Business Commons^™

The Potential For Bias When Research On Voluntary Associations Is Limited To 501(C)(3) Organizations, Mary Anna Culleton Colwell

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

No abstract provided.

American Peace Movement Organizations: The 1988 And 1992 Surveys, Mary Anna Culleton Colwell, Doug Bond

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This is the definitive description of the 1988 Survey of Groups and Organizations Working for Peace and the 1992 follow-up of the peace movement organizations which responded in 1988. We discuss American peace movement organizations and the origins and history of the research effort in Part One along with a brief review of some of the theoretical considerations underlying this process.

In Part Two we explain the survey methods and procedures including details on the stratified sample selection, questionnaire development, survey procedures in 1988 and 1992 and response rates. The 1992 effort, especially, was the product of a …

Board Involvement In Fundraising, Margaret Sponseller Mills

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The topic of board participation in fundraising has been the object of extensive discussion but little systematic research. This study used a correlational design to examine the relationship of board involvement in fundraising to board recruitment, orientation, and. training; agency demographics; and the characteristics of board members. The study also examined the attitudes of board members toward their agencies and toward fundraising.

The data were gathered through an anonymous survey questionnaire completed by 274 board members (62% response rate) of 30 randomly selected health and human service agencies in Santa Clara County.

It was found that emphasizing or …

The Use Of Standard Industrial Classification (Sic) Codes To Classify Activities Of Nonprofit Tax-Exempt Organizations, Bradford Smith

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Online Services By Nonprofit Organizations, Joan E. Patton

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This study analyzed the use of computers and online information systems by nonprofit organizations. The study surveyed 98 environmental, 60 arts, and 48 health services organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The study identified factors which executive directors of nonprofits consider most important for the effective use of an online system and for user satisfaction. Based on the findings, a list of questions was developed to assist nonprofit managers in evaluating the value of online services for their organization.

Among the 206 organizations surveyed, 66% were using computers, but only 17% were using them for some type …

Leadership And The Nonprofit Sector, John W. Gardner

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

No abstract provided.

Toward A New Millennium: Dimensions Of Leadership In The 1990s, Reynold Levy

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

No abstract provided.

An Interactive Model For Volunteerism, Nancy Hanawi

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

Executive Summary:

Virtually all nonprofit organizations depend to some extent on the work of volunteers; many deliver their services entirely through volunteers. Yet research has contributed relatively little to fundamental understanding of volunteers and volunteerism, perhaps because what research has been done tends to deal with volunteerism in a narrow context. Typically, research efforts have consisted of querying a set of volunteers for one or more organizations regarding their motivation and satisfactions with respect to that particular volunteering situation. Thus what is usually being examined is the person in a specific volunteer role. In this study, what is suggested is …

Characteristics Of College Student Volunteering, Ronald W. Fagan

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

The focus of this paper is on college students and their attitudes, values, and activities, including altruism and volunteering. College students from a southwestern liberal arts university were sampled. We found that the students repeatedly stressed traditional, moralistic, and altruistic attitudes and values. We found relatively high levels of volunteering. We also found that students placed significant limits on their volunteering.

Commitment And Tenure Of Highly Skilled Volunteers: Management Issues In A Nonprofit Agency, Eleanor Brown, Jan Zahrly

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

Recognizing that turnover in an agency's volunteer population is especially costly in the case of highly trained volunteers, we analyzed data from a nationwide survey of crisis and suicide intervention volunteers to identify variables contributing to volunteers' attachment to their crisis center. We measured attachment both as level of commitment during the volunteer's association with the center and the length their association at the time of the survey. Although little of the variation in commitment levels could be explained, statistically significant variables included two variables under management discretion, whether agencies urged volunteers not to disclose their.relationship to the center, and …

Resilience And Survival: Executive Careers In Major California Nonprofit Organizations, Cathie J. Witty

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Despite the increasing social involvement of nonprofit organizations in public activity, we really know very little about the education, values and career patterns of the executives who manage this nonprofit sector.

This study begins to address these issues through interviews with fifty executive directors of large California nonprofit organizations. Four types of nonprofit organizations were included in the study. Human service agencies [20] and arts organizations [17] comprise the bulk of the organizations, with foundations [10] and scientific research facilities and museums [3] completing the sample.

The study explores the personal dimensions of mobility, career choices, education and …

Organizational And Management Characteristics Of Peace Groups, Mary Anna Culleton Colwell

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The contemporary American peace movement is a mixture of many small and a few large organizations pursuing a wide range of goals. There has been almost no organizational research focused on these peace movement organizations (PMOs) or detailed studies of the goals, values, and activities of a large sample of PMOs.

The activity of these varied PMOs has had limited impact on public policy. Some authors cite the strength of external forces or the conservative American political culture as the key factors in this relative lack of success. There are few facts with which to evaluate these or …

Workplace Giving: Employee Attitudes, Perceptions And Behavior, Cathie J. Witty, Jacqueline Urla

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The W. Alexander Gerbode Foundation funded this study of employee attitudes about charitable fundraising and giving in the workplace by the Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management at the University of San Francisco. This study is significant for several reasons. First, while the overall charitable behavior of Americans has been documented in several recent national surveys, the changing workplace fundraising scene remains largely unexplored. Second, the San Francisco Bay Area is an ideal laboratory for a study of workplace giving that analyzes ethnic differences along with other variables related to charitable attitudes and behavior since the Bay Area has …

A Study Of Nonprofit Boards Of Directors From The Chief Executive Officer's Point Of View, Kathleen Brown Fletcher

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Little has been written to help executive directors of nonprofit organizations with one of the most important parts of their job: working with their Board of Directors. Previous studies show that board-related behaviors are responsible for the difference between effective executives and their less effective peers and that neither academic nor professional literature adequately addresses the board/executive relationship. Behavioral definitions of a "good board" can be found in books written for board members, but no definition could be found that reflected executives' opinions on what behaviors they value most in the boards with which they must work.

This …

The Determinants Of Blood Donation Behavior In A Changing Environment, Kathleen A. Krentler, Mary L. Joyce

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Past research into donation-related behaviors has focused primarily on monetary giving. This study looks into blood donation behavior and attempts to analyze its determinants in the current environment, with AIDS awareness and its links to the nation's blood supply at an all-time high.

Previous research on the determinants of blood donation behavior has indicated that noneconomic factors weighed heavily in a person's decision to donate blood. Altruism has frequently been cited as the primary motive for giving. Additional research has found fear to be a major inhibitor.

As public awareness of AIDS and its association with blood and …

The Charitable Behavior Of San Francisco Bay Area Physicians, Anne M. Bubnic

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

As the highest-paid professionals in our society, physicians represent a unique and interesting segment of the American population. Surprisingly little information is available on the actual charitable interests and giving patterns of medical practitioners, but then few studies have been done on populations of wealthy individuals. Knowledge of physicians' charitable behavior is limited to their provision of medical care without remuneration, but no relationships have been developed between these activities and other charitable practices.

A mail survey of 1,451 physicians in the San Francisco Bay Area was conducted during the months of September- October, 1986 to gather information on the …

Asian American Charitable Giving, Rosalyn Miyoko Tonai

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

A survey study of 321 Asian American donors tested key demographic, attitudinal, and situational factors affecting Asian American charitable giving in the San Francisco-Oakland area. Leading inquiries in the study were to determine (a) a profile of donors in the sample, (b) whether significant relationships exist between relevant factors and charitable giving, (c) effective solicitation techniques, and reasons for giving and not giving.

The survey instrument was an eight page questionnaire mailed in July of 1987 to individuals currently on mailing lists of Asian non-profit organizations. The lists consisted of individuals who were known to have donated to …

Applied Empirical Research On Nonprofit Organization Management: Survey And Recommendations, Kathleen M. Brown

Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

This paper reports the results of a telephone survey and a literature search undertaken to determine the nature and scope of recent applied empirical research studies related to nonprofit organization management and to suggest what the priority areas for such research should be In the Immediate future. The paper provided background material for the Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management at the University of San Francisco to use In setting Its research priorities.

Applied research was contrasted with basic or pure research and was operationally defined as research "the findings of which could be of Immediate use to managers …