Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons^™

End-Game Evaluation: Building A Legacy Of Learning In A Limited-Life Foundation, Ashleigh Halverstadt, Benjamin Kerman

The Foundation Review

This article shares the emerging hypotheses of two foundations, The Atlantic Philanthropies and the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation — each four years from sunset — about the opportunities and challenges for evaluation in the limited-life context.

Few, if any, of the problems philanthropy seeks to address can be solved within a brief, defined time frame. Limited-life foundations can only strive to move the ball down the field before they sunset, and then enlist others to carry the work forward. Given this reality, these foundations are obligated to make a deliberate effort to share what they have learned with the …

Front Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Teri Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Evaluation At Sunset: Considerations When Evaluating A Program As It Concludes, Blair Beadnell, Holly Carmichael Djang, Jan Vanslyke, Barbara Andersen

The Foundation Review

While the benefits of beginning evaluation efforts at a program’s inception are well known, for a variety of reasons many organizations are unable to do so and instead begin these efforts closer to a program’s conclusion.

Previously reported findings from a sunset evaluation of the Orfalea Foundation’s School Food Initiative showed positive outcomes of the initiative’s activities and provided recommendations for organizations interested in engaging in similar efforts. Because the evaluation was begun as the foundation’s activities were winding down, it required creative design approaches.

This article uses the evaluation of the Orfalea Foundation’s initiative to provide a case example …

Partnership With Government: An Exit Strategy For Philanthropies?, Colin Knox, Padraic Quirk

The Foundation Review

This article is a case study of Atlantic Philanthropies’ work in Northern Ireland, where it supported three thematic intervention areas: aging; children and young people; and reconciliation and human rights. Atlantic, a limited-life foundation that has been making grants since 1982 in eight countries, will close down by 2020 and is engaged in an exit strategy.

Atlantic’s original funding approach involved supporting key nongovernmental organizations to drive and advocate for change; its work helped to support and consolidate the peace process in that country. Its exit strategy has involved a formal partnership arrangement with the Northern Ireland Assembly to take …

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Barbara Kibbe

The Foundation Review

What do funders leave behind when they exit? What is lost? Are there approaches to exits that are more effective at preserving the results of good work? Through interviews with 19 professionals who have experienced or are currently working through a foundation exit, this article draws on stories of more than a dozen such exits to fill the gaps in what is known about how to exit well.

This article discusses four areas where foundation exits present particular challenges and where there are significant opportunities to improve practice – deciding on and planning to exit, funder leadership, clear communication, and …

Exiting From Large-Scale Initiatives: Lessons And Insights From A National Scan Of Philanthropy, Hanh Cao Yu, Moninder-Mona K. Jhawar, Daniela Berman

The Foundation Review

This article shares insights and lessons from a research project commissioned by The California Endowment in early 2016 to inform the planning for its transition out of Building Healthy Communities, a 10-year, place-based, policy- and systems-change initiative. The goal of the nationwide study, which included literature reviews and interviews with 30 executives and directors from 17 foundations, was to tap into philanthropic leaders’ accumulated wisdom about exiting out of similar initiatives.

In generalizing the study’s findings for the broader philanthropic audience, this article presents a guiding framework for exit and sustainability planning in the form of a set of recommendations …

Exiting Is A Natural Part Of Philanthropy — Learning From It? Not So Much., Debra Joy Perez

The Foundation Review

Commentary

Back Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Changing In Place: The Skillman Foundation, Detroit, And The Good Neighborhoods Initiative -- How Did A Hometown Grantmaker Conduct And Conclude Its Largest-Ever Initiative?, Marie Colombo, Bob Tobin

The Foundation Review

At work where Detroit’s kids live. In 2006, the Skillman Foundation committed $100 million to a decade-long investment in six neighborhoods. (See Figure 1, page 83.) Through this Good Neighborhoods Initiative, the foundation directed a majority of its grantmaking toward an intensive focus on changing the conditions where, at the time, one-third of Detroit’s children lived. The goal was to ensure that children in those places were safe, healthy, welleducated, and prepared for adulthood.

The initiative concluded in 2016, ultimately spanning 11 years and involving $122 million in grants, which represented 67 percent of the Foundation’s total grant spending in …

Full Issue

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

The Legacy Of A Philanthropic Exit: Lessons From The Evaluation Of The Hewlett Foundation’S Nuclear Security Initiative, Anne Gienapp, Jane Reisman, David Shorr, Amy Arbreton

The Foundation Review

As its seven-year Nuclear Security Initiative wound down in late 2014, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation engaged ORS Impact to conduct a summative evaluation. That evaluation yielded insights pertinent to future work on nuclear security and other fields where policy-related investments, strategies, and goals are prioritized, as well as insights regarding Hewlett’s approach to the initiative exit.

During the life of the initiative, significant changes in the geopolitical landscape influenced both the relevance and the expected pace of advancement of its established goals and targets. Rather than focusing on whether identified targets had been achieved in a narrow “success/failure” …

Oral History Conversation With Joon Han (Better San Diego), Lacey Hartin, Gabriela Guevara, Akira Bannai

Philosophy: All Student Work

This is an oral history conversation that was conducted with Joon Han, founder of Better San Diego, at the University of San Diego on March 28, 2017.

Oral History Conversation With Rasto Ivanic (Groupsolver), Andreas Breitenberg-Scavuzzo, Courtney Abbassian, Devon Parikh, Majid Bouresli

Philosophy: All Student Work

Interview with the co-founder and CEO of Groupsolver, Rasto Ivanic. In the interview he answers questions about his early life and how he became involved in this social venture. He discusses some of the trials and tribulations associated with Social Entrepreneurship. Groupsolver is a service that collects feedback from customers/constituents and supplies it to the relevant party.

Oral History Conversation Teresa Smith (Dreams For Change), Cole W. Davenport, Charlie Gunn, Marissa Diblasio, Melad Youssofi

Philosophy: All Student Work

Dreams for Change founder, Teresa Smith, discusses her company and its mission.

Oral History Conversation With Chuck Samuelson (Kitchens For Good), Sulaiman Almatar, Michelle Truong, Jason Chander, Megan Strickland

Philosophy: All Student Work

This was a conversation with Chuck Samuelson who runs a social organization (Kitchens for Good).

Oral History Conversation With Bh Kim And Kaison Tanabe (Impact Without Borders), Grant M. Mcgahey Mr., Austen Molano, Dylan Valdivia, Randy Kim

Philosophy: All Student Work

This is an oral history Interview that was conducted on March 28th, 2017 discussing entrepreneurship in the San Diego start-up community.

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 …

A Capacity Building Framework For Community-University Partnerships, Katherine S. Hogan, Jacqueline M. Tynan, Virginia J. Covill, Ryan P. Kilmer, James R. Cook

Collaborations: A Journal of Community-Based Research and Practice

With a focus on organizational capacity building, community-university (CU) partnerships have the potential to yield valuable resources for community nonprofits, which increasingly have to accomplish more with fewer resources. Although a growing body of literature documents the success of such arrangements, both community agencies and universities often face challenges in managing such partnerships. With a focus on student involvement, this paper describes a framework for conceptualizing CU partnerships around capacity building, with efforts designed to address particular program needs as related to the organization’s capacity goals. These needs can be viewed as involving five levels of capacity building: 1) monitoring …

Kentuckiana Girl Scouts Council - Louisville, Kentucky (Mss 591), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 591. Girl Scouts’ project and event material, leadership development matter, illustrations, as well as material about songs, cookies, and badges. Day camp material relating to Camp Houchens in Warren County, Kentucky, and financial papers of the Kentuckiana Girl Scouts Council.

Oklahoma Humane Society Compassion Center Economic Impact Study, Kevin Morris, Russell Evans, Sloane Smith, Katy Loughney, Phil Tedeschi

Humane Societies and Rescue Organizations Collection

The Central Oklahoma Humane Society (OK Humane) is looking to assess the potential economic, community, and public health impacts of building and operating an innovative animal sheltering concept called the Compassion Center in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Using Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN) software, this report quantifies the proposed center’s direct, indirect, and induced effects on the economy of Oklahoma City.

In addition to the economic impact calculated with IMPLAN, this paper also explores urban amenity complex and One Health (connectivity between people, animals and the environment) impacts, both economic and otherwise, which could result from the Compassion Center’s presence. …

Auditing Organizational Governance: Internal Audit Has An Integral Role To Play In Improving The Organization's Strategic Performance, Sridhar Ramamoorti, Alan N. Siegfried, P. Alan White

Accounting Faculty Publications

Organizational governance is a broad concept that ensures superior strategy formulation, development, and execution in ways that balance performance, conformance, and accountability. It includes systems, controls, and associated processes that promote ethics and values, performance and accountability, and risk communication and coordination among the board, external and internal auditors, and management in meeting and exceeding stakeholder expectations. Internal audit’s role in organizational governance has always been recognized and valued, but it has become increasingly important in the wake of governance failures in financial and public sectors throughout the world. As a result, more and more boards as well as executive …

Dehumanization: A Case Study, Regina Varthi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The capstone “Dehumanization” is divided into three main parts.

The first part contains a brief presentation on the UN family (or UN system), showing its role through its organizational and managerial structures. All data are derived from UN corresponding websites.

The second part, “Homelessness,” focuses on the SDG 11 of the 2030 GA Agenda. In 2014 the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Leilani Farha Special Rapporteur on adequate housing in order to conduct research on the subject of homelessness as a violation of human rights. In her report, presented at the Human Rights Council in March 2016, Farha claims …

Empirical Reflections On Women Students In Usa Nonprofit Academic Programs And Realizations About Ideological Influence, Norman A. Dolch

Journal of Ideology

This research reports on the beliefs of a select sample of women and men faculty across the USA regarding women in nonprofit organization academic programs. The main differences were on professional orientation among graduate students, difficulty with quantitative oriented courses, and portrayal of women in coursework. To eliminate these differences, beliefs (ideologies) among faculty and students need to be altered. Sanberg’s book Lean In is especially informative about changing beliefs about career orientation for both men and women to what she calls a belief in sustainable and fulfilling positions. Another valuable resource for faculty concerned about these issues is Creating …

A Participatory God For A Participatory Culture: Christian Theological Perspectives On Networks, Dwight J. Zscheile

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Utilizing New York State’S Distributive Generation Laws For Affordable Housing Organizations, Reuben Jaffe Goldstein

Bard Center for Environmental Policy

The focus of this report is to assist in the deployment of renewable energy in New York City by creating a framework that affordable housing organizations can use to navigate evolving New York regulations to deploy solar PV to their tenants and reduce their tenants’ utility bills. New York’s regulatory environment is trying to make it easier to deploy solar PV through programs such as Shared Solar Program and Remote Net Metering that provide guidance to those who are currently unable to access solar PV. However, incentivizing Solar PV and distributed generation have disproportionately increased costs for utilities, which has …

Luther Seminary: It Takes A Village, Adam J. Copeland, Jason Misselt

Faculty Publications

The authors describe how, framed within an initiative to equip faith leaders and congregations around matters of stewardship, Luther Seminary’s Economic Conditions Facing Future Ministers (ECFFM) program has emerged as part of the work of the seminary’s Center for Stewardship Leaders. The ECFFM initiative focused on conducting new research and strengthening current campus programs in order to decrease student debt through building financial literacy, stewardship training, and financial support.

Let's Talk About How We Talk: Communication Agreements In The Library Workplace, Kabel Nathan Stanwicks

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

Purpose: This chapter introduces a new tool, termed the Communication Agreement, for enhancing communication in the library workplace. The chapter defines the communication agreement, provides discussion questions for forming a communication agreement, provides examples of how communication agreements are beneficial to a diverse library workforce, and provides strategies to informally assess communication agreements’ effectiveness.

Practical implications: Communication problems in diverse library workplaces can lead to, or exacerbate, conflict between employees. Generational, cross-cultural, gender, and other differences can lead to misunderstandings and conflict between employees. The communication agreement provides library managers with a tool to bridge differences in communication styles …

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.