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This article uses data from a survey of nonprofit executive directors in Boston, Massachusetts to address the question: which factors influence the propensity for and intensity of nonprofit-local government collaborations? The likelihood of collaboration (or propensity) is influenced by resource dependence on government and foundation funding, reduced transaction costs, and perceived competition with other nonprofits. The strength (or intensity) of nonprofit-local government relationships is positively associated with nonprofit capacity, resource diversification, factors associated with reduced transaction costs, and participation in a nonprofit membership association. These findings have important implications for government practitioners and nonprofit leaders who seek to foster stronger collaborations.

Research on performance measurement by nonprofit organizations increasingly focuses on the use of outcome measurement (OM) to assess organizational effectiveness. This article applies a strategic choice framework to analyze how nonprofit managers' evaluation of the importance of organizational stakeholders is associated with patterns of OM. The article introduces a multidimensional measure of nonprofits' implementation of OM that incorporates its extent of program use, as well as whether resources are specifically allocated for this evaluative practice. This multidimensional measure is examined using data from a new survey of service providing nonprofits in the city of Boston. Our multivariate analysis investigates how three sets of influences—resource providers, networks, and internal stakeholders—impact patterns of OM. The findings indicate that the factors driving program use (internal stakeholders) are distinct from those that impact resource allocation (resource providers).

Facilitating political engagement is a vital function of the nonprofit sector. While some public charities engage in political activities like policy advocacy, many focus exclusively on their core service mission. Current nonprofit research does not adequately theorize the inherent tension between service and advocacy activities. We conceptualize nonprofits engaging in service and advocacy as hybrid organizations that incorporate two distinct logics. Using the organizational hybridity literature, and empirical data from a survey of Massachusetts nonprofits, we examine how the logics of service provision and political advocacy are combined and managed across a sample of nonprofits. We find that nonprofit service–advocacy hybrids adopt an array of organizational structures to accommodate these logics, including decoupled, segregated, outsourced, and blended structures. Our results suggest that compartmentalization may be a common strategy and that certain organizational structures are related to the presence of mission integration, funding reliance, competition, and advocacy objectives.

We argue that the disproportionate attention accorded the struggles of the sixties has created a stylized image of social movements that threatens to distort our understanding of popular contention, not only in earlier periods and in nondemocratic contexts, but also in the contemporary U.S. This stylized view tends to equate movements with (a) disruptive protest in public settings, (b) loosely coordinated national struggles over political issues, (c) urban and/or campus based protest activities, and (d) claim making by disadvantaged minorities. Drawing on a larger study of trends and patterns in collective civic engagement in metropolitan Chicago, we employ new data on some 1,000 protest events between 1970 to 2000 to assess these four stylized views and address a number of related questions. The data do not support the common imagery of social movements—since 1980 there has been a marked transformation of the movement form to the point where public protest is now largely peaceful, routine, suburban, local in nature, and initiated by the advantaged. We discuss the implications of these findings for the rise of a "movement society" in the U.S. and suggest directions for future research.

We argue that the disproportionate attention accorded the struggles of the sixties has created a stylized image of social movements that threatens to distort our understanding of popular contention, not only in earlier periods & in nondemocratic contexts, but also in the contemporary US. This stylized view tends to equate movements with (a) disruptive protest in public settings, (b) loosely coordinated national struggles over political issues, (c) urban &/or campus based protest activities, & (d) claim making by disadvantaged minorities. Drawing on a larger study of trends & patterns in collective civic engagement in metropolitan Chicago, we employ new data on some 1,000 protest events between 1970 to 2000 to assess these four stylized views & address a number of related questions. The data do not support the common imagery of social movements-since 1980 there has been a marked transformation of the movement form to the point where public protest is now largely peaceful, routine, suburban, local in nature, & initiated by the advantaged. We discuss the implications of these findings for the rise of a "movement society" in the US. & suggest directions for future research. 7 Tables, 43 References. Adapted from the source document.