Some Truths about Grantmaking: It is sometimes hard to speak the truth about grantmaking. As one foundation executive put it: “Since I joined the foundation world, I haven’t had a bad idea or a bad lunch.” Foundations have power and prestige. People are sometimes afraid to be candid. There is a real risk that foundation initiatives suffer the “emperor has …
Why Should I Care?
Reasons to Invest in the Well-being of Children and Families People support investments in the well-being of children and families for many different reasons. The following Afirst person@ profiles explore some of the most important reasons from the perspective of different county, city and community partners. 1. County Supervisor or Commissioner: AElected office is no picnic today, if it ever was. …
Results-Based Accountability Teaching and Coaching Construction Kit
This 35 page workbook can be used to fashion an individual approach to teaching the concepts of Results Accountability. It also provides guidance on conducting key group exercises. Download the PDF here.
Reforming Finance: Financing Reform for Family and Children’s Services
A. Introduction: Financing reform has two meanings. How do we come up with the money to pay for the reform of family and children’s services? And how do we reform the financing systems which themselves drive and shape these services? Both questions start with the idea that reform is somehow necessary. What is reform? And why bother with this when so …
11 Things a Legislature could consider doing to promote Results Based-Accountability
Here are 11 things a legislature could consider to change the way people work together, and to improve the measurable well-being of children, families and communities. 1. Create a special committee to assess the overall well-being of children and families: There is no need to start by changing the existing committee structure. It may make sense, however to create a new …
The Matter of Evidence
A Short Treatise on the Rules of Evidence in Budget Court In order to show that there are benefits of investing in prevention, and in particular, that there are cost savings, we need evidence. What kind of evidence do we need? What will pass muster? What will help us make a convincing case? What will allow us to close a …
We’re here to partner with you as long as you want to work on our agenda
The Mismatch Between State, County and Neighborhood Agendas for Children and Families It used to be that “We’re from the government and here to help you.” was one of the three great lies. Now we risk furthering cynicism about state local cooperation by repeating past mistakes under the rubric of partnership. Much progress has been made in advancing the notions …
A Guide to Developing and Using Performance Measures
Originally published by the Finance Project I. INTRODUCTION Will Rogers’ cynicism about the performance of government still captures a common, if not always constructive, part of public life at the end of the 20th century. And as contract relationships blur the boundaries between the public and private sectors, confidence in private-sector programs has eroded as well, sometimes as guilt by …
Organizing By Outcomes
A Different Organization Chart for State Local Partnerships to Improve Outcomes for Children and Families What does outcome-based decision making have to tell us about how we organize the way we work together? The way we structure our organizations, and their working relationships with each other, have a lot to do with both what work gets done and how it gets done. This is …
A Strategy-Map for Results-Based Budgeting
This paper reflects the efforts of the Working Group on Results-Based Planning, Budgeting, Management, and Accountability systems to design a road map for those embarking on the path of Results-Based Budgeting. Read the complete PDF here.
