Link to the report 'ONG del conocimiento: influir para el impacto social'

Knowledge creation is at the core of NGO activity, hence the need for these entities to strategically manage knowledge. NGOs that fail to do so risk losing their social role. This was one of the main findings of the Report ‘ONG del conocimiento: influir para el impacto social’ [Knowledge and NGOs: Influence and Social Impact], produced within the framework of the 10th Edition of the ESADE-PwC Social Leadership Programme.

A questionnaire was administered to 247 managers of Spanish NGOs for the study. No fewer than 89% of managers thought that knowledge management was important. Nevertheless, the survey findings also revealed the need to reflect this importance in NGOs’ organisational strategy given that only 34% of respondents said that their entity was familiar with concepts bearing on knowledge management. Only 29% of respondents stated that their NGO had a strategic plan covering the subject.

Ignasi Carreras, Director of the ESADE-PwC Social Leadership Programme and co-author of the Report, stressed that “NGOs should consider themselves as ‘knowledge organisations’ and accordingly earmark resources for managing and conveying knowledge, given that this is an increasingly differentiating element in modern society. If NGOs lack the know-how when it comes to conveying knowledge to others, they risk being seen as irrelevant”.

Jesús Díaz de la Hoz, President of Fundación PwC (foundation), noted that “We now have more information at our fingertips than ever before. Proper management of knowledge is key to making entities more efficient and relevant, and in gaining influence to drive change. It is an opportunity that The Third Sector must seize. We at Fundación PwC wish to put our expertise at NGOs disposal to help them make this transformation".

Knowledge and Influence

The Report indicates that NGOs are more aware of the internal benefits of good knowledge management (for example, greater efficiency) than they are of the external ones. Yet it is precisely the latter that are stressed by the Report, which draws attention to the vital importance of knowledge management’s role in not only achieving greater social impact but also in winning new donors and ensuring present ones stay loyal.

In this respect, 51% of those surveyed believe that Spain’s NGOs are doing far too little in harnessing knowledge to boost their social impact. No fewer than 90% of respondents stated that resolute steps need to be taken in this field. 

In addition, the Report highlighted the need for NGOs to properly analyse data so that they can measure, compare, and put their impact across. “We cannot take traditional approaches to accountability. We need to evolve and get better at showing what we do. That is why proper data management is so important” said Carreras. 

Those speaking at the presentation also included Mar Cordobés, Researcher at ESADE’s Social Innovation Institute; José María Medina, Director of Prosalus; Ismael Palacín, Director of Fundació Jaume Bofill; Mercedes Valcárcel, Director of Fundación Tomillo.​