Summary Quite a few smaller size social sector organizations assume that program evaluation is too complex or demanding an undertaking for them. Is that the case, though? If we want to introduce program evaluation to staff, leadership, and boards who have not yet been inducted into the importance of program evaluation: what are the most effective questions to generate genuine interest in and motivation to engage in such program evaluation? How can we build a more evaluation-friendly culture...

Summary What are the main benefits of a network structure, where power, authority, and leadership are dispersed and shared across regions, from an effectiveness perspective?  What are the most important enabling habits, practices and behaviors that go with that, as a change leader? And what are the most valuable network-related frameworks, concepts, resources, and tools at work in moving towards this structure? In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Anu Kumar, President and...

Summary Conflict within our organizations: we often don't really want to face them, but they are very much there. The result? Plenty of passive aggression to go around.  What are the implications of such forms of conflict avoidance? In other NGOs on the other hand -- especially in the last few years it seems -- internal strife has come out into the open - sometimes spilling into the media in an unwanted fashion. On another note: is interest-based problem-solving still a helpful approach to...

Summary What are some structural things that are wrong in development aid and in civil society? Which mindsets most need to be decolonized when it comes to the relationship between global South civil society organizations (CSOs) and INGOs? Global North-founded INGOs need to be reimagined. How, in turn, do global South-founded NGOs have to change to take over many roles that INGOs currently still fulfill? And how do they need to recalibrate their power relationships with INGOs? In this NGO...

Summary Leadership transitions are tricky -- and potentially risky -- moments in a nonprofit's life. What are the most common pitfalls or aspects that get overlooked when nonprofits -- and outgoing leaders themselves -- tackle such leadership transitions? What key strategies and tactics are essential to ensure a smooth leadership transition and maintain organizational stability? What are the habits, practices, and behaviors that are most aligned with a successful exit of an Executive...

Summary What should I imagine, practically, when a team coach starts to support my team? What does a well-known team coach find the most rewarding about working with nonprofit teams? Can a team coach detect any differences in team behaviors or tendencies between their for-profit and nonprofit clients?    In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Alexander Caillet, CEO and co-founder of Corentus, Inc., on all of the above questions,  including how to navigate team behaviors when...

Summary What is the state of DEI in US-founded international development organisations (both for-profit and nonprofit), and how has this state changed since 2021?   What has been the action, as compared to the professed intentions for action?    In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Shiro Gnanaselvam, President and CEO at Social Impact, on DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) trends in US Development agencies.   Shiro’s Bio: CEO of Social Impact, a US-based mid-size...

Summary What is life after leadership like? What happens to you as a person when you leave a high-powered, highly visible role in civil society? What happens with your sense of identity? Does this also perhaps touch on ego as well? What offers new meaning and purpose, when we live our life-after-leadership? In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Sam Worthington, former President and CEO at InterAction, who stepped down from a position with much positional as well as symbolic...

Summary What is scaling? And how is it different from growing? What’s the role of partner strategies or multiplier strategies in scaling? What are the implications of scaling in an era of decolonizing aid, localizing development, and shifting roles of nonprofits and NGOs, shifting power, authority and decision rights? In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Amy Ragsdale, Director at Spring Impact, a consulting, coaching and training agency specializing in scaling...

Summary What are the vital steps a senior leader have to take as they step into a new leadership role? What to do and what to expect when you are transitioning into that new role? And, separately, to what extent are African leadership models and frameworks  different from global North ones?  Most importantly, what could global North imprinted leadership models learn from African ones?  In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Adama Coulibaly, Global Programs Director at...

Summary What should we think of when we consider organization integrity issues? How do you distinguish between positive and negative forms of power? How do we nurture power for organizational integrity?  These are the fairly complex questions that we address in the podcast today. In this NGO Soul+Strategy  episode, I interview Bhavika Patel, Senior Adviser for Equalities and Inclusion at Oxfam Great Britain, and Alex Cole-Hamilton, independent consultant and one of the founders of the Power...

Summary How can the feelings of people who work in organizations both facilitate and suppress change? What makes people attach reputation and credibility to another person? And how does this relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and these may work out in practice? What's the problem with think tanks from the perspective of a decolonization goal, and what has been the problem historically? In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Ajoy Datta,  consultant, policy...

Summary How should we think about the  ‘collective journey to equitable development’ of Northern-founded NGOs, national NGOs and their funders? What obstacles stand in the way of continuing on that journey?  Why does Humentum argue that NGO operating models need to enable  ERA (Equitable, Resilient, and Accountable) development, and how does that need to come about? In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Kim Kucinskas, Director for Community Strategy at Humentum, on...

Summary What are the strengths of a confederated nonprofit organizational structure and what are its inherent weaknesses and limitations? What is a ‘diversified network’ type of organizational structure? To what extent does having a confederated organizational structure, as well as the aspiration to be a diversified network, Impact the nature, legitimacy, adaptability, and quality of decision-making? In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Doris Bäsler, formerly Oxfam,...

Summary What is ‘transscalar activism’ in a nutshell? And how is it different from what academics call the 'Boomerang' model of international advocacy NGO networks? When did international NGO advocacy begin attracting the attention of academics, and why? What had shifted at that point, what had changed? What was the dominant narrative in academia for a long time? And what was wrong with that? In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Elizabeth Bloodgood, Associate Professor at...

Summary What’s problematic about philanthropy in the ways the sector has practiced it for many decades? Are there limits to trust-based philanthropy? How do boards of grant-making philanthropies such as the Global Fund for Children have to change their composition, mindset, and oversight practices to lessen a compliance and upward accountability lens and to make themselves more responsive to actual needs?   In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview John Hecklinger, President and...

Summary What are the characteristics of 'digitally native' campaigning organizations? How do digital NGO campaigning organizations compare and contrast with traditional, 'brick and mortar' NGOs? Do digitally native civil society organizations and traditional NGOs sufficiently seek to complement each other, in order to maximize impact? I don't think they do. In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Nina Hall, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Johns Hopkins...

Summary INGOs have been rocked by scandals and allegations of abuse of power, discrimination etc. in the last 5-10 years.  What kind of different types of scandals can we distinguish in our sector? Which factors that affect nonprofit scandals remain understudied? What's the distinction between integrity violations and competency violations? And should we be getting more concerned as a sector about the latter In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview Cassandra Chapman, Associate...

Summary A number of NGOs have aimed to strengthen their global legitimacy by adding more global South members/affiliates. Is this truly a valuable strategy? Does it help with legitimacy to be more 'globally balanced'? What are the hard lessons learned about how to manage this process? And how do local civil society as well as government respond?  Hazem Fahmy, the CEO of the CARE Egypt Foundation and former Country Director of CARE USA-line managed Egypt Country Office, is an excellent source...

Summary What is most difficult or challenging about operating as a leader in a place like Oxfam? What does it take to lead from a political frame in NGOs? Rational persuasion: is it overrated?   In this NGO Soul+Strategy podcast episode, I interview John Samuel, Oxfam Asia Regional Director on influence and power in complex NGOs. John is an expert on Organizational Development. He is also the founder of Bodhigram, an Indian grassroots social movement,   John’s Bio: Regional Director of Oxfam...

Charity Navigator is a free online resource for US-based donors, an intermediary rating agency with 11 million unique users per year. It currently rates just about 200.000 US-registered nonprofits, both domestic and internationally operating ones, and is quite influential in driving the behavior of donors and, indirectly, of nonprofits that are rated on the platform. Charity Navigator has changed the indicators with which it rates nonprofits in significant ways in the past 10 years - and...