The Nonprofit Outcomes Toolbox

An invaluable guide to the outcome-based tools needed to help nonprofit organizations increase their effectiveness

The Nonprofit Outcomes Toolbox identifies stages in the use of outcomes and shows you how to use specific facets of existing outcome models to improve performance and achieve meaningful results.

Going beyond the familiar limits of the sector, this volume also illustrates how tools and approaches long in use in the corporate sector can be of great analytical and practical use to nonprofit, philanthropic, and governmental organizations . An outstanding resource for organizational and program leaders interested in improving performance, there is nothing else like this work currently available.

• Shows how to identify and set meaningful, sustainable outcomes
• Illustrates how to track and manage with outcomes
• Offers guidance in assessing capacity, and using outcome-based communications
• Features a companion Web site with the tools found in this book

Providing the tools and explanations needed to achieve program success, this book is a complete resource for the nonprofit, governmental, or philanthropic professional striving for greater effectiveness in programs or organizations.

Image Credits x

Foreword xiii

How to Use This Book xv

Author’s Notes xvii

Acknowledgments xix

Introduction 1

Part One: The Basics

Chapter 1: Approaching Outcomes 7

Outcomes: The Third Stage of Management 8

The Problem Approach 10

The Activity Approach 11

The Process Approach 12

The Vision Approach 13

In Summary 15

Chapter 2: The Language of Outcomes 17

Understanding the Language 17

Shifting Perspectives 27

From Funder to Investor 28

From Activity to Results 31

From Service to Change 32

Chapter 3: The Shape of Outcomes 35

The Importance of a Target 35

Characteristics of Well-Defined Outcome Statements 36

Positive Improvement 36

Meaningful 38

Sustainable 39

Bound in Time 42

Bound in Number 43

Narrowly Focused . . . 47

. . . and Doable (with a Stretch!) 48

Measurable 49

Verifiable 54

Chapter 4: Finding Your Outcomes 57

You Get What You Measure 57

Results-Based Accountability (RBA) 62

A Common Outcome Framework 65

Outcomes and Indicators 66

Knowledge/Learning/Attitude 66

Behavior 66

Condition/Status 67

Part Two: Working With Outcomes

Chapter 5: Planning with Outcomes 73

Outcome Management Framework 76

Another Approach 84

Chapter 6: The Capacity for Outcomes 93

Another Tool: SEED 116

Chapter 7: Tracking with Outcomes 121

Chapter 8: Learning with Outcomes 135

Data versus Information versus Knowledge 135

Chapter 9: Communicating with Outcomes 155

The Smart Chart 159

Chapter 10: Communicating Our Outcomes 171

Scales and Ladders 174

The Program Results Story 184

Three Core Questions: Audience, Content, and Flow 197

The Story Pyramid 200

Part Three: Advanced Tools

Chapter 11: The Power of Six Sigma 211

Chapter 12: Keeping It All in Balance 241

Typical Scorecard 242

The Public Sector Scorecard 243

A Governmental Scorecard 245

A Social Sector Scorecard 246

An OASAS Scorecard 247

Chapter 13: Budgeting with Outcomes 255

Chapter 14: Outcomes in Administration 261

Writing the Results Description 264

Part Four: Other Tools and Perspectives

Chapter 15: A Different View of Nonprofits 271

Chapter 16: Thinking about Value 279

Chapter 17: Building Value In 291

Chapter 18: A Few Final Tools . . . 305

Looking for Trouble: FMEA 305

Gone Fishin’: A Cause and Effect Analysis 312

TRIZ: Considering the Contradictions 316

One Final Tool: Process Management 319

Process Documentation 320

Process Mapping 324

Value Stream Mapping 326

Conclusion

Wrapping It All Up 333

Appendix 335

Notes 338

About The Rensselaerville Institute 346

About Charity Navigator 347

About the Author 348

Index 349

ROBERT M. PENNA, PHD, is a researcher and consultant, a member of the Charity Navigator Advisory Panel, and one of the nation's foremost experts in comparative outcome models for the nonprofit and governmental sectors.

One of the most talked about subjects in the nonprofit field is the question of effectiveness, performance measurement, and results—collectively referred to as "outcomes." Nonprofit organizations are increasingly being pressed to measure and report their outcomes regularly to funders and other constituents; in addition, service organizations need some form of regular feedback on their outcomes to help them improve their services.??The Nonprofit Outcomes Toolbox identifies the stages in the use of outcomes and shows you how to implement specific facets of certain models to increase capacity and achieve desired results in your organization.

Written by Robert Penna—a leading outcomes expert—and sponsored by The Rensselaerville Institute and Charity Navigator, the nation's foremost charity rating service—The Nonprofit Outcomes Toolbox compiles the most significant strides that have been made in the performance of nonprofits. This valuable wtoolbox digs deep to go beyond the familiar limits of the social sector to illustrate how tools and approaches used in the corporate sector can be of great analytical and practical use to nonprofits as well.

Through the use of worksheets and examples, Dr. Penna offers structured guidance on how to tailor these tools to your organization's unique challenges and equip your "toolbox" to suit your program or organization's needs.

Designed to be used by those who are new to outcomes as well as anyone looking for a refresher, The Nonprofit Outcomes Toolbox is divided into four accessible sections:

• Basics: Putting outcomes into an overall managerial context, contrasting the outcomes approach with several more common approaches to program design, the vocabulary of outcomes, the characteristics of good outcomes, and identifying outcomes relevant to your program
• Working with Outcomes: Planning with outcomes, the different levels of organizational capacity and capacity assessment, using outcomes to track progress, the key characteristics of a good "Lessons Learned" system, and outcome-based communications
• Advanced Tools: Six Sigma methodology, The Balanced Scorecard, key insights from the service economy, and an array of ideas from Value Engineering, Process Mapping, inventive problem solving, Failure Mode Effect Analysis, personnel recruitment and evaluation, budgeting with outcomes, and the creation of a value proposition for your program or organization
• Other Tools & Perspectives: SERVQUAL analysis, Cost vs. Worth vs. Value, building value in, and process mapping

Accompanied by a dynamic website to help you implement the concepts presented in the book, The Nonprofit Outcomes Toolbox puts an arsenal of tools at your fingertips to help your nonprofit perform more efficiently, effectively, and productively, from top to bottom.