Steve Butz: I loved being a case worker. I got to help young men stay in school and out of jail by keeping them focused on the value of themselves and their education. That’s of course just one small corner of the human services world, where many skilled, compassionate people are working to make a difference in people’s lives. The dynamics of human services, however, can sometimes make organizations ineffective. People are passionate about their work, but don’t always have the tools and disciplines to do it well. Unfortunately, they end up feeling frustrated. Frankly, I got a little frustrated myself. There are so many good intentions paving roads to nowhere. When I had an opportunity to help make human services more effective, I made the move, even though it meant leaving an environment I love.

 

 

SB: I tried, and unfortunately got stopped cold at several points. That’s when I realized I needed to work from the outside. We created ETO Software® (Efforts to Outcomes) and related processes as a turnkey tool for supporting the good work of human services organizations. Our solutions help organizations align their funders’ expectations, their mission, and the daily work they do by connecting these—through the daily work—to clearly articulated, tracked, and reported outcomes. It’s not rocket science, it’s really just good organizational discipline. But, sadly, it’s lacking in much of the nonprofit sector.

 

 

SB: I feel like there’s good progress being made in general. Our software alone has been acquired by several thousand human services groups and other nonprofits. So we’re in a position to watch organizations complete their ETOlutions, to better connect their efforts to outcomes. They begin with a disciplined desire to help their constituents succeed, and that compassionate motivation drives their transformation. The great news is, once an organization has gone through an ETOlution, not only are they making a bigger difference in people’s lives, but they become a beacon for other groups. Everyone seems to want to learn how they’ve done it.

 

 

SB: They do it by caring enough to muscle through the changes needed to ensure greater effectiveness. It is a challenging transformation. But once people start down the path to ETOlution, they begin very quickly to see benefits. Case workers become energized as they get a clearer picture of the true impact of their efforts. Program managers find themselves with a much better understanding of what’s working well and what really needs their attention. Development people find themselves with a more compelling story to share with funders, a story that’s backed by solid, easy-to-retrieve data. It can be very motivational.

 

 

SB: Organizations are finding that once they can demonstrate success by tying efforts to outcomes, they better serve their constituents, and the scorched dialog with their funders turns into a celebratory discussion about what more can be done. Their mission statement becomes more alive as staff members live it out daily. So yes, to the extent people can focus on human needs instead of process issues and burdensome reporting, things will get better. When the value of a case worker’s efforts is unclear, it can be frustrating. There’s so much human need and so little time and resources to address it. I’ve been there; emotionally I never left. But we’re trying to give people reason to believe they can make more of a difference. And they can. It takes work, a little know-how, and some tools, but the results are very rewarding.

Steve Butz: I loved being a case worker. I got to help young men stay in school and out of jail by keeping them focused on the value of themselves and their education. That’s of course just one small corner of the human services world, where many skilled, compassionate people are working to make a difference in people’s lives. The dynamics of human services, however, can sometimes make organizations ineffective. People are passionate about their work, but don’t always have the tools and disciplines to do it well. Unfortunately, they end up feeling frustrated. Frankly, I got a little frustrated myself. There are so many good intentions paving roads to nowhere. When I had an opportunity to help make human services more effective, I made the move, even though it meant leaving an environment I love.

 

 

SB: I tried, and unfortunately got stopped cold at several points. That’s when I realized I needed to work from the outside. We created ETO Software® (Efforts to Outcomes) and related processes as a turnkey tool for supporting the good work of human services organizations. Our solutions help organizations align their funders’ expectations, their mission, and the daily work they do by connecting these—through the daily work—to clearly articulated, tracked, and reported outcomes. It’s not rocket science, it’s really just good organizational discipline. But, sadly, it’s lacking in much of the nonprofit sector.

 

 

SB: I feel like there’s good progress being made in general. Our software alone has been acquired by several thousand human services groups and other nonprofits. So we’re in a position to watch organizations complete their ETOlutions, to better connect their efforts to outcomes. They begin with a disciplined desire to help their constituents succeed, and that compassionate motivation drives their transformation. The great news is, once an organization has gone through an ETOlution, not only are they making a bigger difference in people’s lives, but they become a beacon for other groups. Everyone seems to want to learn how they’ve done it.

 

 

SB: They do it by caring enough to muscle through the changes needed to ensure greater effectiveness. It is a challenging transformation. But once people start down the path to ETOlution, they begin very quickly to see benefits. Case workers become energized as they get a clearer picture of the true impact of their efforts. Program managers find themselves with a much better understanding of what’s working well and what really needs their attention. Development people find themselves with a more compelling story to share with funders, a story that’s backed by solid, easy-to-retrieve data. It can be very motivational.

 

 

SB: Organizations are finding that once they can demonstrate success by tying efforts to outcomes, they better serve their constituents, and the scorched dialog with their funders turns into a celebratory discussion about what more can be done. Their mission statement becomes more alive as staff members live it out daily. So yes, to the extent people can focus on human needs instead of process issues and burdensome reporting, things will get better. When the value of a case worker’s efforts is unclear, it can be frustrating. There’s so much human need and so little time and resources to address it. I’ve been there; emotionally I never left. But we’re trying to give people reason to believe they can make more of a difference. And they can. It takes work, a little know-how, and some tools, but the results are very rewarding.

Mo Rocca isn't known for his serious side, but this interview with MSNBC taps into it. As part of its ongoing look at celebrity charitable giving, MSNBC interviews Mo on his association with the Inner-City Scholarship Fund. While the Chronicle of Philanthropy might rightly encourage us to look critically at celebrity advocacy, Mo's concentration on the tangible outcomes of the ICSF is compelling. As he outlines it, the program has clear goals -- and obvious measurement points. And, this tangibility is part of what drew him there in the first place. 

Tags: Mo Rocca, Celebrity Advocacy, Inner-City Scholarship Fund, Philanthropy

Mo Rocca isn't known for his serious side, but this interview with MSNBC taps into it. As part of its ongoing look at celebrity charitable giving, MSNBC interviews Mo on his association with the Inner-City Scholarship Fund. While the Chronicle of Philanthropy might rightly encourage us to look critically at celebrity advocacy, Mo's concentration on the tangible outcomes of the ICSF is compelling. As he outlines it, the program has clear goals -- and obvious measurement points. And, this tangibility is part of what drew him there in the first place. 

Tags: Mo Rocca, Celebrity Advocacy, Inner-City Scholarship Fund, Philanthropy

Today we bring you the first installment in our ETOlutionist “A Look Inside” series –where we bring you inside details about organizations bringing about their own ETOlutions. 

 

First up, the Latin American Youth Center, a network of youth centers, schools, and social enterprises that provide health and wellness services, educational support, workplace training and counseling, and classes on art, advocacy and culture to more than 2,500 Latino, African-American and other individuals in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area. 

 

LAYC began working with Social Solutions in order to get control of a large amount of data – from collecting it for more than 40 programs to tracking class attendance, outcome, and other data to detailed analysis for program development and fundraising/development purposes.

 

Implementation wasn’t immediate. LAYC had to invest some time at the front-end to  articulate outcomes measurement on its more than 40 programs, as well as internal training to get staff up to speed on – and supportive of – data collection and effective use of ETO Software®. LAYC has used its implementation to kick-off a larger internal focus on evaluation as a means of better serving clients and motivating supporters – and once staff became focused on outcomes, they became far more friendly to outcomes measurement and the data collection that comes with it, an important internal cultural shift.

 

After two years of focusing on outcomes, LAYC now has access to detailed demographic statistics, report card grades for educational programs, and pre-and-post program test results. LAYC is using demographic information to optimize services, develop programs, and plan expansions to serve more youths with more services. And funding for the organization has significantly increased since implementation, so they’re well positioned for their expanded service offerings.   

Today we bring you the first installment in our ETOlutionist “A Look Inside” series –where we bring you inside details about organizations bringing about their own ETOlutions. 

 

First up, the Latin American Youth Center, a network of youth centers, schools, and social enterprises that provide health and wellness services, educational support, workplace training and counseling, and classes on art, advocacy and culture to more than 2,500 Latino, African-American and other individuals in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area. 

 

LAYC began working with Social Solutions in order to get control of a large amount of data – from collecting it for more than 40 programs to tracking class attendance, outcome, and other data to detailed analysis for program development and fundraising/development purposes.

 

Implementation wasn’t immediate. LAYC had to invest some time at the front-end to  articulate outcomes measurement on its more than 40 programs, as well as internal training to get staff up to speed on – and supportive of – data collection and effective use of ETO Software®. LAYC has used its implementation to kick-off a larger internal focus on evaluation as a means of better serving clients and motivating supporters – and once staff became focused on outcomes, they became far more friendly to outcomes measurement and the data collection that comes with it, an important internal cultural shift.

 

After two years of focusing on outcomes, LAYC now has access to detailed demographic statistics, report card grades for educational programs, and pre-and-post program test results. LAYC is using demographic information to optimize services, develop programs, and plan expansions to serve more youths with more services. And funding for the organization has significantly increased since implementation, so they’re well positioned for their expanded service offerings.   

We can’t say enough about measurement and outcomes. So it’s always nice to see when other people recognize the importance of these points as well. In a recent entry for Huff Post, Dennis Whittle takes a page from Paul Brest’s most recent Hewlett Foundation President's Letter and highlights the importance of providing the necessary data so that donors can make important and informed decisions when it comes to giving – because as the numbers stand now, things aren’t looking good. Last year Americans gave away almost $300 billion, and yet only about 6 percent of nonprofits in the US attracted four-fifths of those resources. Scary. Whittle credits this to the fact that big organizations are able to get bigger based on their marketing and branding rather than on their results. So let’s start the ETOlution. More data = more donors = better services.

Tags: Measurement, Outcomes, Hewlett Foundation, Data, Nonprofits, ETOlution

We can’t say enough about measurement and outcomes. So it’s always nice to see when other people recognize the importance of these points as well. In a recent entry for Huff Post, Dennis Whittle takes a page from Paul Brest’s most recent Hewlett Foundation President's Letter and highlights the importance of providing the necessary data so that donors can make important and informed decisions when it comes to giving – because as the numbers stand now, things aren’t looking good. Last year Americans gave away almost $300 billion, and yet only about 6 percent of nonprofits in the US attracted four-fifths of those resources. Scary. Whittle credits this to the fact that big organizations are able to get bigger based on their marketing and branding rather than on their results. So let’s start the ETOlution. More data = more donors = better services.

Tags: Measurement, Outcomes, Hewlett Foundation, Data, Nonprofits, ETOlution