Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons^™

Demand Versus Supply: Assessing The Capacity Of Mpa Programs To Satisfy The Growing Need For Professional Management In Local Government, Gerald T. Gabris, Trenton J. Davis, Kimberly L. Nelson

Public & Nonprofit Studies: Faculty Publications

This article addresses concerns expressed by members of the International City/ County Management Association (ICMA) regarding whether the supply of qualified local government managers will keep pace with the future demand for this occupation. The authors developed several important observations, which are based on decades of experience with a Master of Public Administration (MPA) program focused on local government management, plus strategic planning experience in over 100 local governments. First, it is likely that the impending retirement of the Baby Boom generation of city managers will cause some supply shortages of professional managers in specific geographical regions of the country. …

Business Process Change In E-Government Projects: The Case Of The Irish Land Registry, Aileen Kennedy, Joseph Coughlan, Carol Kelleher

Articles

This research investigates one of the first e-Government services launched as part of Ireland’s Information Society programme, the Irish Land Registry’s implementation of their award winning Electronic Access (EAS) project. In-depth enquiries into how public sector organisations manage IT-enabled transformations have remained relatively limited and this case contributes to this emerging body of literature. The analysis highlights that the implementation of e-Government initiatives beyond basic service levels necessitates business process change in order to reap rewards. This study fulfils an identified need for research in Business Process Change (BPC) in the implementation of e-Government initiatives. In this way the research …

Foothills Academy: A Program Ranking And Comparative Analysis Of Residential Treatment Programs, William Aaron

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Foothills Academy is an all male adolescent residential treatment facility in Albany, Kentucky. As more states turn toward alternative treatment options to address the growing needs of youth suffering from mental and emotional disorders and substance abuse issues, demand for more efficient treatment programs is on the rise. To remain competitive and to administer the best treatment services for their clients, residential treatment programs must utilize industry best practices that allow efficient use of public funds. By identifying high performing programs, those programs may then be studied to identify factors key to individual program success.

My findings were consistently …

Comparative Analysis Of The Financial Performance Of Nonprofit Organizations: Focusing On The Franklin County Senior Activity Center, Shinwoo Lee

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Franklin County Senior Activity Center is a nonprofit organization founded in 1966 to provide services to help older residents lead independent lives. Cooperating with twelve board members, a staff of 24 people operates the Center and makes huge efforts to accomplish its mission. The mission of the Center is to contribute to and empower the quality of life of the aging citizens in Frankfort and Franklin County, Kentucky. The Center delivers various public services to them including opportunities for socialization, health promotion, benefit counseling, transportation service, home care service, recreation and exercise programs, adult day care, caregiver support, and …

Come-See-Me Festival Records - Accession 815, Come-See-Me Festival

Manuscript Collection

The Come-See-Me Festival Records consist of records and memorabilia from the Come-See-Me Festivals since its founding in 1962. The collection contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, financial reports and papers, promotional materials, and other records and material chronicling the development of the Come-See-Me Festival in Rock Hill, SC.

Foundations In Wisconsin: A Directory [29th Ed. 2010], Marquette University - Funding Information Center, Mary C. Frenn, Melanie Baier, Jeremy Blackwood, Anne Carpenter, Sarah Martin, Greg Sikora

Foundations in Wisconsin: A Directory

The 2010 production of Foundations in Wisconsin marks the 29th edition of the print directory and the 10th anniversary of the online version (www.wifoundations.org). The directory is designed as a research tool for grantseekers interested in locating information on private, corporate, and community foundations registered in Wisconsin. Each entry in this new edition has been updated or reviewed to provide the most current information available. Most of the data was drawn from IRS 990-PF tax returns filed by the foundations. Additional information was obtained from surveys, foundation Web sites, annual reports, and newsletters.

The nation’s economic downturn continued to have …

Learning-Circle Partnerships And The Evaluation Of A Boundary-Crossing Leadership Initiative In Health, Claire Reinelt, Dianne Yamashiro-Omi, Deborah Meehan

The Foundation Review

· Leadership development approaches that are focused on individual knowledge and skill development do not suit the leadership needs of lowincome communities and communities of color in addressing the multiple factors that influence health disparities.

· Boundary-crossing leadership is rooted in a socialjustice perspective and seeks to address the isolation and fragmentation faced by those who are working to address systemic inequities.

· A multicultural approach to evaluation honors different ways of knowing, recognizes that groups have different learning questions, acknowledges and addresses power dynamics that exist between funders and grantees, and ensures that evaluation is culturally relevant and constructive …

Designing An Evaluation Of A New Initiative: A Practical Approach To Ensure Evaluation Use, Linda M. Bosma, Chris Matter, Jaime Martinez, Nicole Toves, Joanne D'Silva

The Foundation Review

· This article describes the process of planning an evaluation of the Tribal Tobacco Education and Policy initiative.

· The initiative was launched in 2007 to reduce tobacco use among American Indians, who disproportionately suffer the negative health effects of tobacco use.

· The work of the initiative and the evaluation had to incorporate an understanding of tribal structure as well as of the traditional use of tobacco in American Indian sacred ceremonies. The theory of change was conceptualized as circular, rather than linear, in keeping with American Indian philosophical traditions.

· The planning process, utilizing evaluators familiar with community …

Philanthropy: Are We A Profession? Should We Be?, Karl Stauber

The Foundation Review

· When philanthropy is assessed against seven standards for what constitutes a profession, it meets only 3 of them.

· Questions remain about the core concepts of the field, and how the field builds and disseminates knowledge.

· There is much discussion about “scientific philanthropy,” but the inability to answer these questions limits the field’s ability to function scientifically.

· Wisdom, rigor, and learning may be better approaches to philanthropy that a scientific approach.

Going Deeper: Can Investigative Reporters Add Value To Assessment And Evaluation?, Larry Meyer

The Foundation Review

· The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation supplemented its standard evaluation approach by engaging professional journalists to elaborate on evaluation findings.

· The resulting reports are more direct, even critical, than any prior Knight Foundation attempt to evaluate and assess.

· It produced deeper looks into the intent and outcome of major initiatives, analyzing and addressing flaws in the theories of change underlying initiatives.

· The goal of reaching external audiences was not achieved.

Editorial, Teresa R. Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Strategic Communications For Influence: Lessons From The Annie E. Casey Foundation And Its Kids Count Initiative, Anne Gienapp, Jane Reisman, Kasey Langley, Carolyn Cohen, Tony Cipollone, Tom Kelly, Don Crary, Sue Lin Chong

The Foundation Review

· This article describes how the Annie E. Casey Foundation is using the KIDS COUNT Network in a new way: as a strategic communications tool in its focused efforts toward policy change, broad social change, and improved conditions for vulnerable children and families. An outcome map illustrates links between this strategy and the intended outcomes.

· Case illustrations of KIDS COUNT grantee activities surrounding the release of the 2008 KIDS COUNT Data Book describe the efforts of grantees in six states where the quantity and quality of media coverage surrounding the national data book reflected the kind of coverage that …

Are We There Yet? How To Know Whether Your Communications Are Effective, Edith Asibey, Justin Van Fleet, Toni Parras

The Foundation Review

· This article describes the results of a study on current knowledge and practices in evaluating foundation communications. The study consisted of three parts: an online survey of practitioners, a series of in-depth key informant interviews, and an extensive literature review.

· The study found that while most practitioners agree that evaluating communications is necessary to make decisions about their communication strategy, more than half did not regularly do so. Lack of experience or skills was the second top barrier cited, after lack of human/financial resources.

· Those who have more experience with evaluation were more likely to feel that …

Leveraging Grant-Making—Part 2: Aligning Programmatic Approaches With Complex System Dynamics, David Peter Stroh, Kathleen A. Zurcher

The Foundation Review

· The purpose of this two-part article is to enable foundations to increase the leverage of their grantmaking resources by working effectively with the dynamics of complex social systems.

· This article examines how foundations can align planning, implementation, and evaluation efforts with the behavior of the social systems they seek to improve.

· Asking powerful questions of staff, board, grantees, and other stakeholders helps to transform how they think about their goals and strategies.

· In addition to using the power of questioning, foundations function more systemically by suspending their assumptions about their effectiveness and what is possible, creating …

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Demonstrating The Value Of Social Service Programs: A Simplified Approach To Calculating Return On Investment, Herbert M. Baum, Andrew H. Gluck, Bernice S. Smoot, William H. Wubbenhorst

The Foundation Review

· In 2008, as charitable giving dropped by $6.4 billion, 54 percent of human service programs saw an increase in the need for their services. Additionally, 74 percent of programs specifically serving children and youth reported being underfunded or severely underfunded.

· As government and foundation grantmakers transition from charitable giving to social investment, a Gates Foundation report on eight methodologies to assist measuring social value creation finds the methodologies are many years away from being suitable for both nonprofits and grantmakers.

· To better recognize and communicate the work of frontline practitioners, there is a need to change the …

Speak Your Peace: A Communications Strategy For Changing Community Culture, Douglas Easterling, Holly C. Sampson, Beth Probst

The Foundation Review

· Strategic communications can play a crucial role in advancing tangible community-wide impacts.

· “Speak Your Peace: The Civility Project” (SYP) was developed by The Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation and the Millennium Group to improve the civility of public discourse, under the premise that this would strengthen community decision making, expand civic engagement, and increase residents’ interest in elected office.

· The SYP campaign promotes nine principles (or “tools”) adapted from Forni’s book Choosing Civility (e.g., pay attention, take responsibility, apologize, give constructive criticism).

· City councils, county commissions, and school boards in the region adopted the nine tools …

Editorial, Teresa R. Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Philanthropy, Evaluation, Accountability, And Social Change, John Bare

The Foundation Review

· Many foundations have substituted process accountability for accountability for contributing to social change.

· While process accountability is important, it sets a floor, not an aspirational ceiling.

· There are tools—such as risk analysis, systems approaches, and game theory—that can help philanthropy engage in work on complex social problems that cannot be deconstructed into a series of small, linear projects.

· Seeking to extend basic human rights to more individuals around the world, seeking to reduce racism in a given city, or seeking to change publichealth norms in small town—all of these aspirations require first a willingness to take …

Factors Influencing Donor Partnership Effectiveness, Danièle St-Pierre, Lisa Burley

The Foundation Review

· The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) produced six case studies on jointly funded programs related to the environment, global health, and information technologies in developing regions around the world.

· A two-dimensional tool probing eight factors that influence donor (funder) partnership performance and interinstitutional communication was developed and used in conjunction with a Partnering Process Model to guide the preparation of the case studies.

· The case studies demonstrated that communication is important externally, that is, among donor partners, and internally, that is, within the various divisions of IDRC. With the use of this tool, it was possible to …

Enrolling The Eligible: Lessons For Funders, Beth Stevens, Sheila Dunleavy Hoag, Judith Wooldridge

The Foundation Review

· Many social programs have a gap between the number of individuals eligible for services and the number enrolled.

· The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation implemented Covering Kids & Families to increase enrollment in Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

· Grantees sought to increase enrollment by raising awareness among low-income families, simplifying the application process, and coordinating among programs.

· Funders are encouraged to consider the lifecycle of programs and organizations, the skills in coalition-building and working with public officials that are needed, and the need to fit political strategies with the local culture.

Editorial, Teresa R. Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Foundation Evaluation Startup: A Pause For Reflection, Jill M. Yegian

The Foundation Review

· This article reports on the accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned in creating a new Department of Research and Evaluation at the California HealthCare Foundation.

· Different tools were developed to address each of three key areas: performance assessment, organizational learning, and program evaluation.

· These new processes and tools have been wellreceived by both staff and the board, and have become increasingly important as resources become more scarce, making understanding and maximizing the impact of investments even more critical.

· Fostering a culture of evaluative inquiry in a fast-paced, payout-oriented environment is a significant challenge – program staff often …

Assessing Nonprofits’ Communications Capacity: An Online Self-Assessment Tool, Anne Reisinger Whatley, R. Christine Hershey, Julia Coffman, Andre Oliver

The Foundation Review

· Foundations increasingly recognize the importance of strategic and effective communications to advance their social-change goals. This article provides a framework that helps foundations to better understand the communications capacity of their grantee partners.

· Based on a detailed analysis of a survey of 529 foundations, universities and nonprofits, the authors created a six-point index that identifies the characteristics and practices of organizations that are ranked as highly effective at using communications to advance their goals.

· The six indicators are: Involvement of organization leadership in communications, communications planning and organization-wide planning, staffing and the use of outside expertise, donor …

Social Movements And Philanthropy: How Foundations Can Support Movement Building, Barbara Masters, Torie Osborn

The Foundation Review

· As foundations seek to catalyze broad-based social change, there is a need for greater understanding of what social movements are, how they evolve, and how foundations can support them.

· Movement building presents unique challenges to foundations. Because movements, by definition, must be driven by the people who are most affected, foundations cannot determine the goals and timetables of a movement.

· The authors identify five core elements to movement building: organizing an authentic base; leadership; vision and ideas; alliances; and advocacy infrastructure.

· A framework for evaluating movement building is proposed, which can help foundations identify measureable outcomes …

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Sustainability Is Made, Not Born: Enhancing Program Sustainability Through Reflective Grantmaking, Ann L. Mccracken, Kelly Firesheets

The Foundation Review

· This article explores how reflective grantmaking can lead to enduring changes in the communities that foundations serve.

· The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati's approach to evaluating and improving the sustainability of grant-funded projects is reviewed as an example.

· Their grantmaking framework includes policy and advocacy work, evaluation support, communications support, and technical assistance in addition to traditional funding of projects.

· This framework promotes sustainability of the funded work.

Who Becomes A Foundation Ceo? An Analysis Of Hiring Patterns, 2004-2008, Renée B. Branch, Michael P. Moody, Sue Marx Smock, Donna N. Bransford

The Foundation Review

· This study provided baseline data about the professional and individual characteristics of 440 candidates selected to be the top executive in a grantmaking institution during a five-year study period (2004-2008), and about the hiring patterns of the diverse institutions making these appointments.

· Most new chief executive officers (79.5 percent) were not hired from within the same foundation. The percentage of external appointments grew in each successive year of the study period.

· Most new foundation CEOs (67 percent) were not working for a grantmaking institution when they were appointed. This majority made the transition from fields outside of …

Building The Bridge For Diversity And Inclusion: Testing A Regional Strategy, Vicki Rosenberg, Lynn Perry Wooten, Mary Mcdonald, Kimberly Burton

The Foundation Review

· Transforming Michigan Philanthropy Through Diversity & Inclusion (TMP) is a six-year research and development effort of the Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF). A unique experiment, TMP is the only statewide, comprehensive effort to promote diversity and inclusiveness among foundations in the country.

· Organizational excellence through diversity and inclusion requires an organization to find a goal that resonates with its stakeholders and then create collaborative communities that focus on achieving that goal. This strategy positions an organization to use the full diversity of those stakeholders for tasks such as problem-solving, innovation, quality initiatives, and the acquisition of resources.

· …

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.