A Proven Playbook for Increased Effectiveness

By Kelly Brown
marketsforgood.org

Kelly Brown examines what foundations and nonprofits can learn from successful businesses, and how they can use data to increase effectiveness.

As the director of an organization that works with foundations across the country, I get to see remarkable examples of foundations working together and learning from each other about how to be more effective.

But sometimes we need to look beyond the field to get ideas of how to tackle our biggest challenges. I agree wholeheartedly with philanthropy’s well-placed skepticism of exhortations to be more “business-like.” Philanthropy has different goals and different ways to measure effectiveness than business. When it comes to the power of diversity, however, the business sector can provide important lessons from which philanthropy can draw inspiration to achieve our sector-wide goal of advancing the common good.

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