Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ply bringing together a group of individuals who share a common vision. Here we de-
fine a successful volunteer stewardship group as a group that demonstrates a high
level of achievement in proportion to its vision and mandate, where success is mea-
sured internally by the benefits and satisfaction realized by the individuals involved as
well as externally by the group's ability to achieve desired goals, gain community sup-
port and recognition, complete assigned projects, and remain active and engaged un-
til they are no longer needed (Millar 2003; Clewell and Aronson 2007). Two exam-
ples of volunteer restoration groups who have this level of success are the Volunteer
Stewardship Network (VSN) in Illinois and the Friends of the Forest, Inc., in Sedona,
Arizona. Formed in 1983, the VSN has grown to more than seventy-four volunteer
groups who help public and private landowners throughout Illinois maintain and re-
store more than 350 natural areas. Meanwhile, the Arizona group has about four hun-
dred volunteers who provide physical labor and financial resources to assist the U.S.
Forest Service in its day-to-day operations, including protection of a recently restored
riparian area. Of course, there are many other successful restoration-oriented volun-
teer groups in the United States and elsewhere (see chaps. 3 and 4, this volume).
McKinsey (2001) developed a model, the capacity framework, that identifies suc-
cessful practices and strategies used by nonprofit organizations. In this framework,
“capacity” refers to the elements of an organization and the ability of those elements
to work together to perform desired functions and services. Based on studies of thir-
teen nonprofit organizations that included conservation groups and school improve-
ment and health care programs, the capacity framework model describes seven ele-
ments of a nonprofit organization essential to its long-term health and effectiveness.
The seven elements can be viewed as a hierarchical structure containing the
following:
• Three higher-level elements—aspirations (mission, vision, and goals), strategy
(actions and programs to achieve the stated goals), and organizational skills
(performance measures, planning, external relationship building)
• Three foundational elements—human resources (collective capabilities, expe-
riences, and commitment of managers, staff, and volunteers), systems and infra-
structure (planning, decision making, and administrative systems), and organi-
zational structure (governance, organizational design, job descriptions)
• Cultural elements—(shared values and practices, orientation toward perfor-
mance) that connect all of the components
Millar (2003) expanded the organizational capacity elements included in the ca-
pacity framework to develop indicators by which to measure the success of steward-
ship and conservation organizations, including key values specific to the stewardship
and conservation field. Millar (2003) tested the validity of six indicators of success in a
survey of six Canadian nonprofit stewardship and conservation organizations that was
designed to identify organizational best practices. Two additional indicators of success
emerged from the survey. There were eight key indicators of successful stewardship
and conservation organizations:
