Alnoor Ebrahim is an Associate Professor in the General Management Unit, and in the Social Enterprise Initiative, at the Harvard Business School. His research and teaching focus on the challenges of performance management, accountability, and governance facing social sector organizations. He is also a principal of Harvard University’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. Professor Ebrahim is author of the award-winning book, NGOs and Organizational Change: Discourse, Reporting, and Learning (Cambridge University Press, 2003 and 2005), and is co-editor, with Edward Weisband, of Global Accountabilities: Participation, Pluralism, and Public Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2007), which compares accountability dilemmas in nonprofits, business, and government. He has been the recipient of awards for best article in the journals Nonprofit Management and Leadership, and the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. He teaches the MBA required course on "Leadership and Organizational Behavior" (LEAD), and previously taught an elective course on "Leading and Governing High-Performing Nonprofit Organizations." In the HBS executive education portfolio, Professor Ebrahim servers as Chair of "Governing for Nonprofit Excellence" while also teaching in programs on "Performance Measurement of Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations" and "Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management." Through his research and case writing, Ebrahim examines the challenges of performance measurement and accountability facing social sector organizations, impact investors, and their boards. He is currently involved in research with a range of social sector organizations, from new socioeconomic hybrids to well-established global NGOs and foundations. His professional work has included commissioned reports on civil society relations with the World Bank, on NGO accountability at the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as projects with a number of nongovernmental organizations over the past two decades, such as CIVICUS: The World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C., the Tata Energy Research Institute in New Delhi, and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in western India. Prior to joining the faculty of the Harvard Business School, Alnoor Ebrahim was the Wyss Visiting Scholar at HBS, and a Visiting Associate Professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also taught at Virginia Tech for several years, where he was a founding codirector of the Institute for Governance and Accountabilities. He holds a BSc degree from MIT (1991) in civil and environmental engineering, and a PhD from Stanford University (1999), where he studied environmental planning and management.
Featured Work
-
Sizing Up Social Impact
HBS Alumni Bulletin
Quantifying results in the social sector comes down to the tricky work of measuring social good.
-
Let's Be Realistic About Measuring Impact
Harvard Business Review Blog
"Measure impact" has become a mantra for creating social change. Claims about making a difference are no longer sufficient; evidence of how much difference you're making is now required. We should applaud this trend, because results are sometimes ambiguous and claims often go unsubstantiated. But does it really make sense for all mission-driven organizations to measure their long-term impact on society?
-
Global Accountabilities
Participation, Pluralism, and Public Ethics
Accountability is seen as an essential feature of governments, businesses and NGOs. This volume treats it as a socially constructed means of control that can be used by the weak as well as the powerful. It contributes analytical depth to the diverse debates on accountability in modern organizations by exploring its nature, forms and impacts in civil society organizations, public and inter-governmental agencies and private corporations. The contributors draw from a range of disciplines to demonstrate the inadequacy of modern rationalist prescriptions for establishing and monitoring accountability standards, arguing that accountability frameworks attached to principal-agent logics and applied universally across cultures typically fail to achieve their objectives. By examining a diverse range of empirical examples and case studies, this book underscores the importance of grounding accountability procedures and standards in the divergent cultural, social and political settings in which they operate.
-
U.S. Congressional Hearing: The World Bank’s Disclosure Policy Review and the Role of Democratic Participatory Processes in Achieving Successful Development Outcomes
Testimony of Alnoor Ebrahim, Associate Professor, Harvard University before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, September 10, 2009, Washington, D.C. Video of the hearing can be seen here.
-
NGOs and Organizational Change
Discourse, Reporting, and Learning
The organizational dynamics of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become increasingly complex as they have evolved from small local groups into sophisticated multinational organizations with global networks. Alnoor Ebrahim's study analyses the organizational evolution of NGOs as a result of their increased profile as bilateral partners in delivering aid. Focusing on the relationships between NGOs and their international network of funders, it examines not only the tensions created by the reporting requirement of funders, but also the strategies of resistance employed by NGOs. Ebrahim shows that systems of reporting, monitoring, and learning play essential roles in shaping not only what NGOs do but, more importantly, how they think about what they do. The book combines original case studies and research with an extensive review of literature. It draws from multiple fields including organizational behaviour, social and critical theory, civil society studies, and environmental and natural resource management.
Publications
-
Book
| 2007
Global Accountabilities: Participation, Pluralism, and Public Ethics
Alnoor Ebrahim and Edward Weisband
This edited volume contributes analytical depth to the diverse debates on accountability in modern organizations. It explores the nature, forms and impacts of accountability efforts in civil society organizations, public and inter-governmental agencies, and private corporations. Contributors draw from a range of disciplines, including political science, public administration, civil society studies, anthropology, organizational sociology, business, and social and critical theory. In so doing, they demonstrate the inadequacy of modern rationalist prescriptions for establishing accountability standards and for monitoring them. The authors show how accountability frameworks attached to principal-agent logics and applied universally across cultures typically fail to achieve their objectives. Accountability is a socially constructed means of control used by the weak as well as the powerful. The chapters in this volume provide evidence of its highly contested and power-laden nature. By relying on a diverse range of empirical experience and case studies -- from the local to the global, and from wealthy industrialized countries of the ""North"" to poorer nations of the ""South""-- this book underscores the importance of grounding accountability procedures and standards in the divergent cultural, social, and political settings in which they operate. It offers a critique of universalizing and technocratic notions of accountability, thus providing a ""second-generation"" perspective on accountability that is interpretive and culturally embedded.
Keywords: Ethics;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Corporate Accountability;
Business and Government Relations;
-
Book
| 2003
NGOs and Organizational Change: Discourse, Reporting and Learning
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Non-Governmental Organizations;
Change;
Reports;
Learning;
-
Article
| World Development
|
Governing International Advocacy NGOs
L. David Brown, Alnoor Ebrahim and Srilatha Batliwala
-
Article
| Nonprofit Management & Leadership
|
Enacting Our Field
Alnoor Ebrahim
This keynote address, delivered to the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council at its 25-year "benchmark" conference, examines the pedagogical challenges facing the field of nonprofit management in American higher education. It interrogates four binary distinctions commonly used in scholarship and teaching about the social sector, but which now show signs of eroding: for-profit versus nonprofit, funder versus grantee, local versus global, and secular versus faith-based. Each distinction is examined with the aim of answering two questions: What are the implications for new theorizing about this field? What are the implications for teaching and action? In closing, the essay explores innovations in structuring social sector management programs in order to educate cross-sector leaders capable of addressing critical societal problems.
Keywords: Conferences;
Higher Education;
Teaching;
Social Issues;
Innovation and Invention;
Programs;
Management;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Citation: Ebrahim, Alnoor. " Enacting Our Field." Keynote Address. Nonprofit Management & Leadership 23, no. 1 (Fall 2012): 13–28. (Keynote Address to the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council, 25 Year Benchmark Conference.)
-
Article
| Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings
|
Putting the Brakes on Impact: A Contingency Framework for Measuring Social Performance
A. Ebrahim and V. K. Rangan
Keywords: Framework;
Performance;
Measurement and Metrics;
-
Comment
| Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
|
Professional Practice: Nonprofit Agency Challenges
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Practice;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Problems and Challenges;
-
Article
| Nonprofit Management & Leadership
|
Strategies and Tactics in NGO-Government Relations: Insights from Slum Housing in Mumbai
Ramya Ramanath and Alnoor Ebrahim
Relationships between nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government agencies have been variously described in the nonprofit literature as cooperative, complementary, adversarial, confrontational, or even co-optive. But how do NGO-government relationships emerge in practice, and is it possible for NGOs to manage multiple strategies of interaction at once? This article examines the experience of three leading NGOs in Mumbai, India involved in slum and squatter housing. We investigate how they began relating with government agencies during their formative years and the factors that shaped their interactions. We find that NGOs with similar goals end up using very different strategies and tactics to advance their housing agendas. More significantly, we observe that NGOs are likely to employ multiple strategies and tactics in their interactions with government. Finally, we find that an analysis of strategies and tactics can be a helpful vehicle for clarifying an organization's theory of change.
Keywords: Cooperative Ownership;
Housing;
Corporate Strategy;
Business and Government Relations;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Change Management;
Business Strategy;
Growth and Development;
Non-Governmental Organizations;
Accommodations Industry;
Mumbai;
-
Editorial
| Financial Times
|
The World Bank Must Fix Its Business Model
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Banks and Banking;
Business Model;
-
Article
| American Behavioral Scientist
|
Placing the Normative Logics of Accountability in 'Thick' Perspective
Alnoor Ebrahim
This article provides a critical reflection on the heavily normative nature of current accountability debates. In particular, it explores three streams of normative discourse on nonprofit accountability: improving board governance, improving performance-based reporting, and demonstrating progress toward mission. The article describes how these logics are associated with three basic accountability regimes: coercive, technocratic, and adaptive. It then discusses how a focus on these normative logics and regimes, although important, can mask the realities of social structure and the relations of power that underlie them. The article proposes a more empirical approach to framing accountability—"thick description"—that might enable scholars to better understand how social regimes of accountability actually operate in different contexts and in which the instruments of accountability are at least as likely to reproduce relationships of inequality as they are to overturn them.
Keywords: Fair Value Accounting;
Accounting;
Governance;
Performance Evaluation;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Goals and Objectives;
Management Practices and Processes;
Power and Influence;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Organizational Structure;
Relationships;
Accounting Industry;
-
Comment
| United States House Committee on Financial Services, Hearing
|
Testimony on 'The World Bank's Disclosure Policy Review, and the Role of Democratic Participatory Processes in Achieving Successful Development Outcomes'
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Banks and Banking;
Policy;
Success;
Growth and Development;
Outcome or Result;
-
Article
| Nonprofit Management & Leadership
|
How Does Accountability Affect Mission? The Case of a Nonprofit Serving Immigrants and Refugees
Rachel Christensen and Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Mission and Purpose;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Refugees;
Demography;
-
Article
| AccountAbility Forum
|
Evaluating Accountability: Can We Do More with Less?
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Governance;
Citation: Ebrahim, Alnoor. "Evaluating Accountability: Can We Do More with Less?" AccountAbility Forum 7 (autumn 2005): 28–33.
-
Article
| Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
|
Accountability Myopia: Losing Sight of Organizational Learning
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Organizations;
Learning;
Corporate Accountability;
-
Article
| Administration & Society
|
Institutional Preconditions to Collaboration: Indian Forest and Irrigation Policy in Historical Perspective
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Cooperation;
Perspective;
History;
Policy;
Natural Environment;
-
Article
| World Development
|
Accountability in Practice: Mechanisms for NGOs
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Corporate Accountability;
Non-Governmental Organizations;
-
Article
| Nonprofit Management & Leadership
|
Making Sense of Accountability: Conceptual Perspectives for Northern and Southern Nonprofits
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Perspective;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Corporate Accountability;
-
Article
| Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
|
Information Struggles: The Role of Information in the Reproduction of NGO-Funder Relationships
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Information;
Non-Governmental Organizations;
Relationships;
-
Article
| Journal of Planning Education and Research
|
Learning Processes in Development Planning: A Theoretical Overview and Case Study
Alnoor Ebrahim and L. Ortolano
Keywords: Learning;
Growth and Development;
Planning;
Theory;
Information;
-
Article
| Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations
|
NGO Behavior and Development Discourse
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Non-Governmental Organizations;
Behavior;
Growth and Development;
Citation: Ebrahim, Alnoor. "NGO Behavior and Development Discourse." Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 12, no. 2 (June 2001): 79–101.
-
Article
| Development in Practice
|
Agricultural Cooperatives in Gujarat, India: Agents of Equity or Differentiation?
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Cooperation;
Equality and Inequality;
India;
-
Article
| Natural Resources Forum
|
Energy Pricing and Groundwater Use
Alnoor Ebrahim and S. Mohanty
Keywords: Price;
Energy;
Natural Environment;
-
Chapter
| Building Global Democracy? Civil Society and Accountable Global Governance
| 2011
The World Bank and Democratic Accountability: The Role of Civil Society
Alnoor Ebrahim and Steve Herz
Keywords: International Finance;
Banks and Banking;
Civil Society or Community;
Governance Compliance;
Banking Industry;
Citation: Ebrahim, Alnoor, and Steve Herz. "The World Bank and Democratic Accountability: The Role of Civil Society." Chap. 3 in Building Global Democracy? Civil Society and Accountable Global Governance, edited by Jan Aart Scholte, 58–77. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
-
Chapter
| The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management
| 2010
The Many Faces of Nonprofit Accountability
Alnoor Ebrahim
Calls for greater accountability are not new. Leaders of organizations, be they nonprofit, business, or government, face a constant stream of demands from various constituents demanding accountable behavior. But what does it mean to be accountable? By and large, nonprofit leaders tend to pay attention to accountability once a problem of trust arises-a scandal in the sector or in their own organization, questions from citizens or donors who want to know if their money is being well spent, or pressure from regulators to demonstrate that they are serving a public purpose and thus merit tax-exempt status. Amid this clamor for accountability, it is tempting to accept the popular normative view that more accountability is better. But is it feasible, or even desirable, for nonprofit organizations to be accountable to everyone for everything? The challenge for leadership and management is to prioritize among competing accountability demands. This involves deciding both to whom and for what they owe accountability. This chapter provides an overview of common dilemmas of nonprofit accountability, lays out tradeoffs inherent in a range of accountability mechanisms, and closes with insights for practice.
Keywords: Crime and Corruption;
Corporate Accountability;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Taxation;
Leadership;
Management;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Behavior;
Trust;
-
Dictionary Entry
| International Encyclopedia of Civil Society
| 2010
Accountability
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Governance Compliance;
-
Dictionary Entry
| International Encyclopedia of Civil Society
| 2010
Civil Society - Business Relations
James E. Austin and Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Civil Society or Community;
Business and Community Relations;
Business Ventures;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
-
Chapter
| Strategic Environmental Assessment for Policies: An Instrument for Good Governance
| 2008
Learning in Environmental Policymaking and Implementation
Alnoor Ebrahim
This paper explores how "learning" occurs in the context of environmental policy formulation and implementation. Rather than viewing policy learning as a rational and technocratic process, the emphasis here is on the political and institutional contexts within which opportunities for policy learning emerge. In particular, opportunities for policy learning are examined with respect to: a) agenda or priority-setting on environmental issues; b) stakeholder access and representation in policy formulation; and c) accountability in implementation. Examples are drawn from the experiences of South Africa and Brazil. Several preliminary factors are identified that may enhance policy learning, while acknowledging the constraints of bounded rationality and relationships of power.
Keywords: Learning;
Corporate Accountability;
Policy;
Government and Politics;
Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Natural Environment;
Power and Influence;
South Africa;
Brazil;
-
Chapter
| Reconceptualising NGOs and Their Roles in Development: NGOs, Civil Society and the International Aid System
| 2007
Beyond Dependence: Conceptualizing Information and Accountability in NGO-Funder Relations
Alnoor Ebrahim
This paper explores the linkages between information systems and accountability in nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations (NGOs). The information systems in four NGOs are introduced: two Indian NGOs engaged in natural resource management and rural development, an education-focused nonprofit in urban Washington, D.C., and a rights-based transnational organization operating in over thirty countries. Despite the differences among these NGOs, they all face closely related challenges in developing information and accountability systems. The cases suggest that, for information systems to be useful for purposes of long-term social change, NGOs require indicators that are manageable in number and meaningful in content, information systems and technologies that are reflective of mission and values, and regular opportunities for innovation. Sometimes, such systems are simple and flexible, rather than rigorous or sophisticated. The second part of the paper challenges conventional characterizations of NGOs as being dependent on donors for money. It argues that there is an “interdependence” in which funders rely on NGOs for information that builds their reputations. This interdependence provides an opening for NGOs to challenge the nature of reporting and accountability to their donors. Finally, the third part of the paper explores how this interdependence affects the accountability priorities of NGOs and, in so doing, offers conceptual links between information and accountability.
Keywords: Giving and Philanthropy;
Corporate Accountability;
Information Management;
Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Non-Governmental Organizations;
Information Technology;
India;
District of Columbia;
Citation: Ebrahim, Alnoor. "Beyond Dependence: Conceptualizing Information and Accountability in NGO-Funder Relations." In Reconceptualising NGOs and Their Roles in Development: NGOs, Civil Society and the International Aid System, edited by Paul Opoku-Mensah, David Lewis, and Terje Tvedt, pp. 119–159. Aalborg, Denmark: Aalborg University Press, 2007.
-
Chapter
| Proceedings of the Sixty-Third Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Best Papers
| 2003
Accountability Myopia: Losing Sight of Organizational Learning
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Corporate Accountability;
Governance Compliance;
Citation: Ebrahim, Alnoor. "Accountability Myopia: Losing Sight of Organizational Learning." In Proceedings of the Sixty-Third Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Best Papers, edited by D. H. Nagao. Seattle, WA: Academy of Management, 2003.
-
Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2010
The Limits of Nonprofit Impact: A Contingency Framework for Measuring Social Performance
Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan
Leaders of organizations in the social sector are under growing pressure to demonstrate their impacts on pressing societal problems such as global poverty. We review the debates around performance and impact, drawing on three literatures: strategic philanthropy, nonprofit management, and international development. We then develop a contingency framework for measuring results, suggesting that some organizations should measure long-term impacts, while others should focus on shorter-term outputs and outcomes. In closing, we discuss the implications of our analysis for future research on performance management.
Keywords: Development Economics;
Giving and Philanthropy;
Leadership;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Performance Expectations;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Social Issues;
-
Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2010
The Many Faces of Nonprofit Accountability
Alnoor Ebrahim
What does it mean for a nonprofit organization to be accountable? Nonprofit leaders tend to pay attention to accountability once a problem of trust arises—a scandal in the sector or in their own organization, questions from citizens or donors who want to know if their money is being well spent, or pressure from regulators to demonstrate that they are serving a public purpose and thus merit tax-exempt status. Amid this clamor for accountability, it is tempting to accept the popular view that more accountability is better. But is it feasible, or even desirable, for nonprofit organizations to be accountable to everyone for everything? The challenge for leadership and management is to prioritize among competing accountability demands. This involves deciding both to whom and for what they owe accountability. This paper provides an overview of the accountability pressures facing nonprofit leaders, and examines several mechanisms available to them: disclosures, performance evaluations, self-regulation, participation, and adaptive learning. Nonprofit leaders must adapt any such mechanisms to suit their organization - be it a membership-based organization, a service-delivery nonprofit, or an advocacy network. More crucially, they need to pay greater attention to strategy-driven forms of accountability that can help them to achieve their missions.
Keywords: Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Disclosure;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Leadership;
Mission and Purpose;
Performance Evaluation;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Business Strategy;
-
Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2007
Accountability in Complex Organizations: World Bank Responses to Civil Society
Alnoor Ebrahim and Steve Herz
Civil society actors have been pushing for greater accountability of the World Bank for at least three decades. This paper outlines the range of accountability mechanisms currently in place at the World Bank along four basic levels: (1) staff, (2) project, (3) policy, and (4) board governance. We argue that civil society organizations have been influential in pushing for greater accountability at the project and policy levels, particularly through the establishment and enforcement of social and environmental safeguards and complaint and response mechanisms. But they have been much less successful in changing staff incentives for accountability to affected communities, or in improving board accountability through greater transparency in decision making, more representative vote allocation, or better parliamentary scrutiny. In other words, although civil society efforts have led to some gains in accountability with respect to Bank policies and projects, the deeper structural features of the institution — the incentives staff face and how the institution is governed— remain largely unchanged.
Keywords: Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Governance;
Governing and Advisory Boards;
Compensation and Benefits;
Business and Community Relations;
Social Enterprise;
Motivation and Incentives;
-
Working Paper
| 2006
Placing the Normative Logics of Accountability in 'Thick' Perspective
Alnoor Ebrahim
-
Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
(Revised from original 2010 version)
ActionAid International: Globalizing Governance, Localizing Accountability
Alnoor Ebrahim and Rachel Gordon
As a global NGO working in 45 countries, ActionAid International aims to eradicate poverty by addressing its underlying causes such as injustice and inequality. This case follows a series of radical transformations implemented by the organization's CEO, Ramesh Singh--a power shift from its headquarters in London to an international secretariat in Johannesburg; a new federated governance structure that increases the influence of units in Africa and Asia; and, innovations in accountability and transparency to the poor communities with which it works. But as Singh gets ready to step down after seven years, he is confronted with challenges from newly empowered country units that he feels risk taking the organization in the wrong direction. How will the divisions between the Northern and Southern units play out? Will they tear the organization apart, just when it is becoming a global player?
Keywords: Local Range;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Governance;
Leading Change;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Organizational Structure;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Power and Influence;
Johannesburg;
London;
-
Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
(Revised from original 2010 version)
The Robin Hood Foundation
Alnoor Ebrahim and Cathy Ross
Created by hedge fund and financial managers, the Robin Hood Foundation fights poverty through grants to nonprofit organizations. As the global financial crisis continues to impact the poor disproportionately, the Foundation needs to ensure that its funds are being spent on the most effective poverty-fighting programs. The organization's senior vice president, Michael Weinstein, has developed a benefit-cost (BC) approach to analyze the performance of program grants. How effective is the method? Is funding programs with the highest BC ratios a good way to fight poverty? In three or five years' time, how will Robin Hood know if it is succeeding?
Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations;
Giving and Philanthropy;
Poverty;
Organizational Design;
Performance Effectiveness;
Financial Crisis;
Programs;
Measurement and Metrics;
Citation: Ebrahim, Alnoor, and Cathy Ross. " The Robin Hood Foundation." Harvard Business School Case 310-031, January 2012. (Revised from original May 2010 version.)
-
Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
(Revised from original 2009 version)
Acumen Fund: Measurement in Impact Investing (A)
Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan
Acumen Fund is a global venture capital firm with a dual purpose: it looks for a return on its investments, and it also seeks entrepreneurial solutions to global poverty. This case examines Acumen's new projects in Kenya. The organization's investment committee and its chief investment officer, Brian Trelstad, must decide whether or not to fund two for-profit ventures. The first provides clean and accessible shower and toilet facilities in urban areas, serving a critical need for low-income populations—its financial sustainability, however, is less clear. The second investment is a network of successful private health clinics that primarily serve middle-income populations but which have the potential to reach low-income markets. On what basis should Acumen decide whether or not to invest? What performance metrics should it use? As the investment committee nears a decision, political and social unrest breaks out in Kenya following a highly contested presidential election. Acumen Fund must now also consider the political risks of investing.
Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions;
Venture Capital;
Investment Return;
Giving and Philanthropy;
Risk Management;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Business and Government Relations;
Social Enterprise;
Financial Services Industry;
Kenya;
-
Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
(Revised from original 2009 version)
Acumen Fund: Measurement in Impact Investing (B)
Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan
As Acumen Fund, a global venture philanthropy firm, moves forward with an investment portfolio exceeding $22 million, it runs into two critical measurement problems. First, how should it track the performance of each investment when its interest is not just the bottom line, but also social impact? What should its performance tracking system look like to enable ease of comparison and to identify problems before they become too significant to fix? The second challenge involves attracting investors. Acumen wants to build the field of "social investing" by creating a new asset class for investors who care about social impact. Doing so will require working with competitors in the field in order to establish benchmarks and standards of measurement. How can Acumen build industry-wide benchmarks when peer organizations are concerned about confidentiality of data? Without such comparisons, how will Acumen attract investors to the field?
Keywords: Venture Capital;
Investment Portfolio;
Giving and Philanthropy;
Standards;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Performance Evaluation;
Social Enterprise;
Competition;
Financial Services Industry;
Kenya;
-
Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2010
The Robin Hood Foundation (TN)
Alnoor Ebrahim
Teaching Note for 310031.
Keywords: Performance Evaluation;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Social Enterprise;
Organizational Culture;
System;
-
Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2010
Acumen Fund: Measurement in Impact Investing (TN) (A) and (B)
Alnoor Ebrahim
Teaching Note for 310011 and 310017.
Keywords: Projects;
For-Profit Firms;
Networks;
Health Care and Treatment;
Performance Evaluation;
Investment Portfolio;
Asset Pricing;
Competition;
Multinational Firms and Management;
Venture Capital;
Investment Return;
Poverty;
Financial Services Industry;
Kenya;
-
Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2010
(Revised from original 2009 version)
The Millennium Challenge Corporation and Ghana
Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan
A U.S. government agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), provides aid to developing countries, focusing on poverty reduction through economic growth. It measures results through an economic rate of return based on increases in farmer incomes anticipated over twenty years. As MCC and Ghana finalize a $547 million grant for agriculture and transportation infrastructure, they come up against an accountability and measurement problem: how to address an urgent request from Ghana to fund community services—such as schools and drinking water—for which the results will be more difficult to measure.
Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies;
Economic Growth;
Investment Return;
Measurement and Metrics;
Welfare or Wellbeing;
Ghana;
United States;
-
Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2009
Brummer and the bracNet Investment
Alnoor Ebrahim, Michael Pirson and Patricia Mangas
bracNet, a for-profit/nonprofit partnership, aims to establish Internet connectivity throughout Bangladesh. Venture capitalist Patrik Brummer invested in a first round of funding to connect major cities. Should he invest again, this time in a rural roll-out, which may have lower financial returns but greater social returns?
Keywords: For-Profit Firms;
Venture Capital;
Investment;
Investment Return;
Rural Scope;
Partners and Partnerships;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Internet;
Telecommunications Industry;
Bangladesh;
-
| 2013
Harvard Business Review: Let's Be Realistic About Measuring Impact
Alnoor Ebrahim
"Measure impact" has become a mantra for creating social change. Claims about making a difference are no longer sufficient; evidence of how much difference you're making is now required. We should applaud this trend, because results are sometimes ambiguous and claims often go unsubstantiated. But does it really make sense for all mission-driven organizations to measure their long-term impact on society?
-
Other Unpublished Work
| 2006
Analytical Dilemmas in the Study of Accountability: Center for Democracy and the Third Sector, Georgetown University
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Governance;
Citation: Ebrahim, Alnoor. "Analytical Dilemmas in the Study of Accountability: Center for Democracy and the Third Sector, Georgetown University." Georgetown University, Center for Democracy and the Third Sector, January 2006.
-
Other Unpublished Work
| 2005
A Call for Participatory Decision Making: A Discussion Paper on World Bank-Civil Society Engagement
S. Herz and Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Decision Making;
Civil Society or Community;
-
Other Unpublished Work
| 2005
Accountability Myopia Can Impede NGO Learning and Mission
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Non-Governmental Organizations;
Governance;
Mission and Purpose;
Learning;
Citation: Ebrahim, Alnoor. "Accountability Myopia Can Impede NGO Learning and Mission." American Council for Voluntary International Action Series, InterAction, 2005.
-
Report
| 2004
Seeking NGO-Donor Partnership for Greater Effectiveness and Accountability
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Non-Governmental Organizations;
Giving and Philanthropy;
Partners and Partnerships;
Governance;
Performance Effectiveness;
-
Report
| 2003
Effectiveness of Stakeholder Participation Processes: Yacyretá Hydroelectric Project, Paraguay and Argentina (LAC Region)
Alnoor Ebrahim
Keywords: Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Corporate Governance;
Performance Effectiveness;
Energy Industry;
Paraguay;
Argentina;
Citation: Ebrahim, Alnoor. "Effectiveness of Stakeholder Participation Processes: Yacyretá Hydroelectric Project, Paraguay and Argentina (LAC Region)." Report, World Bank, Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office, January 2003.
Research Summary
-
Research Summary
Performance Measurement and Accountability in the Social Sector
by
Alnoor Ebrahim
Professor Ebrahim's research examines the pressures for accountability facing social sector organizations, and their implications for organizational performance. How can nonprofits and social enterprises measure performance in order to achieve better results? This work focuses on three dilemmas confronting social sector leaders: a) how to prioritize among the competing, and sometimes incommensurable, demands for accountability from different principals and stakeholders; b) how to measure social performance; and, c) how to design governance structures and systems to align accountability aims throughout the organization. While these dilemmas in social sector organizations are not unlike those facing businesses, they are complicated by the fact that social, rather than financial performance is the bottom line in this work.
-
Research Summary
Governance and Accountability in Social Sector Organizations
by
Alnoor Ebrahim
This research examines governance in two types of organizations: international NGOs and socioeconomic hybrids. First, over the past decade, many of the world's most prominent international nongovernmental organizations and networks (INGOs) have developed new structures for operating more effectively in global environments. How have governance arrangements evolved in INGOs as they have internationalized? What kinds of organizational structures and accountability mechanisms are best suited to different global environments? This work makes use of ten case studies to shed light on the process of internationalization and its implications for governance and accountability. This work is being carried out jointly with colleagues at Harvard University's Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations. The second project examines hybrid organizations. As corporations face increasing pressure to address societal problems, and as nonprofit charities turn to market-based revenue models, we are witnessing the emergence of new hybrid organizations that seek to balance market and social welfare logics. Governing boards play a crucial role in enabling hybrids to balance their dual, and sometimes conflicting, objectives. In this conceptual work, carried out jointly with Professors Julie Battilana and Johanna Mair, we examine how hybrids' accountability differs from those of corporate and nonprofit models, and we explore mechanisms of accountability that hybrids adopt in order to maintain their hybridity.
-
Research Summary
Accountability in the World Bank
by
Alnoor Ebrahim
This research, now complete, examines the roles of civil society actors in advocating for greater accountability at the World Bank at three levels of decision-making: (1) the project level, (2) the policy level, and (3) the board governance level. The research finds that civil society organizations have been fairly successful in expanding accountability at the project and policy levels, particularly through the establishment and enforcement of social and environmental safeguards, improved transparency and consultation requirements, and the creation of complaint and response mechanisms. However, these successes have been limited because accountability to affected peoples has not been well integrated into the performance incentive structure for Bank staff. Moreover, civil society has not been successful in improving board-level accountability which requires greater transparency in decision-making, more representative vote allocation, and better parliamentary scrutiny. This research provided the basis for a testimony that Professor Ebrahim delivered to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services.
Teaching
-
Teaching Interest
Leadership and Organizational Behavior (LEAD)
by
Alnoor Ebrahim
This first-year MBA course focuses on how managers become effective leaders by addressing the human side of enterprise. The first modules examine teams, individuals, and networks; the intermediate modules look at successful leaders "in action"; and the final module introduces a model for strategic career management.
Related Link: Full course description
-
Teaching Interest
Governing for Nonprofit Excellence (GNE)
by
Alnoor Ebrahim
This Executive Education course, an HBS Social Enterprise Initiative program, is designed to maximize the contributions of individual nonprofit board members. Participants are challenged to examine their role and the role of their boards in improving organizational effectiveness. Professor Ebrahim is the faculty chair.
Related Link: Full course description
-
Teaching Interest
Performance Management for Nonprofit Organizations (PMNO)
by
Alnoor Ebrahim
This Executive Education course —a joint program presented by the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative and Harvard University's Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations—explores the impact of measurement on resource allocation, organizational learning, internal processes, and internal and external accountability.
Related Link: Full course description
-
Teaching Interest
Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management (SPNM)
by
Alnoor Ebrahim
This Executive Education course is an HBS Social Enterprise Initiative program that provides the opportunity for senior executives to examine their missions and develop new strategies for the new global economy.
Related Link: Full course description
Awards & Honors
-
Alnoor Ebrahim: "Putting the Brakes on Impact: A Contingency Framework for Measuring Social Performance" (with V. Kasturi Rangan) was runner-up for the 2010 Carlo Masini Award for Innovative Scholarship from the Public and Nonprofit Division of the Academy of Management.
-
Alnoor Ebrahim: Nominated for the 2010 Carolyn Dexter Award from the Academy of Management with V. Kasturi Rangan for “Putting the Brakes on Impact: A Contingency Framework for Measuring Social Performance” (Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, August 2010).
-
Alnoor Ebrahim: Winner of the 2005 Editors' Prize for Best Scholarly Paper in Nonprofit Management and Leadership for "Making Sense of Accountability: Conceptual Perspectives for Northern and Southern Nonprofits" (winter 2003).
-
Alnoor Ebrahim: Winner of the 2003 Outstanding Article in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly Award for "Information Struggles: The Role of Information in the Reproduction of NGO-Funder Relationships" (March 2002).
-
Alnoor Ebrahim: Winner of the Outstanding Book Award in 2004 from the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action for NGOs and Organizational Change: Discourse, Reporting and Learning (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
|
|