The no-cost way to improve your organization on a daily basis Most nonprofits are already benchmarking informally. This unique book defines a formal way to benchmark. You'll learn how to prepare your organization, measure performance, and implement best practices as well as learning the five key steps of benchmarking, the arguments against benchmarking--and why you should disregard them, how benchmarking differs from evaluation and assessment, how to form a benchmarking team, how to create a "success equation" that helps you measure your organization's performance, how to make sure to measure what matters, how to choose your benchmarking partners--and what you can learn from the "wrong" partner, and how to overcome staff resistance to benchmarking. Practical tools help you benchmark what matters Real-world examples illustrate benchmarking in action. Exercises and worksheets guide you through processes such as drafting a benchmarking plan; identifying and analyzing the things in your organization that need improvement; prioritizing which processes to focus on; identifying your CTQ (critical to quality) outcomes; and more. The way to survive as a nonprofit in today's market is to thrive. With so many organizations seeking the same dollars, only the best will endure. Benchmarking ensures that your organization is always operating at peak performance. It's something you can't afford not to do--especially since you can do it for free!

The first edition of Benchmarking in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors offered public officials and administrators at all levels of government a unique and practical guide to identifying best practices and implementing them in their organizations. Based on the most current research, this new edition of the best-selling guide provides an updated, solution-driven methodology for benchmarking in both the public and nonprofit sectors. Unique in its focus solely on benchmarking, the authors take a step-by-step approach to two benchmarking techniques, differentiating between the two and then providing a new approach to solution-driven benchmarking that requires less time and fewer resources. Benchmarking in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors provides new tools, many updated case studies, and additional examples not only from government and nonprofit agencies, but also from the international community. This important resource will help practitioners implement a quick, proven method as they search for solutions to their most pressing problems. Praise for Benchmarking in the Public and Nonprofit Sectors "This is an important management tool for government and nonprofit managers to make their agencies more effective, efficient, and responsive to their constituencies." -W. David Patton, director, Center for Public Policy and Administration, University of Utah

In recent years, a commitment to increased accountability and improved performance has become essential in both governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations. To help managers and executives in their ongoing quest for greater accountability and improved performance Theodore H. Poister, offers a comprehensive resource for designing and implementing effective performance measurement systems at the agency level. The ideas, tools, and processes in this vital resource will help organizations develop measurement systems to support such results-oriented management approaches as strategic management, results-based budgeting, performance management, process improvement, performance contracting, and employee incentive systems. Using this book as a guide, public and nonprofit organizations can accurately measure outputs, efficiency, productivity, effectiveness, service quality, and customer satisfaction, and use the resulting data to strengthen decision-making and improve agency and program performance. Read a Charity Channel review: http://charitychannel.com/publish/templates/?a=36&z=25

The essential guide for nonprofits wanting to manage their Internet applications in a coordinated, cost-effective, and efficient manner The rapid onset of increasingly advanced and complex technologies has challenged nonprofits to invest with their sparse resources in attempting, and failing, to keep pace with for-profit companies, with the result that most now cannot compete with new commercial products and commercial applications. Nonprofit Internet Management reveals how current technologies can be utilized in full measure most effectively by nonprofits and addresses how to manage various applications for maximum benefit to internal operations and community service. Covers management models, social networking information, case studies, fundraising strategies, collaboration and coordination examples, and sample communications techniques Includes chapters written by leading Internet professionals In-depth discussion of Website design, technology trends, social networks, managing the organization using online tools, E-governance and board leadership, prospect research and donor modeling, volunteer recruitment and management, mobile technology, stewardship and relationship management, and green technology applications Filled with case studies, Nonprofit Internet Management also includes screenshots, tables, worksheets and checklists. It's an essential resource for every nonprofit organization operating in our modern wired world.

At a time when boundaries between the nonprofit, business, and public sectors have grown increasingly confused and contested, this volume by leading experts on nonprofit organizations offers new ideas and frameworks for understanding the terrain that lies between the state and the market. The chapters span a broad range of emerging issues including nonprofit commercialism, sector-bending hybrid organizational forms, increasingly sophisticated nonprofit advocacy activities, newly hatched forms of volunteerism and philanthropy, tensions in public-nonprofit contracting, and new roles for faith-based nonprofits in social provision.Contents include: Peter Frumkin, ""Charity and Philanthropy After September 11th""; Joseph M. Knippenberg, ""Faith, Hype, and Charity: Constitutional Controversies over Charitable Choice""; Leslie Lenkowsky, ""The Bush Administration's Civic Agenda and National Service""; Mark E. Warren, ""What is the Political Role of Nonprofits in a Democracy?""; Steven Rathgeb Smith, ""Government and Nonprofits in the Modern Age: Is Independence Possible?""; Amy L. Sherman, ""Faith in Communities: A Solid Investment""; Stephen V. Monsma, ""Nonprofit and Faith-Based Welfare-to-Work Programs: Government's Partners or Government's Captives?""; Thomas H. Jeavons, ""The Vitality and Independence of Religious Organizations: A Once and Future Trend""; Estelle James, ""Commercialism--Does It Help or Hurt the Nonprofit's Mission?""; J. Gregory Dees and Beth Battle Anderson, ""Sector-Bending: Blurring the Lines Between Nonprofit and For-Profit""; David Reingold, ""Scaling-up National Service in an Era of Performance Measurement and Accountability.""In Search of the Nonprofit Sector will be essential reading for scholars and practitioners interested in the pressing management and policy challenges facing nonprofit organizations today.

Nonprofit organizations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate impact and that the funds raised to operate their organizations are maximized and used effectively. This book demonstrates how to create a culture of learning (intentional learning from reflection and feedback focused on successes and failures) that will lead to ongoing performance measurement and improvement. Because nonprofit organizations rely heavily on volunteers and are focused on mission, not money, it is critical for them to create a culture in which learning is a motivator for change. The book breaks down learning into four levels: individual, team, whole organization and community. Learning at each of these levels is described and then specific tools are presented. The tools are hands-on and practical, which facilitate reflection and feedback.

A practical guide to philanthropy at all levels of giving that seeks to educate and inspire A majority of American households give to charity in some form or another--from local donations to food banks, religious organizations, or schools, to contributions to prevent disease or protect basic freedoms. Whether you're in a position to give $1 or $1 million, every giver needs to answer the same question: How do I channel my giving effectively to make the greatest difference? In Giving Done Right, Phil Buchanan, the president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, arms donors with what it takes to do more good more quickly and to avoid predictable errors that lead too many astray. This crucial book will reveal the secrets and lessons learned from some of the biggest givers, from the work of software entrepreneur Tim Gill and his foundation to expand rights for LGBTQ people to the efforts of a midwestern entrepreneur whose faith told him he must do something about childhood slavery in Ghana. It busts commonly held myths and challenging the idea that "business thinking" holds the answer to effective philanthropy. And it offers the intellectual frameworks, data-driven insights, tools, and practical examples to allow readers to understand exactly what it takes to make a difference.