Innovation Network Turns 15! 

by Dan Baum

Fifteen years ago Innovation Network was created to serve the nonprofit sector. The vision of sharing successful program practices quickly led to the realization that before they can be shared, they need to be defined and understood.  Innovation Network’s practice shifted to helping nonprofits define and measure their success, so that they could better fulfill their missions. What a crazy notion. A bit idealistic, perhaps. How many of you have been called dreamers throughout your life?

We take pride in that label, especially at the organization’s fifteen year mark. For an individual, fifteen years is a rebellious period, a time to challenge the notions and practices that brought an individual to that point in life. So let’s challenge some basic assumptions that brought Innovation Network to where we are today:

• Dreamers can’t also be doers. If you can envision a better world, you should work to create it, too. That’s why the nonprofit sector exists. And we support you. Didn’t we just celebrate this month the birthday of one of the greatest dreamers – and doers – this country has ever produced?

• Measuring success is not possible in the nonprofit sector. Let’s reverse this assumption completely: measuring success in the nonprofit sector is vital. We must do it, and do it well, to turn our visions into reality.

• Measuring advocacy is even harder. For some nonprofits, whether grantmakers or grantees, advocacy work runs counter to their assumptions of the roles of nonprofits. However, we must continue to concentrate in this area, since advocacy is at the core of  true social change.

• Evaluation is a dirty word. We disagree. To evaluate something is to examine and assess it carefully. We can’t think of a better way to describe what we do. We believe all nonprofits should do it, and do it regularly, so that it becomes a part of ongoing management practices.

• Evaluation work is punitive. We find this idea particularly offensive, since we believe evaluations are best when collaborative. That’s because we focus on learning and changing. We don’t find either of those goals objectionable or disciplinary. 

• Nonprofits can’t learn to do evaluative work on their own. We’ve spent the last fifteen years proving this notion wrong, and we intend to continue on that path for years to come. We have provided, and will continue to provide, evaluative thinking and consultation to organizations of all sizes, giving them the means to make reflection and analysis a key management function.

• Building the skills of nonprofits isn’t critical. Many organizations pay lip service to helping nonprofits develop capacity, but their actions run counter to their words. We must help each other, each of us in the sector, to strengthen our abilities to be the most effective organizations we can be.

• Evaluative works costs a lot money. We think “free” is a pretty significant challenge to this notion. That’s why so many of our tools, resources and services are just that: available to you free of charge. (That doesn’t mean they are free to produce or maintain, so we do have to charge for other services to keep going, and we’re grateful for your donation support.  We are committed to keeping our services and related resources at a reasonable cost for nonprofits.)

• Those who can’t do, teach. We teach evaluation principles, and we practice them too. We think we’re pretty good at both. So do our clients.

Fifteen years ago, we started with a notion that few embraced in the nonprofit sector. Like a rebellious youth, we’re holding fast to our vision of making evaluation and assessment a mission-critical function of all nonprofits. Idealistic? Yes. A bit crazy? Maybe. Doable? We’ve shown that to be the case since 1992. Won’t you join us in our quest to make our dreams – and yours – a reality?