This is the area of nonprofit work that has occupied the majority of my time in the nonprofit sector, and the lack of accountability has always been the operational dynamic.
Lately, another trend—evidence based practice—the new name for what we called evaluation when I first entered the field, has come calling, as this article from Governing reports, and one hopes it has more success than the first.
An excerpt.
“Lately I've been hearing more and more people in the health and human services world use the phrase "evidence-based practice." This represents real progress in a field that's been widely resistant to the concept.
“Why the resistance? The argument among those in the health and human services game was always that any results they might achieve were so heavily dependent on human behavior — that is, changing human behavior — or socioeconomic factors beyond anyone's control that it simply wasn't fair to hold those administering and delivering health and human services to the same standards as the people filling potholes, processing small business tax returns or arresting bad guys.
“I never had much patience with that argument. After all, if you're accepting public money to run a program that is supposed to reduce drug and alcohol addiction among your clients, or to help mentally-disabled adults find work, then it seems perfectly reasonable that you ought to be held accountable to those that you have agreed to help.
“But that kind of resistance to data-informed policy and practice seems to be fading and fading quickly. From juvenile justice, to hospital care, to children and family services, more and more people seem to be figuring out that ignoring data is a losing strategy when it comes to helping people become healthy, productive, engaged citizens.
“In fact, one of the most coherent and articulate mini-disquisitions on the necessity of managing to data I have heard lately was delivered to me just last fall by a front-line foster care supervisor in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. This woman meant business. "In the past we invested in services and had no idea if they were making a difference," said Juanita Beasley. "We had no quantitative way of knowing if we were getting any bang for our buck. Now we're using data to manage our investments; to see if what we're investing in is really helping kids."
About
- David H. Lukenbill
- I am a California native, married, we have one daughter and live close to the American River with two cats and all the wild critters we can feed. I am a management consultant to nonprofit organizations and have an Associates of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Sacramento City College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Administration degree, also from the University of San Francisco.