Measuring the impact of the nonprofit sector / edited by Patrice Flynn and Virginia A. Hodgkinson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Flynn, Patrice.

Hodgkinson, Virginia Ann.

Series:

Nonprofit and civil society studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nonprofit organizations--Evaluation.

Nonprofit organizations.

Organizational effectiveness.

Evaluation research (Social action programs).

Physical Description:

xiii, 299 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, [2001]

Summary:

One of the major tasks facing researchers, practitioners, and funders is the development of empirical tools to measure the inherent worth of nonprofit organizations as well as the sector as a whole. Renowned scholars present chapters on the state of the art of performance measurement in the nonprofit sector and seek to establish a framework for a long-term research agenda to identify, quantify, and self-assess those qualities that make the nonprofit sector unique.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Measuring the Contributions of the Nonprofit Sector / Patrice Flynn, Virginia A. Hodgkinson 3

The Growing Importance of Measuring Impact 4

Line of Inquiry 6

Organization of the Volume 9

The Challenges and Opportunities of Measuring 13

Conclusions and Next Steps 14

Part II. Concerns of Measurement and Evaluation 17

Chapter 2 Measuring Failure to Find Success / Clifford W. Cobb 21

Better Pain Receptors 22

Descent into the Underworld of Indicators 23

Conclusion: Formulating a Research Strategy 30

Chapter 3 Challenges of Measuring Performance in Nonprofit Organizations / Melissa M. Stone, Susan Cutcher-Gershenfeld 33

Theoretical Perspectives on Organizational Effectiveness 34

Models of Organizational Effectiveness 37

State of Research on Effectiveness and Performance in Nonprofit Organizations 39

Examples from the Field 44

Research Implications 52

Chapter 4 Social Indicators for Assessing the Impact of the Independent, Not-for-Profit Sector of Society / Kenneth C. Land 59

Social Indicators: Historical Developments and Current State 60

Social Indicators for Assessing the Nonprofit Sector 66

Part III. Civil Society and Governance 77

Chapter 5 The Vicious Circle of the Constricting State as Viewed through the Failure of Executive Leadership in Anglo-American Democracies / Colin Campbell 81

The Crisis of Executive Leadership in a Wider Context 83

Anglo-American Systems in the Age of Interventionist Governance 86

The Emergence of Neoliberalism 89

The Crisis of Executive Leadership 93

Why Style has Supplanted Substance and Fueled the Shift to Neoliberalism 94

Toward Recasting Executive Leadership 96

Chapter 6 The Necessity for Studying Organizational Advocacy Comparatively / John D. McCarthy, Jim Castelli 103

Toward an Operational Definition of Advocacy 105

The Difficulty of Identifying Advocacy-Oriented Nonprofit Organizations 107

Advocacy Across the Nonprofit Sector 109

Research Strategies for Studying Advocacy 116

Chapter 7 The Distributional Impacts of Nonprofits and Philanthropy / Julian Wolpert 123

Why Be Concerned about Distributional Consequences Now? 124

Information Gaps 125

How Are Distributional Issues Examined in the Public Sector? 126

Third Sector's Criteria for Assessing Distributional Consequences 129

Typologies of Third-Sector Activities 130

Potential Indicators of the Distibutional Impacts of Nonprofits 133

Data Series That Can Improve Our Measures 134

Major Research Priorities 134

Chapter 8 Can Public Life Be Regenerated? / David Mathews 137

Developing a Concept of Public Life 138

Guesses About Structure and Function 141

From What to How 154

Part IV. Measuring the Impact of Various Subsectors and Special Populations 157

Chapter 9 Women and Philanthropy: Charting a Research Agenda / Kathleen D. McCarthy 161

Entering the Mainstream: Women's Studies, History, and Philanthropy 163

Interdisciplinary Issues: Philanthropy and Civil Society 166

Scholarship and Practice 169

Future Research Needs 171

Chapter 10 A Theory-of-Change Approach to Evaluating Investments in Public Education / James P. Connell, Adena M. Klem 173

What Should a "Good" Evaluation Do? 174

The Theory of Change Evaluation Process 175

Chapter 11 Measuring the Impact of Nonprofit Health Care Organizations / Bradford H. Gray 185

The Nonprofit Health Care Sector 185

Some General Observations About Measures in Health Care 187

Type of Measurment 189

Evidence on Community Benefits 194

Chapter 12 Revealing the Implicit: Searching for Measures of the Impact of the Arts / Margaret Jane Wyszomirski 199

A Multifaceted Challenge 200

Two Categories of Information 202

The Task Ahead 213

Chapter 13 The Emerging Status of Outcome Measurement in the Nonprofit Human Service Sector / Martha Taylor Greenway 217

Current Approaches to Measuring Outcomes: Selected Findings 218

Common Indicators of Outputs and Outcomes: Potential and Limitations 224

Indicators and Data Systems Required to Measure Outcomes 227

Important Research Questions 228

Chapter 14 The Religious Dimensions of Giving and Volunteering / Robert Wuthnow 231

Critical Assessment 234

Suggestions for Futher Research 240

Chapter 15 Measuring the Impact of the Nonprofit Sector on Society Is Probably Impossible but Possibly Useful: A Sociological Perspective / Paul DiMaggio 249

Why Measuring the Impact of the Nonprofit Sector Is Probably Impossible 251

Performance Indicators in For-Profit Firms 253

Why Performance Assessment is Even Harder at the Sectoral Level 254

Multiple Goals Just Make Things Worse 257

Bad Things Happen to Good Measures 258

Why Measuring Impact Is Probably Useful 264

Chapter 16 An Agenda for Quantitative Evaluation of the Nonprofit Sector: Need, Obstacles, and Approaches / Burton A. Weisbrod 273

Measuring Outputs and Outcomes: Issues and Cautions 275

Why Is it Important to Evaluate the Nonprofit Sector's Role? 276

Valuing Outputs and Outcomes 276

What Kinds of Evidence Are Needed for Evaluation? 280

How Does the Growth of the Nonprofit Sector Affect Other Parts of the Economy? 281

What Evidence Is There That Nonprofits Behave Differently from For-Profits and Government Organizations? 285

Policy Implications and Directions for Future Research on Measurement 287.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0306465477

0306465485

OCLC:

46713190