Business Commons^™

Corporate Sociopolitical Activism And Nonprofit Identity Orientation On An Individual's Likelihood To Support, Tara Duenas

University Honors Theses

The purpose of this study aims to identify whether corporate sociopolitical activism (CSA) as a marketing strategy impacts individual stakeholders and their likelihood to support (time, money, or for-profit partnership) a nonprofit who may have different identity orientations (collectivistic or relational). The two nonprofits that inspired this study are Portland State University (PSU) and SNACK BLOC. Both organizations vary greatly in size and have implemented CSA in response to police abolition within the past year and currently receive public funding. There are various organizational differences between these nonprofits but there has been a suggested link in research that an organization’s …

Simulating The Cause: How Grassroots Organizations Advance Their Credibility Through The Dramaturgical Curation Of Events, Theodore A. Khoury, Yuliya Shymko, Jacob Vermeire

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

To survive, nascent grassroots organizations—and their respective causes—must earn the trust of various audiences that can impact credibility advancement. However, it can be quite difficult for grassroots organizations to access suitable settings, times, and collocated audiences. One context that can yield this type of access is an event, as it constitutes a rare opportunity for organizations to engage in practices that impact credibility advancement. We investigate how a volunteer-based grassroots organization orchestrates a high-profile event at the United Nations to promote African diaspora entrepreneurs as a valuable force in the mitigation of development challenges in their home countries. We employ …

The Nonprofit Nerd (September 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month's topic is program evaluation education.

We are taking this month to introduce you to an educator, evaluator, researcher, and academic who is also The Nonprofit Institute’s Interim Director, Dr. Masami Nishishiba.

The Nonprofit Institute has been preparing for another year of the popular Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation, offered in partnership with WVDO. Dr. Nishishiba has been integral in transitioning the organization into another year. We are fortunate to have her expertise in research and evaluation design available to our institute and to students joining us in 2019-2020 learning opportunities.

We're also excited to share news about …

The Nonprofit Nerd (July 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s topic is learning program evaluation.

This month we are excited to share the perspective and experience of a recent certificate recipient from The Nonprofit Institute's Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation, a partnership with WVDO.

We celebrate the accomplishments of this year's cohort, including our interviewee Barrett Ebright Karnes, for completing the Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation. This year's participants explored a wide range of questions and circumstances related to program evaluation and their organizations. Thanks to the diversity of the nonprofit sector represented in the cohort, we saw how program evaluation applied across many different service …

The Nonprofit Nerd (June 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s topic is evaluation with immigrant communities.

For years, immigration and immigrant communities have been at the center of a national and international conversation about nationhood, global dynamics, and human rights. Despite the enormity of this complex conversation, the below interview with Nelda Reyes, principal at AB Cultural Drivers, highlights the possibilities evaluators and researchers have working with these populations.

We hope that through reading this edition, our readers feel prepared to “be of service,” as Nelda puts it, when researching or evaluating with diverse and multi-dimensional immigrant communities.

Let the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit …

The Nonprofit Nerd (April 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s topic is participatory evaluation with youth.

Talking about youth in evaluation would not be appropriate without including youth perspectives. This month, thanks to The Nonprofit Institute’s instructor Thuan Duong, we are fortunate to share insights from youth actively involved in a major program evaluation. As part of the evaluation of the DHS Child Welfare’s LIFE Program (see program description below), Thuan works with a Youth Advisory Board (YAB), who are collaboratively interviewed below.

Besides working as a Research Associate with Portland State University’s Center for Improvement of Child & Family Services, Thuan is an instructor for the Professional …

The Nonprofit Nerd (March 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s topic is evaluation with trauma survivors.

This issue, we are examining the unique considerations of evaluating programs working with trauma survivors. With the help of Vanessa Timmons, Executive Director of the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (OCADSV), we will explore methods for evaluating programs, including “survivor-led evaluation.”

More funders are asking nonprofits to relate services to ACEs and evaluate trauma-informed practice. Many organizations have always seen this connection between trauma and the nonprofit sector, even when services are not specific to healing from trauma.

Who do you visualize when you hear “trauma survivor?” Perhaps you …

The Nonprofit Nerd (January 2019), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month's topic is culturally-responsive evaluation with Native and Indigenous communities.

In this issue, we explore culturally-responsive evaluation for Native American or Indigenous communities. This is the first of a series focusing on culture and equity.

According to “Leading with Tradition,” The Portland Metro region has been home to many nations including the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, bands of Chinook, and more. Across Oregon, there are nine federally-recognized tribes. According to the Coalition of Communities of Color’s "An Unsettling Report", Portland is the ninth largest urban Native population, and this diverse Native community is served by almost 30 …

The Nonprofit Nerd (April 2018), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s topic is the 2020 Census.

You may have heard that the U.S. government is preparing for the next Census in 2020. Did you know that Oregon has joined seventeen other states in a lawsuit to block changes to the Census? Do you know what’s at stake for your nonprofit and the communities you serve? (hint: a lot!)

In this e-news, we interview Jason Jurjevich and Charles Rynerson of PSU’s Population Research Center to understand how nonprofits can take action by getting involved in local Complete Count Committees and by sharing important information with their communities.

Let the …

The Nonprofit Nerd (February 2018), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month's topic is Opinion Research.

We recently sent out a survey about using data in nonprofit work. We received a lot of great feedback from many of you -- thank you! We are working hard to analyze the data from the survey to inform our decision making on our upcoming Nonprofit Data Lab project.

One of the many interesting things you had to tell us involved the challenge of learning about (and getting feedback from) people you aren’t currently reaching through your programs. So, we are devoting this month’s newsletter to a discussion of opinion research as one …

Oregon Nonprofit Disaster Preparedness: Finding From The 2018 Survey, Grace L. Chikoto-Schultz, Andrew Russo, Paul Manson, Jim White

The Nonprofit Institute Research

This report summarizes results from a survey administered in spring 2018 to 501(c)(3) charitable benefit nonprofit organizations across Oregon. The survey was developed by Portland State University in collaboration with the City Club of Portland’s Earthquake Report Advocacy Committee (CCERAC) and the Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO), following Sutton & Tierney’s (2006) and Ritchie, Tierney, & Gilbert’s (2010) classification and previous survey. Based on the survey distribution process, primarily through NAO, PSU’s Nonprofit Institute, and other nonprofit and public agencies’ networks, these survey results are based on a convenience sample of nonprofits that responded to the survey. As such, the …

The Nonprofit Nerd (January 2018), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month's topic is Opinion Research.

We recently sent out a survey about using data in nonprofit work. We received a lot of great feedback from many of you -- thank you! We are working hard to analyze the data from the survey to inform our decision making on our upcoming Nonprofit Data Lab project.

One of the many interesting things you had to tell us involved the challenge of learning about (and getting feedback from) people you aren’t currently reaching through your programs. So, we are devoting this month’s newsletter to a discussion of opinion research as one …

The Nonprofit Nerd (December 2017), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This edition of the Nonprofit Nerd features research highlights, Nerds at Work, and news from the Nonprofit Institute.

The Nonprofit Nerd (October 2017), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Equity in Evaluation!

If you’ve been following along the past few months you may have seen that NPI is working with the latest cohort of our Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation to bring evaluation tools into their organizational equity work. Measuring progress toward our goals is a critical part of every organization’s learning, improvement and accountability to the communities we serve.

But what about the equity implications of how we actually do evaluation? What does it mean to employ an equity lens in our approach to evaluation itself—the questions we ask, the data we collect, …

The Nonprofit Nerd (June 2017), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

What happens when a grant-maker and grant-writer learn evaluation together?

Jonathan Frochtzwaig and Deborah Vaughn were already acquainted when they came together last fall for our 2016 Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation. Young Audiences of Oregon and Southwest Washington was a past grant recipient from the Oregon Arts Commission. What did they learn from their experiences and from each other as they went through the training program together? Read on to find out!

Let the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit Nerd inspire you to get your nerd on and find innovative ways to make research and …

The Nonprofit Nerd (March 2017), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Evidence‐Based Budgeting!

Whether you’re a newly‐minted nonprofit employee or a seasoned executive director, chances are good that you are impacted by your organization’s budget process. And if you’re like many nonprofit professionals, you might now be in the midst of building a program or organizational budget for your upcoming fiscal year. While there is no universally right or wrong way to write a budget, you can save yourself some headaches later by using good data and information to inform your planning.

This month, we explore the role of data in budget planning! Let the resources …

The Nonprofit Nerd (January 2017), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Using Data for Social Change.

As we wish you Happy New Year this month, we at The Nonprofit Institute also want to say thank you to the people and organizations who are working on the front lines to ensure our community is a safe place for people of all identities, faiths and nationalities. We are committed to supporting nonprofit organizations in the days ahead, and we have much work to do.

The Nonprofit Nerd (November 2016), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Evaluating Fundraising Strategies.

Many of us are hard at work this month, knee deep in The Giving Season at our nonprofits. Now is a great time to think about how you’ll know which of your strategies are working. Program evaluation is a useful tool for measuring your fundraising efforts, not just your nonprofit’s programs. Using a data informed approach can be a resource development game changer. Below, we spotlight the work and approach Faith Danforth takes with development data at Mercy Corps, along with some DIY tools and resources to take your use of fundraising …

The Nonprofit Nerd (October 2016), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Creating a Culture of Evaluation.

NPI’s Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation kicks off this month! If you missed the chance to join us in this year’s cohort, we hope you’ll follow along as we share what we’re learning about. This month we’re exploring what it means to build a “culture of evaluation” in our organizations. Let the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit Nerd inspire you to get your nerd on and find innovative ways to make research and data work for you and your nonprofit!

The Nonprofit Nerd (September 2016), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Networked Philanthropy.

Let the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit Nerd inspire you to get your nerd on and find innovative ways to make research and data work for you and your nonprofit!

The Nonprofit Nerd (August 2016), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

Welcome to the Inaugural Issue of The Nonprofit Nerd! The Nonprofit Institute (NPI) at Portland State University (formerly the Institute for Nonprofit Management) is excited to introduce you to our new e‐newsletter, The Nonprofit Nerd. In each newsletter, we’ll provide you with to some great research, data, and best practice resources on a particular theme, as well as introduce you to some amazing nonprofit nerds who are making research and data “work” for them.

We hope the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit Nerd will inspire you to get your nerd on and find innovative ways to make …

Nonprofit Sector Research Scan, The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Research

This information was compiled in an effort to assess the current state of the nonprofit research field as well as potentially identify needs for future research projects. The methods by which this data was gathered included initial conversations with community stakeholders which guided further online content analysis of reports in the fields stated above. The research scan includes 84 reports published around the topics of volunteerism, philanthropy, board governance, leadership, and other general and specialized nonprofit topics on state, regional, and national levels.

Friends Of The Children: Strategies For Scaling Impact, Jacen Greene, Nicki Yechin Lee, Eric Nelsen

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Friends of the Children, a nonprofit organization in Portland, Oregon, was founded in 1993 by retired entrepreneur Duncan Campbell to serve youth at the highest risk of teen parenting, incarceration, or dropping out of school. Each youth client was matched with a paid mentor from first grade through the end of high school. The costs of this intervention were high, but the outcomes were extremely impressive in each of the three risk areas. The total benefits to society of Friends of the Children’s intervention was estimated at $7 for every $1 spent on the program.

In the United States alone, …

Friends Or Foes?: Examining Social Capital Of International Ngos And Food Security Programs, Mariah Ann Kraner

Dissertations and Theses

Food insecurity and chronic hunger are devastating global problems currently facing more than a billion people. There are many actors involved in the response to stomp out world hunger, including International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs). These INGOs, however, work in tumultuous environments with limited resources. This dissertation examines the INGOs involved in the food security dilemma (N=51) to investigate how they use resources to reach hungry populations.

It is hypothesized INGOs use a mix of material resources and social capital to enhance their organizational performance. However, little is known about the impact these resources have on reaching communities in need. Social …

Oregon Nonprofit Sector Report: The State Of The Nonprofit Sector In Oregon, Andreas Schröer, Dahnesh Medora, Anindita Mukerjee, Greg Wallinger

The Nonprofit Institute Research

This is the first Oregon Nonprofit Sector Report (ONSR). It is co-produced by Portland State University’s (PSU) Institute for Nonprofit Management (INPM), which is part of the Center for Public Service, and the Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO). The ONSR team began tracking sector-related data in 2010. In addition to tracking existing data, the team conducted a survey in February 2012 to gather information important to accurate and current sector reporting.

This report focuses on three questions:

• What is the size and scope of the nonprofit sector in Oregon?
• How can the relative health of the nonprofit sector be described? …

Interview With Corinna Kimball-Brown, Portland Collective Housing, 2011 (Audio), Corinna Kimball-Brown

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Corinna Kimball-Brown by Chris White at Portland State University, Oregon on March 3rd, 2011.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Brendan Phillips, Sisters Of The Road, 2010 (Audio), Brendan Phillips

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Brendan Phillips by Brandon Green in Portland, Oregon on December 8th, 2010.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Katy Kolker, Portland Fruit Tree Project, 2010 (Audio), Katy Kolker

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Katy Kolker by Dan Stillinger in Portland, Oregon on February 27th, 2010.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Ted Labbe, Depave, 2009 (Audio), Ted Labbe

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Ted Labbe by Chris Fogg in Portland, Oregon on May 31st, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Hilary Pfeifer, Art On Alberta, 2009 (Audio), Hilary Pfeifer

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Hilary Pfeifer by Franziska Davis at Portland State University on May 14th, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.