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November 2009PPMRN Forum on Possible Application of National Performance Management Standards - Last month the National Performance Management Advisory Commission did us all a great service in issuing a draft of its’ Performance Management Framework. While not yet in final version, it is clearly an impressive work. Read moreOctober 2009:The second year of the Get to Great program was kicked off with the opening conference held at the Rensselaerville Meeting Center September 30th – October 2nd. Four districts (Hartford, Hoosick Falls, Palmyra-Macedon and Queensbury) are now in their second year with the program, and ten districts (Binghamton, Catskill, Edmeston, Guilderland, Lyons, Marcus Whitman, Odessa-Montour, Saratoga Springs, Union-Endicott and Voorheesville) are in their first year with the program. These districts are ready to develop their skills as superintendents, principals and other senior management in being Result Leaders. Read More Karen Rosa, president of the Altman Foundation in New York City offers these remarks on October 8 to a sold out session of New York Philanthropy (formerly New York Association of Grantmakers.) Karen pared with TRI's Hal Williams to present our work guiding the Altman Foundation to set in place an outcome framework for assessing both foundation and grantee effectiveness. September 2009:TRI's Investing for Outcomes will be featured in a GOVERNING magazine workshop on September 30, in Atlanta GA, concurrent with Governing's annual Performance Management Conference. July 2009:The Institute's Investor Program begins work in July with the Alcoa Foundation to provide capacity building and technical assistance services to nonprofit organizations in 3 Alcoa communities and to develop materials that can be used by nonprofits in all Alcoa communities to clearly define and track results and integrate their learnings to increase the results they are getting for those they serve. The North Carolina Center for Health & Wellness and The Institute will work together to develop a results-focused business plan for the launch of this exciting new Enterprise on the beautiful campus of University of North Carolina Asheville. In addition, The Institute will launch and manage a "Verification Unit" for the Center, providing assessment services to nonprofit organizations and their foundation investors. The Verification Center is designed to answer two questions:
The Institute works with foundations to help them clarify what they are seeking to achieve and communicate effectively to grantees and potential grantees. The benefits accrue to both parties in the partnership. These words come from a grantee of a large foundation with which The Institute is currently working: "Finally, as I mentioned earlier, your newly revised grant was outstanding. Often, grants require lengthy descriptions that promote cutting and pasting rather than generating new thingking. Your grant pushed us to articulate thoughts and ideas we have been working on throughout the year. It required a metacognitive process that I am confident can be applied to other areas to inform the organization, staff and stakeholders about our futuer goals. I am happy to be more specific about which questions were most useful if it would be of service to you." June 2009:Our Sparkplug Profile is now available online. Visit our Community Sparkplug website to find out if you spark! www.communitysparkplugs.org GOVERNING Magazine features the Institute's "investing for outcomes" project work with Ascension Health Ventures on performance-based contracts aims to measure the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of government-funded programs. Jim Moore, Director of Government Programs at the Institute developed the project. Read more The Institute's partner, MicroEdge® has just announced with us a powerful set of tools for helping foundations to define, track, and verify results from their grants with GIFTS® Plus Pack .NET Extension version 4.5. This latest version provides users with GIFTS® Outcomes Plus, a new module that enables giving organizations to accurately capture and track exactly what happens to the financial investment they make through their grants. Read more Youth Services of Tulsa (YST), a large, multi-program crisis intervention and youth development agency in Tulsa, OK has contracted with TRI for a major program of assistance to strengthen their focus on outcomes and use an outcome management approach to grow the agency and ready it for the future. A high-performing agency already, the TRI intervention and assistance is best characterized as a "good to great" consultancy which is scheduled to last 18 to 24 months. The Institute's Signature Program, School Turnaround, is nearing a successful completion of its two-year project with the Northampton School District in North Carolina as they recently provided the last set of benchmark tests and data summary reports to the schools. School Turnaround Specialists will continue to support principals as they prepare their buildings for the state assessments. Many principals are looking forward to significant gains in student achievement as the result of our work over the past two years. April - May 2009:Minds On is an Institute program of high-energy. Its day-long workshops for middle and high school students allow motivated students to try out their learning, expand their horizons and experience career options with extraordinary mentors. Recent articles: http://www.thedailystar.com/archivesearch/local_story_086041508.html/resources_printstory Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania: The Rensselaerville Institute... The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Richard King Mellon Foundation are partnering with GWP to bring The Rensselaerville Institute to Pittsburgh. Literacy, Inc. (LINC) embarked on an intensive outcomes management project with The Institute's Implementors Program. LINC is now utilizing an outcomes measurement approach developed by The Institute. Read more... Karen Rosa, President of the Altman Foundation, a client of the Institute, recently spoke to Women in Development in New York City. With her permission and the authorization of Women in Development, attached is a copy of her speech which Senior Fellow Hal Williams described as "a very coherent look at foundation and development practice with an outcome framework." The Institute's project work with environmental group, Scenic Hudson, to shape the growth of Stewart Airport in Newburgh, New York as a model of sustainable green development is highlighted on their web page. http://www.scenichudson.org/whatwedo/backyardcampaigns/stewartairport February - March 2009:The Institute's Investor Program is helping Enterprise Community Partners of Maryland develop a full outcome framework in alignment with their strategic plan goals. This is distinct from an evaluation framework in that it asks all staff to participate in Tracking To Success as a program responsibility. Through our Community Sparkplugs - Small Town Environmental Program, we have targeted 300 households for water or wastewater connections by yearend 2009 and 1,000 by yearend 2011. Currently, one in four children contract hepatitis by age ten because of substandard living conditions. Without the assistance of the Texas Water Development Board, The Frees Foundation and The Trull Foundation, our work would not be possible. Rosie Mendiola of TRI's Texas Office is now leading the on-the-ground efforts. January 2009:Our Strategic Partner organization, The Centre for Public Innovation, UK crossed the seas to hold its annual TransAtlantic Innovation Event at the Rensselaerville Meeting Center. The Institute's Senior Fellow, Hal Williams and President C. T. O'Donnell engaged in presenting the means to an Outcome Framework to the group. ACLP MS Update: 16 Appalachian Community Learning Project (ACLP) communities met at Waverly Waters in West Point, Mississippi on January 20, 2009 to share their project results and learnings. Learn what two of our Sparkplugs were able to do with a $3,000 investment by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Read more... Fall 2008:The Rensselaerville Institute is proud to announce its newest program, Get To Great created by Senior Fellow, Hal Williams and Les Loomis, the former Superintendent of the Bethlehem School District, which is near Albany, NY. Get to Great is a power program to help superintendents and principals master and use results based leadership tools to markedly improve student achievement and overall district performance. Hal Williams, Senior Fellow of the Institute and former President has been selected to be a regular contributor to Project Streamline, a Washington, DC based program recently set up to improve grant applications and reporting. Read article by Hal Williams Hal Williams guides Seattle planning group for $9 million - Youth Violence Prevention Initiative created by City of Seattle Mayor Greg Nichels. (September 24) Institute selected as outcome partner following work with Seattle's $116 million Levy for Families focusing on educational outcomes. Families & Education Levy http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsdetail.asp?ID=4447&dept=40 Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsdetail.asp?ID=8814&dept=40
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