The Learning Conference 2015

We all want philanthropic dollars to support “what works” to strengthen communities and improve lives. Resources flowing to interventions and social solutions in this way would provide more clarity on how to solve social ills, prepare a larger proportion of today’s nonprofits to tackle them and would ultimately lead to a greater impact for beneficiaries. Unfortunately, that is not how the field currently operates. To demonstrate the state of the field, Tiffany Cooper Gueye will present her organization’s experience of building a culture and infrastructure for performance management, and its participation in two randomized controlled trial studies. Gueye will put forth a definition of high performance as well as describe the role grantmakers have played in creating both opportunity and significant risk for nonprofits. During this session, grantmakers will consider how a focus on outcomes can create unintended circumstances and how they can instead ask themselves and their grantees a key question: “What’s your agenda?”