Business Commons^™

The Nonprofit Nerd (September 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month's topic is program evaluation education.

We are taking this month to introduce you to an educator, evaluator, researcher, and academic who is also The Nonprofit Institute’s Interim Director, Dr. Masami Nishishiba.

The Nonprofit Institute has been preparing for another year of the popular Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation, offered in partnership with WVDO. Dr. Nishishiba has been integral in transitioning the organization into another year. We are fortunate to have her expertise in research and evaluation design available to our institute and to students joining us in 2019-2020 learning opportunities.

We're also excited to share news about …

The Nonprofit Nerd (July 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s topic is learning program evaluation.

This month we are excited to share the perspective and experience of a recent certificate recipient from The Nonprofit Institute's Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation, a partnership with WVDO.

We celebrate the accomplishments of this year's cohort, including our interviewee Barrett Ebright Karnes, for completing the Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation. This year's participants explored a wide range of questions and circumstances related to program evaluation and their organizations. Thanks to the diversity of the nonprofit sector represented in the cohort, we saw how program evaluation applied across many different service …

The Nonprofit Nerd (June 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s topic is evaluation with immigrant communities.

For years, immigration and immigrant communities have been at the center of a national and international conversation about nationhood, global dynamics, and human rights. Despite the enormity of this complex conversation, the below interview with Nelda Reyes, principal at AB Cultural Drivers, highlights the possibilities evaluators and researchers have working with these populations.

We hope that through reading this edition, our readers feel prepared to “be of service,” as Nelda puts it, when researching or evaluating with diverse and multi-dimensional immigrant communities.

Let the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit …

The Nonprofit Nerd (April 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s topic is participatory evaluation with youth.

Talking about youth in evaluation would not be appropriate without including youth perspectives. This month, thanks to The Nonprofit Institute’s instructor Thuan Duong, we are fortunate to share insights from youth actively involved in a major program evaluation. As part of the evaluation of the DHS Child Welfare’s LIFE Program (see program description below), Thuan works with a Youth Advisory Board (YAB), who are collaboratively interviewed below.

Besides working as a Research Associate with Portland State University’s Center for Improvement of Child & Family Services, Thuan is an instructor for the Professional …

The Nonprofit Nerd (March 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s topic is evaluation with trauma survivors.

This issue, we are examining the unique considerations of evaluating programs working with trauma survivors. With the help of Vanessa Timmons, Executive Director of the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (OCADSV), we will explore methods for evaluating programs, including “survivor-led evaluation.”

More funders are asking nonprofits to relate services to ACEs and evaluate trauma-informed practice. Many organizations have always seen this connection between trauma and the nonprofit sector, even when services are not specific to healing from trauma.

Who do you visualize when you hear “trauma survivor?” Perhaps you …

The Nonprofit Nerd (January 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month's topic is culturally-responsive evaluation with Native and Indigenous communities.

In this issue, we explore culturally-responsive evaluation for Native American or Indigenous communities. This is the first of a series focusing on culture and equity.

According to “Leading with Tradition,” The Portland Metro region has been home to many nations including the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, bands of Chinook, and more. Across Oregon, there are nine federally-recognized tribes. According to the Coalition of Communities of Color’s "An Unsettling Report", Portland is the ninth largest urban Native population, and this diverse Native community is served by almost 30 …

The Nonprofit Nerd (April 2018), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s topic is the 2020 Census.

You may have heard that the U.S. government is preparing for the next Census in 2020. Did you know that Oregon has joined seventeen other states in a lawsuit to block changes to the Census? Do you know what’s at stake for your nonprofit and the communities you serve? (hint: a lot!)

In this e-news, we interview Jason Jurjevich and Charles Rynerson of PSU’s Population Research Center to understand how nonprofits can take action by getting involved in local Complete Count Committees and by sharing important information with their communities.

Let the …

The Nonprofit Nerd (February 2018), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month's topic is Opinion Research.

We recently sent out a survey about using data in nonprofit work. We received a lot of great feedback from many of you -- thank you! We are working hard to analyze the data from the survey to inform our decision making on our upcoming Nonprofit Data Lab project.

One of the many interesting things you had to tell us involved the challenge of learning about (and getting feedback from) people you aren’t currently reaching through your programs. So, we are devoting this month’s newsletter to a discussion of opinion research as one …

The Nonprofit Nerd (January 2018), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month's topic is Opinion Research.

We recently sent out a survey about using data in nonprofit work. We received a lot of great feedback from many of you -- thank you! We are working hard to analyze the data from the survey to inform our decision making on our upcoming Nonprofit Data Lab project.

One of the many interesting things you had to tell us involved the challenge of learning about (and getting feedback from) people you aren’t currently reaching through your programs. So, we are devoting this month’s newsletter to a discussion of opinion research as one …

The Nonprofit Nerd (December 2017), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This edition of the Nonprofit Nerd features research highlights, Nerds at Work, and news from the Nonprofit Institute.

The Nonprofit Nerd (October 2017), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Equity in Evaluation!

If you’ve been following along the past few months you may have seen that NPI is working with the latest cohort of our Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation to bring evaluation tools into their organizational equity work. Measuring progress toward our goals is a critical part of every organization’s learning, improvement and accountability to the communities we serve.

But what about the equity implications of how we actually do evaluation? What does it mean to employ an equity lens in our approach to evaluation itself—the questions we ask, the data we collect, …

The Nonprofit Nerd (June 2017), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

What happens when a grant-maker and grant-writer learn evaluation together?

Jonathan Frochtzwaig and Deborah Vaughn were already acquainted when they came together last fall for our 2016 Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation. Young Audiences of Oregon and Southwest Washington was a past grant recipient from the Oregon Arts Commission. What did they learn from their experiences and from each other as they went through the training program together? Read on to find out!

Let the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit Nerd inspire you to get your nerd on and find innovative ways to make research and …

The Nonprofit Nerd (March 2017), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Evidence‐Based Budgeting!

Whether you’re a newly‐minted nonprofit employee or a seasoned executive director, chances are good that you are impacted by your organization’s budget process. And if you’re like many nonprofit professionals, you might now be in the midst of building a program or organizational budget for your upcoming fiscal year. While there is no universally right or wrong way to write a budget, you can save yourself some headaches later by using good data and information to inform your planning.

This month, we explore the role of data in budget planning! Let the resources …

The Nonprofit Nerd (January 2017), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Using Data for Social Change.

As we wish you Happy New Year this month, we at The Nonprofit Institute also want to say thank you to the people and organizations who are working on the front lines to ensure our community is a safe place for people of all identities, faiths and nationalities. We are committed to supporting nonprofit organizations in the days ahead, and we have much work to do.

The Nonprofit Nerd (November 2016), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Evaluating Fundraising Strategies.

Many of us are hard at work this month, knee deep in The Giving Season at our nonprofits. Now is a great time to think about how you’ll know which of your strategies are working. Program evaluation is a useful tool for measuring your fundraising efforts, not just your nonprofit’s programs. Using a data informed approach can be a resource development game changer. Below, we spotlight the work and approach Faith Danforth takes with development data at Mercy Corps, along with some DIY tools and resources to take your use of fundraising …

The Nonprofit Nerd (October 2016), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Creating a Culture of Evaluation.

NPI’s Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation kicks off this month! If you missed the chance to join us in this year’s cohort, we hope you’ll follow along as we share what we’re learning about. This month we’re exploring what it means to build a “culture of evaluation” in our organizations. Let the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit Nerd inspire you to get your nerd on and find innovative ways to make research and data work for you and your nonprofit!

The Nonprofit Nerd (September 2016), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Networked Philanthropy.

Let the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit Nerd inspire you to get your nerd on and find innovative ways to make research and data work for you and your nonprofit!

The Nonprofit Nerd (August 2016), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

Welcome to the Inaugural Issue of The Nonprofit Nerd! The Nonprofit Institute (NPI) at Portland State University (formerly the Institute for Nonprofit Management) is excited to introduce you to our new e‐newsletter, The Nonprofit Nerd. In each newsletter, we’ll provide you with to some great research, data, and best practice resources on a particular theme, as well as introduce you to some amazing nonprofit nerds who are making research and data “work” for them.

We hope the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit Nerd will inspire you to get your nerd on and find innovative ways to make …