A New Web Site Encourages Nonprofits to Share Lessons From Their Failed Projects

Ka-Hay Law, an adviser for Engineers Without Borders Canada, has gone to many international-development conferences where small circles of trusted colleagues talk candidly about projects that just didn’t work after they left the drawing table.

Though the conversations are of immense value, she says, the whisperers often avoid admitting shortcomings in public or within earshot of donors for fear of undercutting their sources of support. And just as often, innovative discoveries made on the fly are also saved for private talks.

Now Engineers Without Borders, in Toronto, which works in 45 developing countries to improve water systems, sanitation, energy, and transportation, is trying to lift the veil through a new Web site: Admitting Failure. Its purpose is to provide a place where nonprofits can tell their stories in 800 words or less, feeling free to admit mistakes and suggest better approaches.

Ms. Law, who played a key role in shaping the Web-site project, says the group is hoping to compile 100 examples in 2011 from organizations and individuals who have learned important lessons from failed projects.

“Admitting failures is especially important for nonprofit organizations because they don’t face the discipline of economic or political markets,” says David Colby, vice president for research and evaluation at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in Princeton, N.J. “We have to be big enough to admit failures as well as successes,” he says. “And, most importantly, learn from them.”

Risky Business

Since the Web site went live in mid-January, eight stories have been posted, including one from John Hecklinger, chief program officer at GlobalGiving, in Washington, who describes how his organization detected a faulty youth program it sponsored in Kenya and ultimately fixed it.

It’s taking some coaxing to convince some leaders to post their stories because they consider it risky or intimidating to bare their failures, Ms. Law says. Others believe so fervently that it’s the right thing to do that they are willing to be candid.

“We don’t know how this will play out in 12 months—it could be a complete failure,” she says. “If it is, we’ll be the first to admit it.”

Scott Gilmore, executive director of the Peace Dividend Trust, a New York nonprofit that seeks ways to make international peace and humanitarian operations more effective, says the Web site’s timing is right because a growing number of nonprofit leaders want “aggressive honesty,” even about shortcomings.

He says traditional donors, government leaders, and foundations need to understand that failure can be a healthy thing and a good indication of coming success—not cause for pulling support.

“When I go to big government donors, they often want to know what our successes are,” Mr. Gilmore says.

But other donors and foundations recognize that “genuine impact has to include risk,” he says. “They ask about failures and weaknesses. They know that for every 10 efforts, you may only have two successes. They see failure as part of success.”

In 2010, for the first time, Mr. Gilmore did a “failure report” for his organization, pointing out a dozen areas in which Peace Dividend fell short. They’re now on the group’s to-fix list for 2011. Three donors called to say they liked it, he says—one within 10 minutes of the report’s posting.

Mr. Gilmore got the idea from Engineers Without Borders, which has been issuing its failure report for three years.

He sent his report to the Admitting Failure Web site.

Making ‘Lemonade’

Mike Field, who works with the development group ACDI/VOCA in Ghana and other nonprofits around the world on agricultural and market-development issues, says he plans to post on the new site to share lessons he has learned working in needy countries.

He says that he has too often noticed organizations measuring success in terms of people trained or things handed out, which often don’t take into account other important factors. He sees Admitting Failure as a place to push back against ineffective trends in designing and carrying out programs that are continued out of fear that donors will stop financially supporting an organization.

Other organizations are also pressing ahead to promote talk about failure. GlobalGiving, which channels donations to projects around the world that attract interest from online supporters, produced its first “Honest Failure Award” competition among its staff in 2010. The winner was a marketing campaign that cost more money than it brought in.

“If you know something doesn’t work, it forces you to think more vigorously about doing something in a new way, or at least not keeping doing the same thing,” Mr. Hecklinger of Global Giving says. “Admittingfailure.com can provide a repository for ideas that need to be put to rest.”

And if more nonprofit workers see that organizations are not punished for their honesty about flops, they too will be likely to join in, Mr. Colby of Robert Wood Johnson, says. “Then, at international development conferences, people won’t be whispering in the halls, but organizers will be presenting panels on ‘Admitting Mistakes: What Can We Learn From Them?’”