Foundations Getting the Efficiency Message

To the Editor:

If there was ever any doubt that the field of philanthropy is changing, this month’s conference of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations should have ended the debate. There were 550 participants, double the number at the prior conference, which was itself double the attendance the time before.

There also was a wide range of attendees. The participants came from all levels and disciplines of the field: foundation presidents, program officers, communications officers, and even financial officers.

With that shift has come a fundamental change in the nature of the discourse. In past conferences the greatest energy went into trying to describe the link between programmatic objectives, organizational capacity, and evaluation. Somehow, the field couldn’t quite seem to grasp why the management and finances of the organization, and the measurable results of the grant, affect the achievement of the program and social goals that grant makers care so much about. This year, people got it.

A second shift is that effectiveness seems to be contagious. Session after session was devoted to the effectiveness not of grantees, but of foundations.

Once the broader concept of organizational effectiveness is understood as relevant to achieving social goals, it is apparent that the principle applies to grantee and grantor alike. I heard effectiveness used interchangeably with transparency, accountability, and efficiency. But these are not synonyms: Our government can be transparent without necessarily being effective. And Arthur Andersen seems to be learning a lesson from Enron in the difference between accountability and effectiveness.

Effective organizations can be relied on to get things done consistently and well. They have the people, money, technology, operating procedures, and performance-assessment measures to deliver what they promise. Strategy is part of the equation, too, because a good strategy should help an organization be more effective, guiding the use of its resources to produce the maximum results. Effectiveness, therefore, is inseparable from the management of resources and the measurement of results.

Mark Kramer
Managing Director
Foundation Strategy Group
Boston