Competency 2: "I have the ability to analyze, synthesize, think critically, solve problems, and make decisions for the purpose of strengthening nonprofit organizations, the nonprofit sector, and society at large."

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

One of the purposes for nonprofit organizations is to solve and address problems in the community and society as a whole, providing a public benefit to the community (Worth, 2020). Due to the often complex nature of the problems organizations attempt to tackle, being able to solve internal and external problems and determine success is important for an organization. Nonprofit organizations are often held accountable to the communities they serve, and therefore must be able to answer for their actions and decisions in how they address the problems in society. Nonprofits are unique in how they measure performance; whereas businesses measure success by reporting and monitoring more tangible measurements, such as making a profit, nonprofits mainly work with people, which complicates the question of how they measure success in an individual ‘s life. Rowe and Dato-On (2013) point out that many would acknowledge that accountability, effectiveness, and achievement of desired performance outcomes are the minimum requirements for an organization’s overall success. The question comes, how do you measure that in people’s lives? And does external success define overall success? Does internal success also play a role in an organization’s productivity and overall success? There are many forms of evaluation and accountability an organization can undertake, both internally and externally. However, Rowe and Dato-On (2013) point out that the evaluation process should answer several questions: (1) what is to be evaluated or assessed for effectiveness, (2) how should it be assessed, (3) who is responsible for conducting this assessment, and (4) to whom should the results be reported to. Boardsource (2010) provides an additional five questions to consider in an evaluation process: (1) what does the organization currently measure, (2) what or who is driving the need for measurement, (3) is the organization measuring “process” or “outcome”, (4) is the information collected mission-critical, (5) can the organization attribute the outcomes to its work. Developing and measuring internal and external success will provide benchmarks for the organization and allow the organization to strive forward for continued success.

PAD 6327 Program Evaluation Plan Assignment

Creating a program evaluation plan that helps an organization determine its strengths and weaknesses will help provide direction for the organization to determine what the next steps it needs to take in order to continue working towards its goals and objectives. In the case of this assignment, I developed a program evaluation plan for the Orange County Head Start Division, located on Michigan Street. One important part of developing a program evaluation is determining what programs and systems need to be evaluated. Every nonprofit organization has different objectives. With the Orange County Head Start Division, the organization is focused on preparing disadvantaged children to enter secondary schools at the right academic benchmarks, which requires that program evaluations are focused on ensuring that Head Start is working and successful in preparing students for entering kindergarten ready and prepared. In order to develop the right evaluation, which means that I have to ask the right questions and determine what are the right benchmarks, the most important benchmarks, that need to be evaluated. This assignment showcased that not only is it important to determine what needs to be evaluated, but how it will be evaluated as well, since different aspects of the organization require different evaluation tools and measurements. Once completed, this assignment provided a thorough and effective program evaluation plan that was tailored to address the concerns within the organization and determine what works and what is not working and needs to be addressed. This plan will allow leaders within the organization to sit down and think through their current process and potentially become innovative in finding new ways to address their goals and objectives.

PAD 5145 Volunteer Case Study

This assignment provided an opportunity to evaluate a specific component of nonprofit organizations: volunteers. Volunteers are the bloodline of many nonprofit organizations and taking the opportunity to evaluate how volunteers are utilized in the organization can be a major help in keeping them motivated and willing to continue their service in the organization. Working with The Villages Regional Hospital Auxiliary, which has close to 1,000 volunteers working within The Villages Regional Hospital, allowed me to work closely with leaders to evaluate the impact of the systems and processes set in place to manage volunteers. While I was familiar with The Villages Regional Hospital Auxiliary from my time working as a news reporter, having the opportunity to take a more in-depth examination of the work volunteers do and how they are managed allowed me a chance to come up with recommendations that could help improve the current structure in place. Some of these recommendations include adding an additional recruitment fair to get more volunteers, developing more leadership training opportunities, creating a questionnaire for volunteers who attend recruitment fairs on the type of information presented, and hosting quarterly “refresher” courses for current volunteers to stay updated on new changes within the organization. With this evaluation and the recommendations presented to the leaders, it allows an opportunity for new ideas, growth and to help the auxiliary reach its goal to have 1,000 volunteers.

References

Boardsource. (2010) The Handbook of Nonprofit Governance. Jossey-Bass.

Rowe, W. G. & Dato-On, M. C. (2013). Introduction to Nonprofit Management. SAGE Publishing.

Worth, M. J. (2020) Nonprofit Management: Principles and Practice. 6th edition. SAGE Publishing.