Introduction to the Fund-Mapping Tool

Transcription

1 Introduction to the Fund-Mapping Tool 2018

2 What is the Fund-Mapping Tool? The fund-mapping tool helps community and public agency leaders to make better investments in supports and services for children and families. The online tool guides collection by multiple public agency partners on how key funding streams are invested. It does not collect on every funding stream in agency budgets, but focuses on key areas of the budget most aligned with the Evidence2Success developmental outcomes. The tool helps state and local leaders to bring together information across agencies and departments that not only sheds light on the amount of funds invested in key services but also on how effective and aligned those investments are with priority outcomes. Key and analyses from the fund-mapping tool include: how investments align with the Evidence2Successs developmental outcomes; to what extent investments are supporting evidence-based programs; how much key categories of services cost per participant and how those costs compare to known evidence-based alternatives; whether there are opportunities to better coordinate programs and services supported by multiple departments and agencies; whether there are opportunities to improve contracting processes, including the development of contracts that have clear outcomes, accountability for outcomes and incentives for achieving outcomes; and how much funding is currently invested in prevention and remediation and which funding streams have the greatest potential to support prevention programs. Why Do Fund Mapping? Bringing together expenditure information from across multiple agencies provides the foundation for a collaborative financing plan to support partners shared priorities. Specific goals of ping include: identifying opportunities for redirection of public funds from programs and services with less evidence to those with strong evidence of effectiveness; identifying opportunities to move investments upstream from deep-end remediation toward earlier intervention and prevention; identifying opportunities for better coordination of investments serving the same populations and aimed at achieving the same outcomes; and identifying opportunities for maximization of federal entitlement dollars.

3 How Do We Develop a Fund Map? Fund mapping collection takes place in a four-step process in which site leaders work together to collect and analyze budget, policy, and program information. Sites should designate a finance lead who is responsible for coordinating the collection of. The four steps in fund mapping generally require four to five months to complete, depending on how quickly partners make decisions about what will be collected and how long it takes agencies to collect. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Design Collect Analyze and report Plan for ongoing collection and reporting STEP ONE: DESIGN FUND MAP A critical starting point for ping is to get buy-in and agreement from key leaders on the goals of developing a, the priority and analysis to collect and the plan for collecting it. Generally, step one occurs through an initial meeting with the following specific goals: Orient site leaders to the fund-mapping goals and process and to the analyses that can be generated through the process. Receive input from site leaders on what information and analyses they are most interested in developing through the process. Reach agreement with site leaders on key parameters of the mapping process, including: Which agencies and departments will collect? For what level of government will be collected? (State? Region? County? City?) For what fiscal years will be collected? For what population will be collected? Is there a particular age range leaders want to focus on? For what categories of activities and services will be collected? Do leaders want to collect information on investments in the full array of activities and services provided to children and families or do they want to focus collection on specific categories of activities and services?

4 Gain the commitment of key leaders from each of the priority agencies to designate fiscal and program staff as contacts to work with Evidence2Success consultants to collect local financial, and agree on a process for trouble-shooting. STEP TWO: COLLECT FUND MAP DATA The next step is for the site finance lead to work with a team of program, and fiscal staff from across the priority agencies to collect the. Specific tasks in this step include: Orient the mapping team to Evidence2Succes, the mapping goals and process and develop a workplan for collection. Review the fund-mapping template with agency staff. Provide them the opportunity to identify points that are not feasible to collect and customize the template based on the organization of their programs and the availability of. Provide a timeline during which lead staff from partnering agencies collect. Facilitate occasional check-in calls to determine whether collection is proceeding as planned, identify solutions where limited is available and clarify questions that arise in the process. STEP THREE: ANALYZE AND REPORT FUND MAP DATA Once is collected, the site finance lead can run and review analyses, identify those most critical to report, and share them with key stakeholders. Analysis and reporting tasks include: Run initial analyses of. The fund-mapping tool includes a number of stock analyses that can be easily run and presented. The finance lead can start with running the range of analyses that stakeholders prioritized at the beginning of the process. Vet analyses. Report back initial analyses, highlighting questions and areas where more information is needed. Each agency should have the opportunity to review analyses containing from their agency to ensure are accurate and approve the sharing of analyses with individuals outside of the agency. Develop a plan for sharing. Key leaders can meet to review analyses and determine what audiences analyses should be shared with and how. Options include: individual agencies holding meetings of key leadership and managers to consider implications of their agency s for their work, including where there are opportunities to redirect dollars toward evidence-based programs and toward more preventive services, and opportunities to maximize federal funds; sharing the analyses with the Evidence2Success community board and/or the finance workgroup to consider opportunities for redirection and better coordination; sharing select analyses with policymakers, including city or state executives and local, state or federal legislators, to make the case for increased investment in evidence-based programs and preventive services.

5 Hold meetings to report findings to key stakeholder groups and to discuss opportunities for redirection, for maximizing federal entitlements and for better coordination among agencies. Use and analysis to inform your identification of financing strategies for your strategic financing plan. STEP FOUR: PLAN FOR ONGOING DATA COLLECTION After the first fund-mapping process is complete, the site finance lead, the members of the community board and the members of the finance workgroup should decide how often the will be updated. We recommend updating the annually or bi-annually. Once the initial has been entered, annual updates should be much quicker and easier to complete, as much of the programmatic information will stay the same and the update will focus on adding updated expenditure and utilization information. If you update the regularly, you will begin to develop powerful trend regarding investments by key agencies. Key tasks in this step include: Determine if partnering agencies will commit to updating the regularly, and how often. Ensure there is a designated lead for ongoing collection at each partnering agency. Agree on the timeline for annual collection. Develop memoranda of understanding or agreement outlining the commitment of each of the partner agencies to collect and share fund-mapping. Double check to ensure that good notes have been kept regarding sources and methodology for the. This will help to ensure that the collection approach is consistent from year to year so that it is possible to analyze trends in spending over time. WHAT DATA DOES THE FUND MAP TOOL COLLECT? The fund-mapping collection tool is used to collect information such as: Agency information Program information, including targeted outcomes, risk and protective factors addressed, effectiveness, geographic area and number of clients served Funding sources The online tool is organized around major categories of programs and services typically found in each public agency. For each of the major categories of programs and services, the template includes fields to collect basic expenditure and background information. It also contains fields for capturing the amount of expenditures allocated to key developmental outcomes, to categories of prevention and remediation and the evidence basis behind the programs.