Keytone is currently accepting applications for two interns in their London office for the summer of 2008.  To learn more about this opportunity and how to apply, please download the attached job description.  We look forward to hearing from you!

A panel entitled "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, What's the IMPACT of this all?" delivered at this year's Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship explored new approaches to assessing the impact of our work. The panel, formed by social investors and entrepreneurs - including Fay Twersky, Director for Impact Planning and Improvement of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Brian Trestald, Chief Investment Officer of the Acumen Fund and Keystone's Chief Executive, David Bonbright - examined the challenges of impact assessment for social enterprises, from time constraints faced by social entrepreneurs on the ground to the conciliation of different approaches to measuring and the choice of what to measure. Panelists presented new trends in thinking about evaluation and impact assessment and agreed that it is only worth pursuing if aimed at learning and improving our work.

 Two new articles on the Financial Times touch two of the issues that are explored in the recently published Keystone study ‘Online Philanthropy Markets: From Feel-Good Giving to Effective Social Investing?’: the array of opportunities that the online world offers for transforming the way we engage in philanthropic activities and the challenge of giving both with our hearts and heads.

Sarah Murray, in a piece titled: ‘The age of cyberspace offers aids for giving’, reviews the rising phenomenon of online giving and the opportunities that it presents for revolutionizing philanthropy. The article identifies that beyond offering a means for making donations easily, online philanthropy platforms enable knowledge exchange among different actors that facilitates ‘a more “open source” approach to finding solutions to seemingly intractable problems’. In addition, they come with ‘built-in’ accountability and transparency elements, such as direct reports on the use of funds and progress achieved from beneficiary organizations or individuals. And the innovation goes on to enabling direct involvement by users, with systems that are based on user-generated content or crowd-sourcing for identifying successful solutions to social problems.

 An inspiring article appeared in December in the New Yorker magazine: a doctor in the United S tates introduced step-by-step checklists for procedures in intensive care units and gave the power to nurses to control doctors' performance against the checklists. The results? In some cases, infection rates in ICUs dropped by 66%. The author wonders: If something so simple can transform intensive care, what else can it do? 

Simple ideas often have the greatest impact. At Keystone we believe that simple interventions for enabling the voice of beneficiaries and other constituents of developmental processes enhance the  performance and impact that  organisations working in the social change field are having. Who better to control and assess the work of these organisations, than those most affected by it? For this, we have developed a series of tools and services that give beneficiaries and other constituents genuine voice within the organisations that act on their behalf and for their benefit. 

Online platforms like GlobalGiving, Kiva, Network for Good, GiveIndia, HelpArgentina, and so many more – hold the potential to transform the quality and quantity of resources available for domestic and international development. But can they realise that potential? Can they really revolutionise philanthropy?

With support from the Aspen Institute's Nonprofit Sector Research Fund, Keystone has undertaken a research project to answer these questions. Our breakthrough study 'ONLINE PHILANTHROPY MARKETS: FROM ‘FEEL-GOOD’ GIVING TO EFFECTIVE SOCIAL INVESTING?' examines the rapidly expanding phenomenon of online philanthropy markets and details the opportunity that they have to create the informational basis for results-oriented giving and serving as a lever for greater accountability and effectiveness of social purpose organisations.  

A survey conducted by Keystone in collaboration with Alliance magazine confirms that impact evaluation is a major issue in the social sector with agreement from both the donor and grantee side. However, results show clearly that the general perception in the sector is that there is not enough investment for fostering evaluation practices. Evaluation has the potential to improve learning within social purpose organisations and enable them to improve their performance in bringing about change. But for the full potential to be realised more funding is needed.

The survey, in which 72 grant-making and 226 grant-recipient organisations from all around the world took part, was conducted online during September and October 2007. Donors were asked to provide information about their demands from grantees regarding evaluation and the funding and other support they provided for this purpose. Grantees were asked to answer the survey keeping in mind one of their most important donors and provide their point of view of the donor’s as well as of their own practices related to evaluation. You can see the survey results by clicking here.

David has contributed both as editor and author to the latest issue of Alliance magazine.  His article 'What Do We Need to Know?' explores the emergence of new forms of measurement for quality social change.  David also co-wrote 'Taking Evaluation Seriously Still a Way to Go' with Betsy Schmidt.  This article reports on the online survey Keystone and Alliance conducted to get the opinions of those on both ends of evaluation, donors and grantees.  For more from Alliance magazine, click here.

The second volume of the CIVICUS Global Survey of the State of Civil Society offers a wide-ranging analysis of key issues facing civil society worldwide with contributions from prominent researchers and civil society practitioners. Comprising 24 chapters, the book draws on the information collected by the CIVICUS Civil Society Index project in more than 45 countries to explore issues such as civil society’s accountability, its relations to the state and corporate sector and its role in governance and development. It also includes regional overviews of the state of civil society in different continents. By bringing together a diversity of perspectives and themes, this book offers one of the most comprehensive and engaging analyses of civil society worldwide.

This month sees the first posts to the new Charitable Measurement Initiative blog.  Created by Harsh Trivedi and Alexander Lemke, CMI is passionate about maximizing the impact of non-profit organizations by increasing their transparency and facilitating public reporting.  To achieve their goals, CMI has implemented the Keystone framework.  Stay up to date with their progress through updates on their blog.

Keystone staff David Bonbright and Andre Proctor along with external consultant Jed Emerson, recently travelled to Rwanda for evaluating the possibilities for a high end eco-lodge development to maximize its social and environmental value for the local communities. Site visits and conversations with local officers and community leaders inspired a series of thoughts on a society's struggle to overcome the genocide trauma and move forward reflected in David's travel notes.

Read David's piece "Dateline Rwanda".