Thinking on Scaling Impact: Evidence Is Not Enough

Critics argue that nonprofit health is not the point, social impact is. But in my work, I am finding that an opportunity—I dare say an imperative—exists for philanthropy and nonprofits to discuss proactively and openly the importance of enterprise success in addition to the importance of evidence of programmatic success.

The rhetoric and practice around “funding what works”—scaling the impact of programs that have proven success rates—runs the risk of perpetuating a nagging problem for the nonprofit sector: excellent programs cannot exist without healthy organizations. Just as the iPad would not likely be a success without Apple,* a program that achieves greater health outcomes cannot succeed without a strong organization that creates, administers, markets, delivers and improves that program. The difference is, we all accept that Apple is an enterprise, which builds the cost of these functions into its product pricing. It is understood that profitability is a pre-requisite to healthy growth.