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Global Washington Workshop on Results-Based Management

Nonprofit organizations often have multiple stakeholders and a set of goals and expectations that are challenging to fulfill. To help Global Washington members and others make sense of this complex landscape, Global Washington sponsored a Nonprofit Management Workshop on June 17 at the Global Washington office.

At the day-long workshop, Oscar Luna of Spinnaker Business Consulting and Dr. Thomas E. Byers of Washington State University first introduced the concept of results-based management, a strategy focusing on performance and the achievement of outputs, outcomes, and impacts. They then led the 16 participants through hands-on exercises related to developing a budget and a monitoring/ evaluation plan using tools that participants could later tailor to their own needs. The presenters offered a follow-up individual discussion with any of the participants as they incorporate the tools into their own organizations.

Global Washington is committed to strengthening our member organizations, in part by providing high-quality workshops like this one. As we continue to build up the capacity of the state’s international development community, we plan to offer more trainings and useful resources to which small and mid-sized NGOs typically lack access. Keep checking our website for the latest presentations and trainings, or email admin@globalwa.org to be put on our email list.

International Development Companies among the Best Places to Work in Seattle

Recently, companies doing international development work have been distinguished as some of the best places to work by the Seattle Met. In last month’s issue, “The Best Places to Work… and Play” identified the best companies to work for. Companies were selected by editors, who asked HR representatives of these companies what they did to make their work environment “irresistible.” They also asked the employees for their opinions. Perks ranged from company outdoor excursions to bonuses and paid days off. Of the businesses Seattle Met assessed to be the top 20 best places to work in Seattle, multiple companies were from the international development sector, such as Remote Medical International, Greenfield Advisors, Institute for Systems Biology, and Projectline Services. These businesses are all growing fast and in the processes of hiring more people constantly. Below are descriptions of some of these fantastic for-profit organizations that are expanding into international development work.

Remote Medical International

Remote Medical International (RMI) is a medical and rescue services company supporting those who travel or work in remote areas around the world where hospitals are not accessible, from Africa to Antarctica. They provide their customers with equipment, training, telemedicine, evacuations, and onsite medical and rescue aid. RMI is currently supporting a family traveling around the world, a small research station located in remote South Pacific, and multiple expedition trips. RMI’s employees are committed to educating students and clients about how to respond to an emergency situation, ideally reducing the number of emergencies all together. RMI’s headquarters is located in Seattle where 24 employees work full-time, yet RMI also has “rock-climbers, mountaineers, flight paramedics, Iraq war veterans, firefighters, and backcountry skiers on call” outside of Washington.

RMI is a group of people committed to the team and the goals of the company before one’s own interests, creating a selfless, highly dedicated and effective team. Yet RMI’s employees still find time to have fun, going on hikes together or organizing Ping-Pong tournaments. RMI “is a hybrid of a high-performance team and family.” Those working for RMI help to enable individuals and organizations to fulfill their corporate goals or lifelong dreams by providing medical aid around the world.

Greenfield Advisors

Greenfield Advisors is a real estate and business consulting firm working on issues such as litigation, development, and preservation. Greenfield Advisors has worked on an array of projects both nationally and internationally, including “the preservation of the Hearst Ranch at San Simeon, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill litigation, and multiple post-Hurricane Katrina matters.” They also advised the Japan Real Estate Institution and have lectured in Europe, Asia, and America on these topics. Greenfield Advisors has become internationally recognized for its work in contaminated property class actions.

The employees of Greenfield Advisors enjoy the ability to set their own hours “as long as you get your work done and are here generally at the same time as everyone else.” Greenfield Advisors is a relaxed environment. Lisa MC Sherry, Director of Administration, says “when it gets stressful we laugh and joke even more.” Greenfield Advisors employees are also involved in fascinating work that has a real impact in the world. Throughout all of Greenfield Advisors’ work is a “commitment to excellence, intellectual rigor and constant improvement.”

Institute for Systems Biology

This research nonprofit was founded in 2000 with the goal of using new technology and systems biology approach to “predict and prevent diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and AIDS.” The hope is that, as scientific knowledge has led to the eradication of many diseases, a deeper understanding of how the body functions will aid in the fight against these modern diseases. The founders of Institution for Systems Biology emphasize “collaboration across disciplines and organizations.” In just ten years this nonprofit has grown to more than 300 staff members from all disciplines and collaborates with academic institutions, companies, and governments around the world. Institute for Systems Biology’s innovative way of understanding biological complexity is influencing the way in which life sciences and medicine are practiced internationally. Institute for Systems Biology is focused on transmitting the knowledge they gather to the public through commercialization so that society can receive its benefits and science education can be advanced.  Working at Institution for Systems Biology, one has the opportunity to conduct “groundbreaking science with world-class resources and equipment” and to be a part of publishing some of the most scientifically influential research in the world.

Projectline Services

Projectline Services, a sponsor of Global Washington’s 2010 Annual Conference, is a “marketing and consulting firm dedicated to advancing innovation through integrated Customer Engagement and Business Intelligence.” With a diverse and talented team, Projectline Services has the ability to see customers’ programs from start to finish. Projectline has the resources to help customers with a broad range of projects, such as managing a marketing program, gaining better insight into one’s business, or developing new content for print or the web. Recent projects include aiding the US Subsidiary of Microsoft’s marketing group with their work creating an array of collateral for the Small Business PC Campaign by communicating with various vendors, incorporating feedback from stakeholders, and ensuring quality deliverables in time for their deadline. Projectline Services was also hired by Avanade’s Global Technology & Solutions division to help them “produce excellent costumer evidence with minimal oversight.”

At Projectline Services, the employees are experienced and passionate about their work, throwing themselves into each new project. As Projectline Services writes on their website, it is a company where “exceeding expectations is the norm.” Projectline employees are not only highly committed to helping their customers, but also to giving back to the community. Employees participate in monthly volunteer activities with local organizations and Projectline gives monthly donations to Kiva’s global micro-lending initiative, helping entrepreneurs in developing countries build up their businesses and rise out of poverty. Projectline Services has also been recognized Seattle Business Monthly, Puget Sound Business Journal, and NWjobs as one of the best places to work in Seattle.

Seattle has become a center for international development work as an increasing number of organizations working in this sector are based out of Seattle. Therefore, the number of jobs in Seattle in the international development sector is growing and getting involved in this fascinating work is becoming easier. As Seattle Met highlights, companies working in the international development sector are not only among the most rewarding places to work in Seattle, but also the most fun.

Evaluation and taking lessons forward

Dean Karlan, founder and director of the non-profit research organization Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), at a recent workshop in Seattle, clarified a misconception about their work: Karlan discourages looking backward to see if a donor’s money made a difference. Instead, Karlan recommends building evaluation into the planning process for future projects. Evaluation will help sharpen the overall project and deliver more useful, credible results. “We need to understand whether programs are really effective or not so that we know as donors what to support, and as practitioners what we should be doing. Rigorous evaluations help us do just that. We also must learn why programs work, rather than merely evaluate whether something works. It is the why that helps us know what lessons to take from one country to another, from one year to the next.”[1]

IPA’s research spans a variety of fields, including microfinance, education, health, agriculture, charitable giving, political participation, and social capital. Attendees at the Global Washington workshop heard from Dean Karlan, Jake Appel, Tania Alfonso, Anna York and Mary Kay Gugerty about the methodologies for assessing program impacts.

IPA promotes the use of rigorous experimentation, or “randomized control trial” experiments, to evaluate whether an intervention has an impact and if so, why the intervention worked. The team presented what makes a good evaluation, including the detailed assessments needed and the time involved to collect quality data.  The heart of a randomized trial is making one set of data (with the intervention) equal to the other set (without the intervention) in order to answer the question: where would the studied population have been without the intervention. As IPA notes in their website FAQs: “If we want to know how effective a program is, we need to have a comparison group. Without a comparison, we can’t really say anything about what would have happened without the program. And the only way of having a fair comparison group is with random assignment.” [2] Using case studies, attendees shared questions and opinions about the value of randomized control trial evaluation. Attendees also learned about cost-benefits of randomized control trial evaluation. The workshop provided attendees a great opportunity to ask questions of Dean Karlan and Jake Appel regarding their new book, More Than Good intentions. In their book, Karlan and Appel claim that accounting for irrational behavior and introducing a method of controlled experiments will help fix the problem of failed humanitarian interventions for poverty alleviation.

Overall attendees were able to reflect collaboratively upon implementing greater strategies for evaluating interventions. One participant learned enough to recommend  her organization take a step back and revisit their evaluation plan: rather than conduct a small randomized trial, the organization decided to focus on telling “success stories” in the coming year. If you want to know more, please read IPA’s blog, http://www.poverty-action.org/blog or write to Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA) at contact@poverty-action.org.