Social Solutions Investigates How Ineffective Organizations May Cause More Harm than Good

Baltimore, MD, February 9, 2009 — Social Solutions, nationally recognized for empowering human service providers and the organizations that fund them to strategically tie their efforts to measurable outcomes, today announced an upcoming webinar that will address the rapidly growing performance management movement that is transforming the nonprofit industry. The webinar, entitled "The Golden Rule of performance management: You'd better know whether you're helping or harming - and always assume the latter if you can't measure the former!" will take place on February 19, 2009 at 3pm (EST) and will explore the concept that, without measurement, even the best intentioned organizations may actually be causing harm to their constituents.

Led by internationally renowned performance management expert and former foundation executive David Hunter, the webinar will examine the urgent need for human service organizations to implement the practice of performance management. A long-standing controversy in the nonprofit sector, performance management pushes organizations beyond idealistic mission statements and anecdotal evidence of success to concrete demonstrations, backed by data, of organizational effectiveness. Performance management allows organizations to see which programs are working, which ones are not and provides the data to make adjustments, allowing the organization to more effectively impact the community as well as make a more definitive case for funding.

“Managing performance – measuring efforts and relating them to outcomes - is essential for an organization to have maximum impact on the community it serves,” said Steve Butz, President of Social Solutions. ”An organization that fails to take this step will never measure up to its potential and may ultimately be doing more harm than good. David’s webinar will help nonprofits understand that even in a tough economy, an investment – both of time and resources - in performance management tools will help to ensure that an organization is fulfilling its mission.”