On Thursday, September 9, 2011 the Human Services Commission held a public hearing on Budgeting for Results (BFR) and the impact of the state budget crisis on the human services sector in Illinois. As the state readies for the implementation of this new budgeting process that will have a significant impact on Illinois communities, we are advocating for accountability and inclusion of nonprofit and philanthropic stakeholders.
We were called to testify, and gave the state credit for its efforts to reform the budgeting system while urging caution, collaboration, and transparency. If done right, BFR has the potential to restore some faith in Illinois leadership and elected officials. If done poorly, it could defund vital services due to lack of appropriate outcome measurement and further alienate whole constituencies, including nonprofits that provide critical services to the state and those they serve.
We emphasized the need to focus on three key areas:
1) A transparent and accountable system. For BFR to work well in Illinois, we must be a collaborative process for collecting, sharing, selecting, and analyzing data for the proper establishment of goals and outcomes in order for the State to meet its own targets. In addition, it is critical to get an explicit statement about which programs will be included and which will not. This will be enormously important for nonprofits determining how to engage in the process.
2) Inclusion of nonprofit and foundation community. Nonprofit and foundations expertise should be tapped. If BFR is to work well in Illinois, the process by which data is gathered, collated, and indicators and outcomes created needs to be open to subject matter experts, particulary from the nonprofit and foundation communities.
3) Realistic assessment and allocation of necessary resources. If BFR is to work in Illinois, ‘doing more with less’ cannot be the guiding principle. Lack of management, buy-in and staffing across and through departments will not only lead to bad resource allocation, it will lead to fundamental misreading of program goals and outcomes – resulting in less needs being met. If the state doesn’t have enough resources, it should tap the expertise of the nonprofit and foundation communities.
Read Laurel's full testimony here.
~Laurel O'Sullivan, Vice President, Public Policy
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsutphin/4281439888/sizes/s/in/photostream/ via Creative Commons
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