So you’ve just completed implementation on a database for your organization or inherited one that your organization has used, to some extent, for decades. Now what? Well, whether you’re starting with a clean slate or trying to breathe new life back into your system, it’s time to step back and think about a vision for[…]
The English Tutoring Project (ETP) is a small but mighty program that provides English language tutoring to non-native speakers in St. Louis’s Catholic elementary and middle schools. The program has great success increasing the language proficiency of its students and believed that this success was impacting the students in other ways that were not yet[…]
Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas is a healthcare conversion foundation that supports primary & preventative healthcare, dental services, social services, behavioral health, and population health programs throughout South Texas. In 2018, The IllumiLab had the privilege of supporting the foundation and its Youth and Child Mental Health partners. After recognizing the challenges that their[…]
I said it last week, and I’ll say it again. Nonprofit professionals wear many hats. When I was a program manager in a small nonprofit, my responsibilities spanned clinical supervision, program design, program evaluation, data management, grant writing, and grant reporting. In this way, our work often overlaps with that of our colleagues on other[…]
This is the second post from our guest blogger, Julia Pickup, who is lending her unique perspective on outcome measurement, evaluation, and cultures of learning and improvement. Julia is a skilled family therapist and leader of clinicians. This set of posts is named after a common point of resistance I meet when talking with direct[…]
As promised in our October newsletter (click here to subscribe), Insight Partners has some exciting things planned for our third year, including this blog series by guest blogger Julia Pickup, MSW, LCSW. Julia is a highly skilled therapist, clinical supervisor, instructor, and program director. She thrives on developing clinicians to reach their full potential, building team[…]
I’ve been to countless team, committee, and Board meetings where entire packets and slide decks of lists, tables, and graphs of data are presented only to be glanced at and set aside. Rarely do we visualize and present data in a way that suggests we could and should reflect on or engage with it. What[…]
We are back after taking a hiatus in July to focus on wrapping up and ramping up several projects. We are excited to dig into this series of posts about data, strategy, and nonprofit governance. Over the past few months, several of our clients have faced challenges when it comes to engaging their Boards and[…]
Has your organization recently completed a strategic planning process and created a “plan” that is nothing more than a glorified (and long) laundry list? Do you create annual plans full of aspirational goals that never quite get fully operationalized or implemented because no one knows where to start? Did you get a list of feedback[…]
Often, people in the nonprofit world hear the “e” word (whispers: evaluation) and they think of program evaluation, outcomes, and impact. However, evaluative thinking is a way of leading, planning, and making decisions that can be applied to all of an organization’s operations. Recall that the various definitions of evaluative thinking emphasize that it: Is[…]