Suchergebnisse

This research note identifies seven key dimensions of the nonprofit sector that nonprofit stakeholders want to monitor to assess the sector's condition, including financial resources; human resources; the diversity of nonprofit boards, staff, and clients; the impact of the nonprofit sector; advocacy activity; ethical and legal behavior; and the existence of a supportive environment. The article then describes current measures of these dimensions, noting the shortcomings of many of these measures. Two government data sources, the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs) and the Current Population Survey (CPS), are highlighted that contain timely information about the nonprofit sector but which, to date, have been underutilized by sector stakeholders. Next, the article describes the picture of the nonprofit sector that emerges from the relevant measures before concluding with discussion of further work needed to improve measurement of the sector.

In response to the persistent gap between scholarly research and "real world" practitioners in the nonprofit sector, the Nonprofit Sector Research Fund (NSRF) of The Aspen Institute launched a series of practitioner-researcher collaborations aimed at producing more usable research. This article provides an overview of NSRF' scoll aborative programs in the areas of research agenda-setting, grant making, the conduct of research, and dissemination of research findings. It also discusses how NSRF came to adopt this approach, the benefits and challenges presented by collaboration, and ways to overcome these challenges. The authors conclude that despite the difficulties surrounding the collaborative process, collaboration should be attempted in research because it taps the knowledge and experience of both scholars and practitioners to help ensure that research is focused on issues of concern to nonprofit managers and leaders, is methodologically sound, and produces findings that reach appropriate audiences.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), this article reviews the association's history, from its 1971 founding by a small group of scholars interested in voluntary action to the current association of more than 1,000 members who study a broad range of nonprofit, civil society, voluntary action, and philanthropic topics. To inform the history, we recorded oral histories and reviewed the ARNOVA collection of historical records at the Ruth Lilly Archives and internal files provided by ARNOVA. Our article is divided into three important junctures of change: 1971–1989, the founding period; 1990–2006, the golden era of philanthropic support; and 2007–2020, a maturing field and strategic directions. Through our analysis, we identify recurring themes and tensions and how ARNOVA navigated through a changing environment and growing field. We conclude the article with forward-looking questions.