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Evaluation: What Worked for the Deaconess Foundation
After nearly five years of dedicating time and resources to
capacity building, the Deaconess Foundation's first round of Impact
Partners
graduated in December 2009. Over the past five years, the foundation
awarded
more than $7.6 million to eight organizations that met critical needs of
children in the St. Louis region. With TCC Group as the external
evaluator on
the project, Deaconess is now chronicling the enduring impact of this
capacity-building initiative. Half of the agencies from Round One of the
Impact
Partnership are serving more children than they were in 2004. What
worked? A
key finding from the evaluation is that leadership cannot be
overestimated, and that boards of all Impact Partners are demonstrating a
higher level of engagement and commitment to their vision. Read more in
Deaconess Foundation's Spring 2010 Impact
Partnership Update. |
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Leadership Behaviors for Successful Advocacy Organizations
TCC's research in partnership with The California Endowment shows how leaders at high-performing advocacy
organizations use three particularly characteristics to motivate staff:
Celebrate Success. Advocacy
work is hard, and results are often ambiguous. In order to maintain
momentum and morale, take the opportunity to congratulate staff and
partners on both minor victories and milestone successes. Embrace Constituencies. All components of the working coalition should feel
included and valued, especially those who are likely to be impacted by the
success (or failure) of the advocacy activities. For example, groups that
worked against English-only legislation made accommodations to their budget, printing
advocacy communications in multiple languages, even though it increased
costs.
Encourage Risk.
More than other types of nonprofit work, advocacy has the least assurance
of success and the greatest degree of uncertainty. In order to operate
effectively in this environment, staff must be willing to take calculated
risks. Leaders should make it clear that staff are encouraged to
consider various strategies, as long as the ultimate goals remain intact.
Read more about what makes a
successful advocacy organization.
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