Vic Murray

Do Nonprofit Boards Make a Difference? An Exploration of the Relationships Among Board Structure, Process, and Effectiveness

The contribution of board structure and process dynamics to organiza tional and board effectiveness is the focus of this article. Based on data collected from a cross section of Canadian nonprofit organizations, the results show a positive association between the perception of board effec tiveness and the use of many of the most widely advocated prescriptions on how a nonprofit board of directors should operate. However, when objective indicators of organizational performance are examined, the link between performance and board behaviors is found to be more limited.

Rationality and Politics: What Really Goes on When Funders Evaluate the Performance of Fundees?

This article provides an in-depth case study of the process by which a funder evaluates the performance of a client nonprofit agency in the social services sector. The connection between the evaluation and the subsequent funding decision is also explored. A framework for uncovering the basic dimensions of the evaluation process is presented and applied to the evaluator-evaluatee relationship studied. Various points at which perceptions of the relationship got distorted are identified. The evaluation process was found to be a subtle and complex interaction of formally rational methods and nonformal subjective judgments. The implications of these findings for practical improvements to the evaluation process are discussed.