The McKinsey Quarterly: Knowledge management comes to philanthropy
As pressure on foundations to improve their performance grows, so too does the potential impact of knowledge management and sectorwide learning. Philanthropic organizations must start managing their knowledge more effectively to put themselves in a stronger position to do more with less.
Philanthropic organizations seem like a perfect place for knowledge management - particularly the knowledge sharing aspect. These organization are geared around helping others, and what better way to do that than by sharing what they have learned over time.
Unfortunately, this article suggests that philanthropic organizations have the same trouble that other organizations face: little long-range vision of how to best use KM concepts in their organization. On the positive side, the authors focus on the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which realized that KM was going to help them implement their overall mission. For big efforts, KM or not, the connection must be made to the strategy of the organization.