This article examines accountability processes in a nonprofit organization serving immigrants and refugees, with special attention to their impacts on mission-based activities. The research finds that upward accountability requirements of donors do not necessarily yield improved mission achievement, and practitioners thus have to navigate a complex environment of pressures. We identify a series of strategies that nonprofit executives and staff use to manage the tensions between upward accountability and mission: a prioritization of lateral accountability, staff empowerment through organizational slack, and a tight coupling of evaluation with job tasks. The findings suggest that funders and nonprofits might gain more from investing in internal grantee capacities for lateral communication and coordination than by soliciting more detailed reporting. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[No Keywords available]

[No Keywords available]