WEBINAR: Can Budgeting be Based on Performance? (Tues., Apr 28, 1 p.m. Eastern)

Center for Accountability & Performance (free)

New AI-driven tools may make it easier for governments to track performance in real-time, lowering the administrative burden of linking budgets to performance. Panelists include Marc Holzer, Katherine Willoughby and Kimberly Mernieks, director of Ohio’s Office of Management and Budget.

Translating Performance Management into Action

Barrett & Greene (Rudy de Leon Dinglas)

Adoption of a performance management system is only the first step. Based on observations of dozens of cases, success depends on leadership commitment, managerial authority, organizational capacity, and organizational cohesion. 

Mitigating Metrics Malaise

Eating Policy (Jen Pahlka)

Goodhart’s Law (when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure) is one of the deepest traps in organizational life, and the leaders who handle it best tend to share six recognizable instincts.

Accountability Without Authority

LinkedIn (Alexander Spradling)

Everyone wants accountability, but there is a principle that many organizations consistently violate, often without noticing: accountability without authority is unfair. And if accountability and authority are not aligned, then the mismatch erodes trust, distorts behavior, and poisons the decision-making process.

Using AI in Strategic Foresight

Public Administration Review (Open Access PDF)

Generating strategic foresight for public organizations is a resource intensive effort. A case study of an innovative effort in an Australian state government shows that AI can significantly help, when balanced with human expertise for validation and oversight.

Measuring What Matters in NonProfits

PATimes (Savanna Batson)

Nonprofits are increasingly called on to provide empirical evaluation of their impact to meet expectations for efficiency and accountability from board members, philanthropy and government-funded programs. As a result, proactively developing impact evaluation metrics serves as a critical strategy for organizational development.

Call for Papers: Research to Reinvigorate the Performance Movement

Public Performance & Management Review

This symposium seeks to critically assess the state of performance research and its connection to practice, with the aim of reinvigorating the performance movement intellectually and practically. “We invite scholars and practitioners to revisit foundational commitments, critique current trajectories, and articulate future pathways. What might a reinvigorated performance movement look like—and what kind of research, networks, and praxis might sustain it?” Submissions due: August 15, 2026

Resource of the Week:  Oversight Matters

Substack/”For 250 More”

“Oversight Matters” is a recurring feature of the For 250 More Substack that highlights important developments across the oversight community, so that we can strengthen public understanding, support accountability, and help readers see how these institutions shape the integrity of government every day.