INDIANAPOLIS—Human services nonprofits’ ability to meet their clients’ needs will be strengthened by new research to be conducted by emerging scholars nationwide.
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University has awarded grants of $25,000 to 10 young scholars at universities around the U.S. who are studying human services philanthropy and nonprofit organizations.
The awards are part of the Center on Philanthropy’s Advancing Knowledge in Human Services Philanthropy and Nonprofit Organizations (Advancing Knowledge) initiative, supported with funding from The Kresge Foundation.
“Human services nonprofits provide front-line care and vital services to the most vulnerable members of a community,” said Patrick M. Rooney, executive director of the Center. “Yet many of them are vulnerable too. External forces such as changes in the economy, public policy or demand for their services, and internal challenges such as adequate staffing, funding and lack of time and resources for planning and training make their work more difficult. These grants will provide important knowledge and best practices to help them overcome such challenges and increase their ability to serve their communities.”
The 10 funded research projects focus on human services nonprofit organizations assisting low-income populations and will have the potential to affect the practices and philanthropic support of human services nonprofits, such as food banks, homeless shelters, housing organizations and others that meet basic human needs.
Four thematic areas of research within the field of human services organizations will be addressed by the scholars’ research:
1. Organizational Effectiveness
2. Social Change and Impact
3. Government and Public Policy
4. The Role of Philanthropy
Pre-tenure scholars at accredited universities and nonprofit research institutions in the U.S. who received terminal degrees within the past seven years were eligible for the research funding. Recipients will join a community of scholars seeking to improve the practice of human services organizations. Grantees will work with mentors and an advisory council to produce and disseminate findings that improve the practice of human services philanthropy over the next two years.
Scholars, mentors and the advisory council will also collaborate to generate a “State of the Research” report on human services philanthropy. Findings from the initiative will be released in early 2013.
The scholars, their institutions and their proposal titles are:
Nicole Esparza
University of Southern California
From Structure to Composition: What Influences Network Effectiveness?
Gina Weisblat
Cleveland State University
Asset Education and Nonprofit Organizational Effectiveness
Eve E. Garrow
University of Michigan
A Comparative Study of Advocacy Frames Advanced in Congressional Debates in the
Welfare and Homeless Policy Fields
Kelly LeRoux
University of Illinois at Chicago
Nonprofits and Voter Engagement in the U.S.
Lindsey M. McDougle
University of Pennsylvania
Community Variations in the Quantity and Quality of Human Services Nonprofits: The Association to Public Perceptions
Jesse D. Lecy
Georgia State University
An Investigation of Nonprofit Start-Ups: Early Stage of Nonprofit Funding, Vulnerability and Growth
Lauri Goldkind
Fordham University
Untangling Web 2.0 Use in the Human Services: Understanding How Human Service Organizations Engage in Electronic Advocacy Strategies to Impact Social Change
Brent Never
University of Missouri-Kansas City
The Geography of Nonprofit Financial Vulnerability: Supply and Demand of Essential Human Services
Jennifer Shea
San Francisco State University
Managing Mission & Revenue Diversification in Complex Policy and Funding Environments: A Study of Nonprofit Housing Organizations
Christopher J. Einolf
DePaul University
Gender, Family, and Human Services Philanthropy
For more information, please refer to the project website: https://philanthropy.indianapolis.iu.edu/advancingknowledge or contact AKinfo@iu.edu.
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University
550 West North Street, Suite 301
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Phone: (317) 279-8909
Email: AKinfo@iu.edu
About the Kresge Foundation
The Kresge Foundation is a $3.1 billion private, national foundation that seeks to influence the quality of life for future generations by creating access and opportunity in underserved communities, improving the health of low-income people, supporting artistic expression, increasing college achievement, assisting in the revitalization of Detroit, and advancing methods for advancing global climate change. The foundation works in six program areas: arts and culture, community development, education, the environment, health, and human services. In 2010, the Board of Trustees approved 481 awards totaling $158 million; $134 million was paid out to grantees over the course of the year. For more information, visit https://kresge.org/.
About the Center on Philanthropy
The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, a part of the IU School of Liberal Arts at IU Indianapolis, is a leading academic center dedicated to increasing the understanding of philanthropy and improving its practice worldwide through research, teaching, training and public affairs programs in philanthropy, fundraising, and management of nonprofit organizations. For more information, visit www.philanthropy.indianapolis.iu.edu.