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 10^th blog or review the Advancing Collaboration page on our website: https://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:

• Gary Sinise Foundation
• Mali Rising Foundation
• Volunteers of America 

Finally, remember to let us know by going to https://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