✦ LIBER ✦

Assessing the social impact of charitable organizations—four alternative approaches

✍ Scribed by Michael Polonsky; Stacy Landreth Grau

Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
Year: 2010
Tongue: English
Weight: 144 KB
Volume: 16
Category: Article
ISSN: 1465-4520
DOI: 10.1002/nvsm.407

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✦ Synopsis

Abstract

There is increased societal pressure on charities to improve performance. The questions that they must ask are: (1) Who is our audience? (2) What evaluation measures are important to the organization? and (3) What evaluation measures are best for the organization? There are a number of different approaches available for assessing performance, ranging from social accounting to more informal qualitative assessments of whether the organization's mission is being achieved. This paper draws on the industry and academic discussion of evaluations of nonprofit organizations to develop a four‐category typology of alternative approaches for audiences. It then identifies the benefits and limitations of each. The goal is to identify the steps that charities should use to determine which approach is most suited to their specific circumstances. It is proposed that a collaborative development of evaluation criteria, of whichever type, may be most appropriate as will draw together the experiences and resources of multiple parties, and may have broader appeal than evaluations proposed by individual nonprofits.