Thad Calabrese's guest appearances

Thad Calabrese

NGO Soul + Strategy

Heart, Soul & Data

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George Mitchell

SummaryDid you know....When nonprofits signal they are financially trustworthy,  they actually give up to half of their potential impact.Why is this "financial trustworthiness signaling behavior” so pervasive, when it has this high a cost?In this podcast episode, I interview George Mitchell,  Professor of Nonprofit Management at Baruch College, City University of New York – and a long-time collaborator, including on our book (Between Power and Irrelevance: the Future of Transnational NGOs’ (Oxford University Press, 2020) -- and Thad Calabrese,  Professor of Public and Nonprofit Management at New York University about their provocative new findings. George’s Bio: Professor of Nonprofit Management at Baruch College, City University of New York Director at Center for Nonprofit Strategy and ManagementMoynihan Research Fellow at Syracuse UniversityIndependent consultant at InterActionPh.D. from Syracuse UniversityCo-author of our joint book ‘Between Power and Irrelevance: the Future of Transnational NGOs’, together with Hans Peter Schmitz, University of San Diego (Oxford Uni Press, 2020) Thad’s Bio:Professor of Public and Nonprofit Financial ManagementAssistant professor at Baruch College, earlier on Ph.D. from New York University We discuss: Nonprofits frequently adhere to four financial ‘orthodoxies’ or norms:Though shall keep your overhead costs minimalThough shall be financially lean, i.e. not look too profitable, not sit on a large financial or capital reserveThough shall diversify one’s revenues as much as possibleThough shall avoid taking out debt (in the form of loans, bonds, bank notes) etc to acquire capital for investmentWhat if these practices, these financial norms, actually reduce your impact as a nonprofit by as much as 50% (in terms of your overall spending levels)?George and Hans did a large-scale, quantitative study on US-based international and domestic nonprofits that indicated exactly this. Their research findings were picked up by several national US media, given their provocative nature. Quotes:“Norm-adhering nonprofits sacrifice about half of their mission impact over a 10-year period compared with norm-busting nonprofits.”“Forgone mission impact is the hidden cost of trustworthiness”Resources:George’s LinkedIn ProfileThad’s LinkedIn ProfileGeorge's blog post – pointing to an article in The Conversation: HERERelated article in Nonprofit Policy Forum  (Open Access): HEREBook: Between Power and Irrelevance: the Future of Transnational NGOs’ (Oxford University Press, 2020): HEREYoutube video of this podcastClick here to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces.Twitter LinkedIn Facebook 

SummaryDid you know.... When nonprofits signal they are financially trustworthy,  they actually give up to half of their potential impact.Why is this "financial trustworthiness signaling behavior” so pervasive, when it has this high a cost?In this podcast episode, I interview George Mitchell,  Professor of Nonprofit Management at Baruch College, City University of New York – and a long-time collaborator, including on our book (Between Power and Irrelevance: the Future of Transnational NGOs’ (Oxford University Press, 2020) -- and Thad Calabrese,  Professor of Public and Nonprofit Management at New York University about their provocative new findings. George’s Bio:<ul><li> Professor of Nonprofit Management at Baruch College, City University of New York </li><li>Director at Center for Nonprofit Strategy and Management</li><li>Moynihan Research Fellow at Syracuse University</li><li>Independent consultant at InterAction</li><li>Ph.D. from Syracuse University</li><li>Co-author of our joint book ‘Between Power and Irrelevance: the Future of Transnational NGOs’, together with Hans Peter Schmitz, University of San Diego (Oxford Uni Press, 2020)</li></ul> Thad’s Bio:<ul><li>Professor of Public and Nonprofit Financial Management</li><li>Assistant professor at Baruch College, earlier on </li><li>Ph.D. from New York University</li></ul> We discuss: Nonprofits frequently adhere to four financial ‘orthodoxies’ or norms:<ul><li>Though shall keep your overhead costs minimal</li><li>Though shall be financially lean, i.e. not look too profitable, not sit on a large financial or capital reserve</li><li>Though shall diversify one’s revenues as much as possible</li><li>Though shall avoid taking out debt (in the form of loans, bonds, bank notes) etc to acquire capital for investment</li></ul>What if these practices, these financial norms, actually reduce your impact as a nonprofit by as much as 50% (in terms of your overall spending levels)?George and Hans did a large-scale, quantitative study on US-based international and domestic nonprofits that indicated exactly this. Their research findings were picked up by several national US media, given their provocative nature. Quotes:“Norm-adhering nonprofits sacrifice about half of their mission impact over a 10-year period compared with norm-busting nonprofits.”“Forgone mission impact is the hidden cost of trustworthiness” Resources:<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeemitchell/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">George’s LinkedIn Profile</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/thad-calabrese-5b43a/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Thad’s LinkedIn Profile</a>George's blog post – pointing to an article in The Conversation: <a href="https://5oaksconsulting.org/2022/08/07/when-nonprofits-conform-to-common-financial-management-norms-they-may-sacrifice-as-much-as-half-of-their-impact/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HERE</a>Related article in Nonprofit Policy Forum  (Open Access): <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/npf-2019-0050/html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HERE</a>Book: Between Power and Irrelevance: the Future of Transnational NGOs’ (Oxford University Press, 2020): <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Between-Power-Irrelevance-Future-Transnational/dp/0190084723" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HERE</a>Youtube <a href="https://youtu.be/DtEZnt8Wh14" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">video</a> of this podcastClick <a href="https://5oaksconsulting.org/email/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a> to subscribe to be alerted when new podcast episodes come out or when Tosca produces other thought leadership pieces.<a href="https://twitter.com/Tosca5Oaks" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/toscabrunovanvijfeijken/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn </a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Tosca5Oaks/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook </a><a href="https://www.youtu&lt;/truncato-artificial-root&gt;" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a>

046. Signaling your financial trustworthiness lowers your NGOs impact by half: George Mitchell and Thad Calabrese

What we measure matters, and we don't always measure the more impactful things. In today's episode, Dr. Thad Calabrese of NYU Wagner explains how destructive tracking overhead ratios can be to nonprofits, and how the sector is starting to move towards impact evaluation. More funders are looking to spend dollars based on outcomes achieved, rather than simply the proportion of funding that's spent on programs as currently required by accounting standards and the IRS. In order to define this, we need to define what our outcomes even are, then find ways of tracking our progress towards those outcomes - which is not a simple task.  Dr. Thad Calabrese studies public and nonprofit financial management, broadly focusing on the management and governance of public and not-for-profit organizations, as well as the institutions that affect managerial decision-making in these entities. His research has appeared numerous journals, textbooks, and other publications. Thad was awarded the Editors' Prize for Best Scholarly Paper in Nonprofit Management &amp; Leadership for 2013. Prior to academia, Thad worked in the New York City Office of Management and Budget in tax policy and also as a financial consultant working with nonprofit organizations in New York City.

What we measure matters, and we don't always measure the more impactful things. In today's episode, Dr. Thad Calabrese of NYU Wagner explains how destructive tracking overhead ratios can be to nonprofits, and how the sector is starting to move towards impact evaluation. More funders are looking to spend dollars based on outcomes achieved, rather than simply the proportion of funding that's spent on programs as currently required by accounting standards and the IRS. In order to define this, we need to define what our outcomes even are, then find ways of tracking our progress towards those outcomes - which is not a simple task.  Dr. Thad Calabrese studies public and nonprofit financial management, broadly focusing on the management and governance of public and not-for-profit organizations, as well as the institutions that affect managerial decision-making in these entities. His research has appeared numerous journals, textbooks, and other publications. Thad was awarded the Editors' Prize for Best Scholarly Paper in Nonprofit Management &amp; Leadership for 2013. Prior to academia, Thad worked in the New York City Office of Management and Budget in tax policy and also as a financial consultant working with nonprofit organizations in New York City.