Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
December 2014; 43 (6)
http://nvs.sagepub.com/content/current

Beyond Grantmaking – Philanthropic Foundations as Agents of Change and Institutional Entrepreneurs
Rand Quinn1, Megan Tompkins-Stange2, Debra Meyerson3
1University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
3Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Abstract
Studies examining the role of philanthropic foundations in advancing social change have primarily focused on the impact of foundations’ financial resources. Few scholars have analyzed how foundations also leverage social mechanisms to advance and legitimate desired change. We conceptualize philanthropic foundations as agents of change known as institutional entrepreneurs to illuminate the social mechanisms they employ in pursuit of institutional change. We study the case of charter schools within the field of U.S. public education, where foundations elevated a new organizational form—the charter management organization—by engaging in three social mechanisms: recombining cultural elements to establish the form, enforcing evaluative frameworks to assess the form, and sponsoring new professionals to populate the form with preferred expertise. We argue that foundations are distinctive due to their ability to simultaneously pursue social mechanisms that are often considered to be the realms of different types of institutional entrepreneurs

Performance Measurement Challenges in Nonprofit Human Service Organizations
Sarah Carnochan1, Mark Samples1, Michael Myers2, Michael J. Austin1
1University of California, Berkeley, USA
2Techsperience, Oakland, CA, USA
Abstract
This qualitative study examines the experiences of four nonprofit human service organizations engaging in performance measurement processes to satisfy accountability requirements and increase organizational and program effectiveness. Nonprofits are increasingly required to respond to performance measurement mandates issuing from multiple sources. However, many of the recommended strategies have been developed in the for-profit and public sectors, and are less appropriate or feasible for nonprofit organizations. Three central findings emerged from interviews, focus groups, and review of archival data. First, the complexity of human change processes and the variation among individual clients complicate efforts to define client outcomes. Second, staff skills play a critical role in effective utilization of data systems. Third, organizational strategies to support performance measurement include incorporating user perspectives into system design and providing adequate staff access to data.

The Flow of Management Practices – An Analysis of NGO Monitoring and Evaluation Dynamics
Jeffery H. Marshall1, David Suárez2
1EdCaminos, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
2University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Abstract
Which characteristics of NGOs are associated with the adoption of modern management practices and to what extent have those practices become standardized? Based on a national sample of 135 international and local NGOs operating in Cambodia, we address these questions by analyzing the dynamics of “monitoring and evaluation” (M&E), a term used to describe a broad range of activities that NGOs undertake to track, understand, and assess their work. We provide an overview of monitoring and evaluation in a developing country setting, investigate the factors associated with more extensive (or sophisticated) M&E using multivariate analysis, and look at how M&E practices vary between local and international NGOs. Findings demonstrate that professionalization, resource dependence, and social embeddedness all play important roles in explaining the activities of NGOs operating in Cambodia. The analysis also suggests that the flow of management practices in the NGO sector differs for local and international actors.