I first wrote about this topic in a blog post Is Consolidation the Answer - more thoughts. Since I made that post in June, some rather interesting comments have been posted on the Harvard discussion site.

Based on our successful breakfast in Boston, we are pleased to announce that we have begun inviting nonprofit and government leaders in the greater Washington area to attend an executive breakfast on managing performance with the Balanced Scorecard. Our keynote speaker is the Balanced Scorecard co-creator, David Norton. The breakfast will be on September 24, 2008.

The majority of charities devote less than 2% of their budgets to advocacy or lobbying. Does it matter? Should Charities take on the mantle of Advocacy as an element of their mission?

Most charities have a two pronged mission: strive to alleviate some type of struggle or suffering in the immediate term and to change the cycle that allows the harm to continue. I suggest it is impossible for most charities to achieve their mission without advocating and lobbying for their particular cause.

Melissa Berman, the president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, recently wrote a white paper titled Data, data, everywhere; and not a way to think. In this paper, she describes the difference between philanthrocapitalism and philanertainment, and the insufficient role that data usually plays in nonprofit outcomes.