Last week, the National
Health Council held its 2018 Health Leadership Conference in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This is a membership organization that
includes over 100 national health-related organizations such as
voluntary health agencies, nonprofits with an interest in health,
professional associations, as well as businesses involved in health care
products and/or services that collectively “work for health care that
meets the personal needs and goals of people with chronic diseases and
disabilities.” This annual gathering included CEOs as well as
other senior executives from these organizations.
BBB Wise Giving Alliance’s Chief Operating Officer, Bennett Weiner,
participated in a panel that discussed how charity evaluators address
the issue of measuring impact. In his remarks, he noted that as a
standards-based charity evaluator, BBB WGA focuses on a variety of
issues in the comprehensive BBB Standards
for Charity Accountability. Since 2003, however, two of
these standards (Standards 6 and 7), specifically address issues related
to results reporting (also called effectiveness or impact assessments)
that note it is essential for organizations to regularly make time to
assess their past performance and define their future goals and actions.
Standard 6 calls for the board to have a policy of completing such
assessments every two years. Standard 7 seeks to ensure the charity
governing board is provided with a written report on this assessment
(i.e., how well it is addressing its mission.)
These standards do not require charities to conduct expensive long-term
or longitudinal studies, but can be achieved by much more modest
means. As an example see the Charting Impact 5-question
results-reporting format recommended in the 2011
collaborative project that BBB WGA had with Independent
Sector and GuideStar.
In his concluding remarks, Bennett recognized that while information on a
charity’s impact can serve as a helpful supplement for donors and other
stakeholders to consider, such information, by its nature, will always
be historical, looking backward. To help charities engage in more
forward-thinking efforts, BBB WGA encourages organizations to seek out
collaborations with others that share their mission interests and find
ways to accomplish more together than they could have achieved by
working separately. For more information on collaboration, visit
our January
10th blog or review the Advancing Collaboration page
on our website: http://www.give.org/advancing-collaboration/
Video of the Week
As part of our Building Trust Video Series, we are pleased to provide a
video featuring Linda Webb, Executive Director, Ally’s House (a BBB Accredited Charity) that
provides financial assistance to the families of Oklahoma pediatric
cancer patients. The financial assistance covers expenses such as
medical costs, housing, transportation to and from treatment, and
household utilities. It also sponsors a summer camp for patients
between the ages of 9-17.
Recent Reports
We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for
donors. Visit Give.org or local
BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated
charities include:
Finally, remember to let us know by going to https://www.give.org/ask-us-about-a-charity1/ if
you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list
and we will do our best to produce one.
H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance
