Channeling advocacy? Assessing how funding source shapes the strategies of environmental organizations

ABSTRACT

All non–governmental organizations (NGOs) rely on funding to support their work. But how does the source of funding shape the types of advocacy groups engage in? Using novel panel data collected by the Environmental Funders Network, this research examines how funding from government, foundations, business, and members shape the advocacy work of environmental NGOs (ENGOs) in the UK. Past research suggests that elite funding sources channel groups into institutional advocacy, such as lobbying or litigation, and away from public advocacy, such as protesting. This paper confirms previous research while also showing that all types of funding channel group actions. Foundation and business funding is associated with more institutional advocacy, government funding is associated with non–political advocacy such as species conservation, and member funding is associated with public advocacy. By comparing across funding types, this study demonstrates the ways in which groups are both helped and hindered by funding from different sources.     

From Practice Evaluation to Agency Evaluation

Abstract

This paper describes the efforts that a family service agency undertook to develop a workable evaluation program as part of a United Way demonstration project. Integrating basic elements from single subject design and goal attainment scaling with program logic modeling, a simple system for collecting and compiling data on clinical outcomes was created that could provide feedback on the progress of individual cases to workers, and agency wide improvement rates to clinic administrators and funding agencies. The model that evolved is manageable because it is simple, was developed by the clinical staff, serves a clinical purpose, meets the expectations of funding sources, and actively engages clients, workers and supervisors in an ongoing process of monitoring progress. Sample forms used to gather data are presented along with the results and next steps for the evaluation process.     

BOOK AND CD REVIEWS

SUMMARY

This paper presents the results of an exploratory study of one hundred sixty-six domestic violence organizations that use the World Wide Web. Domestic violence agencies primarily used the Web to promote agency visibility and provide community education, and to a lesser extent for advocacy, direct services, and securing resources. Agency satisfaction with their Website is generally high, although more than one-third of agencies reported problems. Related issues discussed include Web-based sources of client victimization, agency legal liability, agency vulnerability to online disruption, the need to create access for low-income clients, and evaluation of Web services.     

A Survey of Problematic Sexualized Behaviors of Children in the New York City Child Welfare System: Estimates of Problem,Impact on Services,and Need for Training

ABSTRACT

Forty-eight of 52 (92%) agencies contracted with the New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS) responded to a survey about problematic sexualized behaviors (PSB) of children in different levels of care within the child welfare system. Results revealed that almost all agencies reported PSB within their foster boarding home and residential treatment centers. A majority of agencies perceived PSB to be a significant problem for which staff and families were not sufficiently trained. These findings highlight many avenues for advocacy, clinical intervention, and staff development.     

Changing Agency Practices Toward Openness in Adoption

Abstract

The impact of openness in adoption on private adoption agencies' practices and services was examined. In 1987-89 and 1993 staff from private agencies participated in structured interviews concerning their current practices regarding openness and the services offered by the agency. Over time, agencies tended to offer a greater range of openness options. Agency personnel reported that client demand, changes in agency philosophy, and competition from independent or private adoptions were among the most salient reasons for this change. Compelled to adopt new roles in response to openness, many agencies now offer mediation services to help address requests for information or problems within the adoptive family-birthparent relationship. The perspectives of adoption staff regarding the main advantages and disadvantages of each type of openness are explored, and implications for practice are discussed.     

Sweet and Sour Charity: Experiences of Receiving Emergency Relief in Australia

Abstract

Emergency relief is assistance provided by community agencies to people in financial crisis, usually recipients of income support payments. The present study reports on an exploratory, qualitative study of the experiences of people who seek emergency relief. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 emergency relief recipients from seven different agencies. Although the interviewees reported some positive experiences, distinct limitations in the extent of assistance were also perceived. Accountability for appropriate processes and quality assurance in service delivery are important requirements of agencies. Increased government funding to assist agencies to provide more holistic services would lead to more effective outcomes.     

How early is early intervention and who should get it? Contested meanings in determining thresholds for intervention

The latest wave of reforms of the child protection system in Australia have been based on attempts to provide support to all families with vulnerable children, rather than increasing surveillance of ‘at risk’ families and forensic responses to incidents of maltreatment. This includes a drive to widen the remit of child protection from the statutory child protection agency and involve other government agencies such as health and education as well as the non-government sector in child protection. This paper reports on the effects of one such reform, the NSW initiative Keep Them Safe. It focuses on the classification of families as needing either early intervention or intensive support, using thematic analysis of qualitative interview data.MethodInterviews and focus groups were conducted with practitioners and managers from human service agencies (total n = 115), and discussed their perceptions of the initiative and the changes it had introduced to service delivery.FindingsPractitioners discussed family needs in ways which contested the policy meanings of ‘early intervention’: whether families are conceptualised in terms of their needs or risk; whether engagement with services should be voluntary or mandated; and whether the agencies to support them should be the statutory agency or an NGO. The implications for these tensions, in terms of policy and practice, are discussed.     

LGBTQ + community organizations under neoliberalism in Ontario,Canada: Contradictions and disconnects

Abstract

This study examines the impact of neoliberal policy—which introduces competition for funding and pressure to professionalize and bureaucratize—on the working conditions and precarity of a purposive sample of southern Ontario (Canada) organizations dealing with LGBTQ?+?health. Findings from semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 20 community-based organization stakeholders and government bureaucrats confirmed that neoliberal policy pressures these organizations to professionalize and bureaucratize, while restricting political advocacy. Queer Liberation Theory’s three central tenets of anti-assimilationism, solidarity across movements, and the political economy of queer health are used to understand the situation and possible futures for third-sector organizations within the LGBTQ?+?movement.     

Staffing,retention, and government funding: A case study

This study analyzes the implications of government‐contract funding on the staffing pattern of a nonprofit agency, the Canadian Red Cross, Toronto Region. Furthermore, the study explains the implications of the staffing pattern on services and on the agency's organization. Staffing is one area that the literature on nonprofit organizations has not adequately addressed. The findings indicate that contract‐based funding leads to the hiring of temporary staff and affects the retention of employees. Although contract funding has some benefits, temporary staffing is detrimental to the agency's services. It affects not only employee recruitment and retention but also training. The results highlight how change in government funding from grants to contracts resulted in the agency's new staffing strategy and ultimately reduced the effectiveness of the services the agency provided to the community.     

New roles for families in child welfare: Strategies for expanding family involvement beyond the case level

This paper examines the strategies and approaches child welfare agencies used to integrate meaningful family involvement into their service delivery systems, under the Children's Bureau Improving Child Welfare Outcomes Through Systems of Care demonstration initiative. Through a series of retrospective interviews with child welfare agency staff, systems of care project staff, family members actively involved in implementing the systems of care initiative, and local program evaluators, researchers investigated the family involvement planning and capacity building activities of child welfare agencies during the initiative's implementation. Findings indicate that child welfare agencies' capacity building efforts primarily centered on human resource development, focusing on three areas: program staffing, family engagement, and agency buy-in. These findings illustrate the importance of developing the capacity of child welfare agency staff and family members before fully implementing family involvement programs and activities. Although more research is needed to document the impact of family involvement, the lessons learned from these grant communities' experiences provide critical information and can inform development of policies and practices to help child welfare and other child- and family-serving systems promote and implement meaningful and sustainable family involvement.     

Community Aged Care Case Managers Transitioning to Consumer Directed Care: More Than Procedural Change Required

Abstract

Consumer directed care (CDC) is increasing in community aged care. However, limited information is available to successfully transition social workers and other case managers to their new role. This paper reports on a case study of six senior case managers who supervised staff in three Australian community-aged care agencies as they transitioned from agency directed care to consumer directed care. A change management framework was used to analyse the qualitative data collected in 12 semistructured interviews. A key finding is that changes in values, attitudes, and organisational culture are needed before staff can fully implement CDC principles of service user self-determination, empowerment, and choice. Process changes needed to assist staff transition to CDC are: using a change management strategy that maximises certainty; monitoring and responding to feelings of anxiety through ongoing consultations; and providing ongoing education and support in group sessions.     

A Survey of 100 Community Colleges on Student Substance Use,Programming, and Collaborations

Abstract

Objective: The objective was to survey community college personnel about student substance use, and infrastructure (staff and funding), programs, and collaborations dedicated to substance use prevention. Participants: The sample included 100 administrators, faculty, and health services staff at 100 community colleges. Methods: Participants completed a Web-based survey. Results: Participants reported a number of alcohol and other drug (AOD) related concerns. Despite limited staff and funding dedicated to AOD, institutions are implementing a number of programs, although many are not implementing some of the programs popular at traditional 4-year colleges. They are also collaborating with a number of on- and off-campus groups. The availability of staff and funding dedicated to AOD, and the presence of residence halls, is associated with health programming and substance abuse collaborations. Conclusions: Results suggest that there is a need for increased research to understand the most effective AOD prevention strategies for community colleges.     

Recent Data on the Number of Adoptions of Foster Children

ABSTRACT

Public agency adoption programs require accurate and current data to identify trends, project caseloads and costs, revise practice and develop financial incentive systems. The federal government and advocacy groups also need accurate and current statistics on adoption to formulate and implement major policy initiatives. Collection of data to establish baselines for the federal Adoption Incentive Program resulted in a re-examination of recent underestimates of the number of adoptions. The underestimates were produced by a convergence of factors including under-reporting by states, use of inappropriate data as the basis for the estimates, and real increases in the number of adoptions.     

Transforming settlement and integration services during a pandemic

Settlement services are key to Canada's success in welcoming and integrating immigrants. Offered mainly in person prior to COVID-19 by non-governmental agencies reliant on and regulated by government funders, services were forced online and delivered by staff working remotely. We document this transition between September 2020 and September 2021 in Ontario, Canada and the conditions that influenced it. Surveys completed by workers and managers at member agencies of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants reveal how agencies provided services and stabilized organizational resources and capacities. Their success is evident in staff satisfaction with management's responses to the pandemic. While our findings underscore the resilience of the agencies and their workforce, they also challenge many tenets of New Public Management. The survey and discussions with managers suggest that sustained and flexible funding, rapid and respectful communication between agencies and funders and collaborations with other agencies were key to overcoming pandemic challenges.     

Agency Constraints Affecting Links between Practice and Education

Education and practice are closely interrelated and interdependent. There are, however, inherent constraints within agencies that complicate or interfere with the achievement of an ideal relationship. These relate to such factors as the history and culture of the agency, its structure and funding pattern, its commitment to the educational task, the qualifications of its staff for the educational function, the attitude of its staff toward partners in the educational venture, the demands on it for service, and the confidential and political aspects of some of its operations.     

Methodology out of context: Getting Zimbabwean entrepreneurs to participate in research

This paper reports on a project carried out in Zimbabwe in 1998. The aim of the work was to develop a methodology, based upon participative techniques, which could be adapted for use by the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) in assessing entrepreneurs' perception of government and non-government business support services. The overriding purpose of the project was to improve DFID's policies towards facilitating an enabling environment for the private sector. The project was commissioned in order to alter the conventional donor agency approach to businesses in Africa of using questionnaires. Instead, the project team developed a system of semi-structured interviews with individual entrepreneurs and managers, supplemented by a variety of visual techniques and collective workshops incorporating the participants themselves, government representatives and agency staff. Whilst the techniques used are not in themselves unique, the approach certainly is, within an African context.     

Who's on board? Child welfare worker reports of buy-in and readiness for organizational change

This study views the extent to which staff buy-in for an organizational innovation in child welfare (CW) relates to implementation progress. The study occurs during implementation of a statewide practice model that was supported with technical assistance from the Mountains and Plains Child Welfare Implementation Center (MPCWIC) and framed around the National Implementation Research Network model. Mixed methods were used to address three study questions: (1) what is the level and nature of buy-in related to the innovation? (2) does buy-in vary according to staff characteristics, and (3) what is the relationship between buy-in, local level agency readiness, and implementation status one year after project start? Survey data were collected from 568 CW staff in 13 local county agencies and 12 implementation specialists assigned as coaches. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with 52 staff in four agencies. Bivariate chi-square analyses and multivariate regression using a cumulative logit model showed that buy-in was related to gender and agency tenure. Implementation progress was higher among smaller agencies, and agencies with lower levels of job stress. Qualitative themes centered on staff inclusivity in project design, communication, and supervisor support. Findings highlight the need to adapt implementation strategies in urban and rural locales, and to attend strongly to staff selection, supervision, and inclusion during implementation. Addressing job stress may help bolster implementation.     

Strategies for Implementing a Tobacco-Free Campus Policy

Abstract

This report examines the rationale for creating a tobacco-free campus to utilize in passing antitobacco policies, and recommendations for overcoming barriers. As with any type of advocacy effort, a variety of impediments exist, including lack of administrative and staff support, absence of student involvement, and sparse resources. A variety of potential remedies and advocacy opportunities are explored and delineated.     

Examining the equivalence of fidelity over two generations of KEEP implementation: A preliminary analysis

Problem

In order to obtain and maintain positive outcomes garnered from evidence-based practice (EBP) models, it is necessary to implement them effectively in “real world” settings, to continually monitor intervention fidelity to prevent drift, and to train new staff due to turnover. The fidelity monitoring processes that are commonly employed in research settings are labor intensive and probably unrealistic to employ in community agencies given the additional burden and cost that they represent over and above the cost of implementing the EBP. Efficient strategies for implementing fidelity monitoring and staff training procedures within the inner context of agency settings are needed to promote agency self-sufficiency and program sustainability.

Method

A cascading implementation model was used whereby agencies who achieved proficiency in KEEP, an EBP designed to prevent placement disruptions in foster and kinship child welfare homes, were trained to take on fidelity management roles to improve the likelihood of program sustainability. Agency staff were trained to self-monitor fidelity and to train internal staff to achieve model fidelity. A web-based system for conducting fidelity assessments and for onsite/internal and remote program quality monitoring was utilized.

Results

Scores on fidelity ratings from streamed observations of intervention sessions showed no differences for foster parents treated by first generation interventionists trained by model developers compared to a second generation of interventionists trained by the first generation.

Conclusion and relevance to child welfare

Development of the local intra-agency capacity to manage quality intervention delivery is an important feature of successful EBP implementation. Use of the cascading implementation model appears to support the development of methods for effective monitoring of fidelity of the KEEP intervention, for training new staff, and ultimately for the development of internal methods for maintaining program sustainability and effectiveness.     

Nonprofit boards and perceptions of funding

The study presented in this article examines the extent to which board characteristics and activities are associated with the executive director's level of certainty about future funding, using a sample of 127 human service agencies. The executive directors of agencies with low levels of funding adequacy expressed more certainty about future funding when their boards were more expert, influential, and involved in planning and fundraising activities. For agencies with more adequate funding, board expertise and activities were associated with lower levels of perceived funding certainty. This articles argues that, rather than improving agency performance, boards serve a homeostatic function, acting in crisis situations to return their organizations to stable equilibria.