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Outcome Accountability: How Far Are We Willing to Go?
George E. MitchellCity University of New York (CCNY)
Outcome Accountability
• When asked to define organizational effectiveness:– Leaders say their organizations are effective when
they can show that they are accomplishing what they promised to accomplish
• This definition of organizational effectiveness I have taken to calling ‘outcome accountability’– So what happens if we take this concept of outcome
accountability seriously at a systemic level?
The Challenge
• We want to construct a system to:– Encourage more efficient social investment– Help match social investors with appropriate social
investments– Reward more effective organizations– Promote learning within and across organizations
• However, we face constraints:– Limited financial and human resources– First-mover ambiguity (social investment intermediaries,
designation agencies, IRS, NPOs?)– WE SIMPLY DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT DATA
From Overhead to Outcomes
• Accountability systems driven by data availability– Accountability 1.0: Financial benchmarking (Form 990,
financial statements)– Accountability 2.0: Financial benchmarking and
transparency (Form 990, financial statements, websites)
– Accountability 3.0: Outcome accountability (???)• How could we get to an accountability system that
would truly allocate capital based on organizational effectiveness?
Outcome Accountability
• If we want a mechanism to efficiently allocate capital in the nonprofit sector we need to know:– What specific goals an NPO is trying to accomplish– What progress an NPO is making toward each goal– How an NPO is allocating its resources across its goals
• Where do we find this information?– Websites?– Annual reports?– Forms 990?
Consider Part III of the Form 990
What would be needed:• An NPO states its annual
goals at year-start and its annual accomplishments at year-end
• An NPO allocates all of its annual spending across all of its annual goals
• An NPO is able to provide reasonable evidence of its annual progress toward each annual goal
Outcome Accountability
• Implies a measure of organizational effectiveness (or evaluator confidence)– Think of it as a budget-weighted measure of promise-
keeping– Unique to each NPO yet comparable across NPOs
• More importantly, in equilibrium we achieve the desired information disclosure– Organizational and programmatic effectiveness– Programmatic cost-effectiveness and efficiency – Benefits: efficiency, matching, learning, etc.
The Problems of Information Generation and Disclosure
• The underlying problem is the lack of meaningful, consistent evaluation across the NPO sector
• The proximate problem is the lack of a standard disclosure format for outcome accountability
• Regardless of the details, if NPOs do not articulate their goals and report their achievements and related costs we will never know whether NPOs are effective, efficient or cost-effective and resource allocation will largely remain systemically arbitrary
• How far are we willing to go for a more accountable and efficient nonprofit sector?
Conclusion
• Email: [email protected]• Transnational NGO Initiative at Syracuse
University: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/moynihan_tngo.aspx