Increasing the Capacity of Individuals, Families and Communities

Identifying and Promoting Best Practices

Current Initiatives in Faith-Based Best Practice Identification | Appendix

Summary

CCF has designated the identification and promotion of best practices as one of the primary tasks that all intermediary organizations will carry out to some degree as part of their capacity building efforts. The following is a summary regarding identifying and promoting best practices among FBCOs.

1. As you begin identifying best practices, it is important to keep in mind that involving FBCOs in the process as much as possible at each step along the way is a critical way to build ownership and acceptance on the part of FBCOs in the capacity building process. When it comes time to incorporate best practices into their organizational processes and structures, FBCOs will already have a vested interest in the practice and be more inclined to make the necessary changes.
   
   
2. For the purposes of this guidebook, a distinction has been drawn between research validated best practices and field tested best practices. Research validated best practices are defined more narrowly as those practices which have been validated by thorough research and comparative assessments with practices of peer organizations across the U.S. Field tested best practices, on the other hand, have been shown to work effectively and produce successful outcomes and are supported to some degree by subjective and objective data sources.
   
   
3. As you begin to think about the different areas of social service organization operations that may be in need of best practice identification, it is essential to note that there are two different dimensions in which best practices can be found: the organizational dimension and the programmatic dimension. In addition, FBCOs will be in need of best practices for areas of current programming and organizational structures, as well as for future programming and organizational operations.
   
   
4. In terms of identifying best practices, you can either work to identify existing best practices that have already been validated according to sound criteria and that meet the needs of the FBCOs served. Or, you can work to identify and validate new best practices that meet the needs of the FBCOs served. You may want to do a combination of both, identifying existing practices were possible and new practices where needed to fill in the gaps in knowledge and practice.
   
   
5. Whether you identify existing or new best practices, the process of validation is vital to both. In order to be considered a best practice, a practice must meet certain criteria including:
   • Effectiveness in addressing a common problem.
   • Effectiveness in more than one organization and in more than one context.
   • Replicability on a limited scale.
   • Supporting data from comparison to objective benchmarks with positive results.
   • Supporting data from an internal assessment or external evaluation.

   The validation process is used to ensure that a practice meets the minimum standard of adhering to these criteria. You can either validate a new practice themselves or ensure that the validation process used by the source organization is programmatically sound.
   
   

6. All best practices contain two different types of elements: proprietary elements (related to the specific context of the originating organization) and replicable elements (general replicable on a broader scale). Pay particular attention to the process of separating out the elements that are replicable from those that are proprietary. The process for doing this can often be more art than science, and each intermediary will discover its own best method for going about this process.
   
   
7. Though a potential practice may have gone through the identification and validation process and have been determined to be a best practice, it is important to note that not all best practices work for all organizations. You will want to assess which FBCOs can most benefit from each best practice and deliver training and technical assistance where it will have the most impact.
   
   
8. Once new or existing best practices have been identified, you have the key task of promoting best practices (distribution) and fostering best practices (incorporation into the FBO and CBO). Promoting and fostering best practices requires a combination of training and one-on-one consultation and technical assistance with FBCOs.

Current Initiatives in Faith-Based Best Practice Identification | Appendix