Suchergebnisse

Abstract With implications for senior care as well as child care, this article compares for‐profit and nonprofit dependent‐care facilities in areas of service that are not readily visible to consumers. Findings gleaned from the child‐care industry indicate that nonprofit facilities provide a higher quality of service on professionally identified variables than do their for‐profit counterparts. For‐profit directors were more likely to implement cost efficiencies that were not immediately apparent to clients. Despite this, significantly more of the for‐profits were displeased with their financial situation than were their nonprofit counterparts. The study suggests that professional background and training of directors exercises an influence on management satisfaction and decisions, independent of sector.

Affordable access to postsecondary education is of growing concern for both families and policy makers. More students have chosen to continue their education after high school over the last several decades, though decisions whether and where to attend are often based on limited knowledge and financial resources. Increasing costs of attendance have sustained inequalities in access for students from varying economic, social, and racial groups—a problem that captures the attention of the government and voluntary sectors alike. The purpose of this article is to examine the effect of Oregon's government–voluntary sector partnership for improving access to postsecondary education: a private scholarship program and a volunteer mentoring program. In so doing, authors introduce cultural capital theory as a framework for studying nonprofit and voluntary sector activities. Authors suggest a need for further research on the utility of cultural capital in other policy areas that cut across sectors.

AbstractThis article investigates question mapping as a methodology for making sense of the complex issues discussed at a West Coast nonprofit leadership summit in the economic downturn following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. A real‐time organizational development tool was employed retrospectively to help frame the fundamental questions raised by the region's leaders about community needs and the sector's role in meeting them. Following a brief description of the summit, the methodology is presented. We then consider how this approach differs from other frameworks for encouraging and analyzing discourse and how it was adapted. The technique is both a heuristic device and a guide with potential for synthesizing community issues in real time or retrospectively. The categorization schema provides a framework for deliberative dialogue and action as well as many potential nonprofit research agendas for the coming years.

AbstractThis article explores theoretical underpinnings of social capital and strong and weak ties as they relate to relationships within, between, and among six cohorts of promising nonprofit leaders of color in a northwestern U.S. city. Using mixed methods, including network analyses, it considers the impact and potential of a university‐community collaboration to deliver a program to promising emergent leaders nominated for their talent and commitment to the work of their community‐based organizations, often in competition for limited resources. The article considers the program's implicit effect on relationships and reveals intersector connections among alumni. Findings show substantial alumni movement among organizations, increasing the potential for collaboration and mentoring relationships. We conclude with recommendations for programs seeking long‐term impact and discuss a series of unanticipated findings and the questions they engender, many critical as communities and organizations become more diverse and social needs do not diminish.