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Toward Accountability
In the nonprofit sector, accountability keeps company with collaboration and capacity as one of the most popular buzzwords. But is accountability more than just a buzzword? According to many in the sector, it's a fact of life that is making increasing demands and has clear ramifications for educational efforts within nonprofit organizations.
Accountability and Growing Competition
In their article "For Charities, Performance Is the New Ethic" in Leader to Leader (number 22, fall 2001), Bill Meehan, a lecturer in strategic management at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, and Les Silverman, the head of McKinsey & Company's nonprofit practice, suggest that as the high marginal, capital gains, and estate tax rates--which "made charitable giving almost irresistible for even the instinctively less generous"--decline or disappear, the rate of giving will also decline. And in the new, necessarily more competitive philanthropy market, funders and donors will demand accountability more than ever.
At Blackbaud's International Conference on Philanthropy 2001 in Charleston, S.C., Katie Burnham, president and CEO of the Society for Nonprofit Organizations outlined the primary issues confronting nonprofits today, and accountability was first and foremost. Like Meehan and Silverman, Burnham predicts growing competition--for dollars and for skilled staff, board members, and volunteers--will drive accountability. And statistics support the prediction: There are 29,000 (according to Burnham) and as many as 30,000 (according to Meehan and Silverman) new nonprofits created annually in the United States. These new organizations compete in a pool of more than one million existing nonprofit organizations for funding and employees. (See "Young Talent Speaks: Attracting and Retaining in the Nonprofit Sector" for insight into what attracts young people to the nonprofit sector--and what drives them away--in this competitive environment.)
Education as a Path to Accountability
To become or remain accountable and competitive, nonprofits must address "the need for greater professional development at every level of the organization--not just the top, but middle management and entry," Burnham said, and Meehan and Silverman state that nonprofits have to "consider critical capacity requirements…such as staff development."
But committing to a professional development program is usually easier said than done. Funding stipulations, scheduling issues, and cost limit well-intentioned nonprofit educational initiatives. Meehan and Silverman write, "In general, funders view nonprofit organizations as pass-through vehicles for program donations rather than as institutions that need professional management and infrastructure to perform effectively."
Training and education are often fragmented--a workshop here, a conference there--with no overarching educational plan informing an individual's or an organization's choices. Most higher educational institutions are not concerned with making it easy for nonprofit staff to enroll in their programs. Burnham asked, "How have educational institutions responded? They've said come to us, or you don't get the education. You have to be in our geographic area, we're not going to create greater access for you, we're not going to create affordable programs, and we're not going to create flexible programs."
Technology as Tool
Technology is one medium for addressing the need for more professional development, increased flexibility in scheduling, and lower costs. "The platform that technology can provide to educate, share knowledge, and build community is largely ignored," Burnham argues, although some organizations are beginning to see the possibilities that technology provides and taking advantage of them. The past year has seen technology-based learning initiatives from organizations as diverse as the National Urban League, the American Cancer Society, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Council on Foundations.
In some cases, staff development is the driver. The American Cancer Society, for instance, will use Web-based tutorials to train employees on Microsoft products. The initiative of the National Wildlife Federation, however, will be open to anyone interested in protecting wildlife. For the large numbers of nonprofits that must rely not only on staff, but on a complex network of volunteers, member, donors, and others to fulfill their missions, the message that the National Wildlife Federation's example sends is clear--technology-based learning can help drive accountability throughout an organization's entire mission network. (See "In Brief" for other examples of the growing role of technology in general and e-learning specifically in this country.)
Beyond Borders
Technology can also foster international collaboration and partnership and offer a chance for United States-based nonprofits to share their expertise and experience, as well as learn core competencies, like sustainable community, from foreign nongovernmental organizations. Burnham believes that new nonprofits worldwide "are hungry for what we have learned, for connections, and for the sharing of knowledge…."
Technology-based learning efforts at the international level have also begun to grow in the past year. The Brandesco Foundation is supporting the delivery of Web-based learning to remote areas of Brazil. Various divisions of the United Nations have launched online training initiatives, and the World Bank has been developing Web-based training for some time. A newer organization, the Beacon Project (http://www.beaconproject.org/), plans to use the power of the Internet to help "people around the globe to find innovative solutions that help the leaders of community and nonprofit organizations better serve their clients." (For an example of nonprofits partnering across national boundaries, see "UNC-Chapel Hill Helps Nonprofit Explore E-learning in Romania.")
Conclusion
If Burnham, Meehan, and Silverman are right, nonprofits will only see greater demand for accountability in the future--and they will need to be accountable not only to satisfy funders but also to remain competitive in a tight market where skilled staff, volunteers, and board members are the hot commodity.
Is your organization prepared to thrive in this environment of increasing accountability? Do you see education and training or technology playing a new role in the months and years ahead?
We invite you to share your thoughts about accountability and other issues addressed in this article. Send them to sophist@isoph.com.
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