative relationships with technical assistance consultants and target nonprofit organizations, and the role of qualitative methods for understanding the nuances of capacity building efforts.
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Building the Capacity of Minority-Led and Minority-Serving Organizations
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| Sonia Taddy, Harder+Company Community Research, staddy@harderco.com
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In 2009, the California Wellness and Weingart foundation co-funded the Liberty Hill Foundation Leadership Institute for Change to provide capacity-building assistance to minority-led and minority-serving nonprofits in Los Angeles. The Institute focuses on providing community organizers with training in community organizing, grassroots fundraising, board development, and communications. In this presentation, the evaluator will describe lessons learned based on a mixed-methods approach to evaluation. Lessons learned include the importance of a robust evaluation approach that combines diverse inquiry methods, the need to combine nonprofit self-assessments with more objective comparisons of organizational development, and how to ensure that measurement strategies capture outcome indicators specific to each organization's capacity needs.
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