Podcast Archives - Glass Frog Solutions

In this episode, we chat with fellow evaluator Kylie Hutchinson about her new book Evaluation Failures: 22 Tales of Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned, which was released in September. Kylie is the principal consultant and founder of Community Solutions, a planning and evaluation firm in British Columbia. She chats with us about her reasons for writing the book, the importance of learning from our failures, and her own experiences as a professional evaluator. Also, spoiler alert: Kylie confesses that she doesn't spend her time listening to podcasts about program evaluation and claims that she would only tune in to another podcast episode if it included a true crime narrative presented in the style of Serial. Challenge accepted, Ms. Hutchinson.

It's your lucky day! We're providing this bonus episode to summarize some of the key takeaways from the outcomes-focused culture series. In this episode, Jen and Rebecca break down the 10 biggest themes from the three-part series and use them to offer a few recommendations for how nonprofits can become more outcomes-driven. Thanks again to our wise and thoughtful guests: Scott Thomas and Sammy Politziner of Arbor Brothers, Kathleen Kelly Janus, and Nikki Thompson from OneGoal - New York.

It's your lucky day! We're providing this bonus episode to summarize some of the key takeaways from the outcomes-focused culture series. In this episode, Jen and Rebecca break down the 10 biggest themes from the three-part series and use them to offer a few recommendations for how nonprofits can become more outcomes-driven. Thanks again to our wise and thoughtful guests: Scott Thomas and Sammy Politziner of Arbor Brothers, Kathleen Kelly Janus, and Nikki Thompson from OneGoal - New York.

In this final episode of our three-part series, we talk with Nikki Thompson, the Executive Director of OneGoal-New York. OneGoal is dedicated to helping low-income students successfully manage the transition to college. It is a national organization with regional sites across the U.S., and Nikki manages the New York region. We talk with Nikki about OneGoal and the activities they've undertaken (and continue to undertake) in the name of becoming outcomes-driven. Nikki emphasizes the importance of mutual trust and strong relationships with staff and stakeholders as prerequisites for being truly outcomes-focused. We talk about some of the tools and systems OneGoal uses to stay on top of student and organizational progress, and the risks of becoming so laser focused on outcomes that people become hesitant to take risks. Nikki is so thoughtful and clearly passionate about her work at OneGoal. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. If you're interested in learning more about OneGoal, you can check them out online at: Web: www.onegoalgraduation.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneGoalGraduation/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/onegoalgraduate Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onegoalgraduation/

In this final episode of our three-part series, we talk with Nikki Thompson, the Executive Director of OneGoal-New York. OneGoal is dedicated to helping low-income students successfully manage the transition to college. It is a national organization with regional sites across the U.S., and Nikki manages the New York region. We talk with Nikki about OneGoal and the activities they've undertaken (and continue to undertake) in the name of becoming outcomes-driven. Nikki emphasizes the importance of mutual trust and strong relationships with staff and stakeholders as prerequisites for being truly outcomes-focused. We talk about some of the tools and systems OneGoal uses to stay on top of student and organizational progress, and the risks of becoming so laser focused on outcomes that people become hesitant to take risks. Nikki is so thoughtful and clearly passionate about her work at OneGoal. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did. If you're interested in learning more about OneGoal, you can check them out online at: Web: www.onegoalgraduation.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneGoalGraduation/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/onegoalgraduate Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onegoalgraduation/

This month, we talk with author, teacher, lawyer, and nonprofit-founder Kathleen Kelly Janus about her new book, Social Startup Success: How the Best Nonprofits Launch, Scale Up and Make a Difference. Kathleen is a lawyer by training, but is a social entrepreneur herself and now lectures on social entrepreneurship at Stanford. As part of our series on building an outcomes-focused culture, we wanted to talk with Kathleen about some of the challenges and best practices she observed while doing her research for the book. We cover some of the same questions we covered with Sammy and Scott from the Arbor Brothers -- namely, how can nonprofits move beyond the catch-22 situation of having to secure funding to collect data but also needing to collect data to secure funding, and how nonprofits can move beyond building out tools and systems to focusing on building a sustainable culture. In addition, we talk about the challenges of building evaluation capacity at well-established versus early stage organizations, lessons these well-established organizations can learn from the book, and some strategies for leveraging human resources to build culture. You can learn more about Kathleen on her website -- www.kathleenjanus.com. She's got a bunch of great tools and resources on her website, so make sure you check them out.

This month, we talk with author, teacher, lawyer, and nonprofit-founder Kathleen Kelly Janus about her new book, Social Startup Success: How the Best Nonprofits Launch, Scale Up and Make a Difference. Kathleen is a lawyer by training, but is a social entrepreneur herself and now lectures on social entrepreneurship at Stanford. As part of our series on building an outcomes-focused culture, we wanted to talk with Kathleen about some of the challenges and best practices she observed while doing her research for the book. We cover some of the same questions we covered with Sammy and Scott from the Arbor Brothers -- namely, how can nonprofits move beyond the catch-22 situation of having to secure funding to collect data but also needing to collect data to secure funding, and how nonprofits can move beyond building out tools and systems to focusing on building a sustainable culture. In addition, we talk about the challenges of building evaluation capacity at well-established versus early stage organizations, lessons these well-established organizations can learn from the book, and some strategies for leveraging human resources to build culture. You can learn more about Kathleen on her website -- www.kathleenjanus.com. She's got a bunch of great tools and resources on her website, so make sure you check them out.

Our conversation with Scott Thomas and Sammy Politziner of the Arbor Brothers was so great that we couldn't contain all of their wisdom in one episode. In this bonus episode, we talk with Scott and Sammy about some of the developments they've seen across the sector with respect to outcomes orientation and where they see areas for continued improvement. We discuss the transition from counting outputs to counting outcomes, the concept of cost per outcome, and Scott and Sammy's suggestion for how funders can more equitably hold organizations accountable for overhead costs. Jen also gives Scott and Sammy a Latin quiz. If you are worried that you won't remember to tune in next month for the podcast, then worry no more. You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, Google Podcasts, or TuneIn and they'll do all the hard work of reminding you! If you need to find us in any of the directories, you can search for "Glass Frog" (two words). As always, thanks for listening!

Our conversation with Scott Thomas and Sammy Politziner of the Arbor Brothers was so great that we couldn't contain all of their wisdom in one episode. In this bonus episode, we talk with Scott and Sammy about some of the developments they've seen across the sector with respect to outcomes orientation and where they see areas for continued improvement. We discuss the transition from counting outputs to counting outcomes, the concept of cost per outcome, and Scott and Sammy's suggestion for how funders can more equitably hold organizations accountable for overhead costs. Jen also gives Scott and Sammy a Latin quiz. If you are worried that you won't remember to tune in next month for the podcast, then worry no more. You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, Google Podcasts, or TuneIn and they'll do all the hard work of reminding you! If you need to find us in any of the directories, you can search for "Glass Frog" (two words). As always, thanks for listening!

Scott Thomas and Sammy Politziner of the Arbor Brothers join us for the inaugural episode of the Glass Frog Podcast. We are kicking off the podcast with a three-part series on building an outcomes-focused culture, and our first episode considers the issue from the funder's perspective. The Arbor Brothers team works with what they call "second stage" organizations, rolling up their sleeves to help their grantees build their capacity to drive toward outcomes. We talk to Scott and Sammy about their process of working with grantees, theory of change models, and building culture in an organization. Scott and Sammy were such great guests that we actually have bonus content! We will release a bonus episode on July 9 where Sammy and Scott discuss their broader thoughts on the field and nonprofit philanthropy. Stay tuned! You can learn more about Arbor Brothers on their website -- www.arborbrothers.org -- or by following them on Twitter @arborbrothers. Also tune in for the rest of our three-part series, with episodes released on the first Monday of every month. In August, we’ll talk with Kathleen Kelly Janus about her new book Social Startup Success, and then in September we'll talk with Nikki Thompson, the Executive Director of One Goal-New York. We’re excited to share these conversations with you. We hope you continue to join us. Subscribe to our podcast in iTunes to be notified when new episodes post on the first Monday of the month. If you want to find the episode on iTunes, you can go to iTunes or the Apple Podcasts app and search for "Glass Frog" (two words). We'll try to find our way onto other podcast directories soon. Thanks for listening!

Scott Thomas and Sammy Politziner of the Arbor Brothers join us for the inaugural episode of the Glass Frog Podcast. We are kicking off the podcast with a three-part series on building an outcomes-focused culture, and our first episode considers the issue from the funder's perspective. The Arbor Brothers team works with what they call "second stage" organizations, rolling up their sleeves to help their grantees build their capacity to drive toward outcomes. We talk to Scott and Sammy about their process of working with grantees, theory of change models, and building culture in an organization. Scott and Sammy were such great guests that we actually have bonus content! We will release a bonus episode on July 9 where Sammy and Scott discuss their broader thoughts on the field and nonprofit philanthropy. Stay tuned! You can learn more about Arbor Brothers on their website -- www.arborbrothers.org -- or by following them on Twitter @arborbrothers. Also tune in for the rest of our three-part series, with episodes released on the first Monday of every month. In August, we’ll talk with Kathleen Kelly Janus about her new book Social Startup Success, and then in September we'll talk with Nikki Thompson, the Executive Director of One Goal-New York. We’re excited to share these conversations with you. We hope you continue to join us. Subscribe to our podcast in iTunes to be notified when new episodes post on the first Monday of the month. If you want to find the episode on iTunes, you can go to iTunes or the Apple Podcasts app and search for "Glass Frog" (two words). We'll try to find our way onto other podcast directories soon. Thanks for listening!

We’re so excited to announce that Glass Frog is starting a podcast! The podcast, which we’ve brilliantly titled the Glass Frog Podcast, will bring together experts and practitioners to explore the many issues that nonprofit organizations face as they seek to do program evaluation. We’ll talk with funders, other consultants, and practitioners across the sector to dig into questions around measurement, culture building, research methodology, evaluation capacity building, and more. We’ll be kicking off with a three-part series on building and sustaining an outcomes focused culture within a nonprofit organization. We’ll talk first with Sammy Politziner and Scott Thomas from Arbor Brothers, a foundation that works with second stage organizations in NYC (you’ll have to tune in to learn how they define “second stage”). We’ll also talk with Kathleen Kelly Janus about her new book Social Startup Success, and we’ll talk with Nikki Thompson from One Goal about her organization’s approach to building an outcomes focused culture. The podcast will debut on Monday, July 2. We’ll be releasing episodes on the first Monday of each month. They’ll be released through our website and on iTunes, so please subscribe in iTunes if you want to stay up to date each month! We can’t wait for you to join us!

We’re so excited to announce that Glass Frog is starting a podcast! The podcast, which we’ve brilliantly titled the Glass Frog Podcast, will bring together experts and practitioners to explore the many issues that nonprofit organizations face as they seek to do program evaluation. We’ll talk with funders, other consultants, and practitioners across the sector to dig into questions around measurement, culture building, research methodology, evaluation capacity building, and more. We’ll be kicking off with a three-part series on building and sustaining an outcomes focused culture within a nonprofit organization. We’ll talk first with Sammy Politziner and Scott Thomas from Arbor Brothers, a foundation that works with second stage organizations in NYC (you’ll have to tune in to learn how they define “second stage”). We’ll also talk with Kathleen Kelly Janus about her new book Social Startup Success, and we’ll talk with Nikki Thompson from One Goal about her organization’s approach to building an outcomes focused culture. The podcast will debut on Monday, July 2. We’ll be releasing episodes on the first Monday of each month. They’ll be released through our website and on iTunes, so please subscribe in iTunes if you want to stay up to date each month! We can’t wait for you to join us!