Yeah that’s a good point; maybe cause level assessments are much easier to do in light of this.
That said, it doesn’t really help donors decide where to give. In my personal case, I give in my area of greatest expertise—I’m pretty sure I do have enough context to assess which organizations are effective, because I know the decision makers, etc. But I don’t know how I’d advise other people who aren’t in that position.
In the case of campaigns, do you think you can look at campaigns after they are won as evidence of past success being a sign of future success? Or are specific campaigners more useful to watch than organizations? I’m not in that world at all, but maybe some kinds of broad guidelines could be shared for donors interested in supporting the most effective campaigns…
I suspect there are other cause areas where that wouldn’t be helpful though, because even pointing out how to assess effectiveness would be too revealing. I suppose organizations taking that approach just wouldn’t really be supportable by folks committed to only supporting organizations with validated effectiveness.
Yeah that’s a good point; maybe cause level assessments are much easier to do in light of this.
That said, it doesn’t really help donors decide where to give. In my personal case, I give in my area of greatest expertise—I’m pretty sure I do have enough context to assess which organizations are effective, because I know the decision makers, etc. But I don’t know how I’d advise other people who aren’t in that position.
In the case of campaigns, do you think you can look at campaigns after they are won as evidence of past success being a sign of future success? Or are specific campaigners more useful to watch than organizations? I’m not in that world at all, but maybe some kinds of broad guidelines could be shared for donors interested in supporting the most effective campaigns…
I suspect there are other cause areas where that wouldn’t be helpful though, because even pointing out how to assess effectiveness would be too revealing. I suppose organizations taking that approach just wouldn’t really be supportable by folks committed to only supporting organizations with validated effectiveness.