Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

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Browsing Lilly Family School of Philanthropy by Subject "accountability"

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    Account Space: How Accountability Requirements Shape Nonprofit Practice
    (SAGE, 2008-06-01) Benjamin, Lehn M.; School of Philanthropy
    Improving nonprofit accountability is one of the most important issues facing the sector. Improving nonprofit accountability in ways that are attentive to what we might consider unique and valuable about how nonprofits address public problems is the challenge at hand. This article presents a framework for examining the consequences of accountability systems for nonprofit practice. Drawing on empirical findings from three case studies and early sociological work on accounts, the framework considers four questions (i.e., When do organizations give accounts? What is the purpose of the account? When are those accounts accepted or rejected by important stakeholders? And with what consequence?) but makes a distinction between a verification and explanatory accountability process. By making this distinction and clarifying the relationship between these two accountability processes, the proposed framework can be used to identify conflicts between accountability systems and nonprofit practice and to understand how efforts to ensure accountability can spur a change in nonprofit practice, change stakeholder expectations for nonprofits or leave both intact.
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    Accountability in Public Administration: Consistent Challenges and New Terrain
    (Oxford, 2020) Benjamin, Lehn M.; Raggo, Paloma; Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
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    Bearing More Risk for Results: Performance Accountability and Nonprofit Relational Work
    (SAGE, 2008) Benjamin, Lehn M.; School of Philanthropy
    Performance accountability systems require nonprofits to bear more risk for achieving results. Although a growing body of work has examined nonprofit accountability, less attention has been given to the concept of risk. This article points to a potential conflict between performance accountability frameworks and nonprofit work. This conflict can be best understood as a one between managing risk in task-driven relationships, in which relationships are formed simply to achieve desirable results, and managing risk in developmentally driven relationships, in which performing a task is intended not only to achieve desirable results but also to build enduring capacity to take action on common problems.