A Calmly Disruptive Insider: The Case of an Institutionalized Advocacy Organization at Work

Through a case study of a leading service provider organization in Philadelphia, this paper explores the advocacy work of a publicly funded, professionalized, institutionalized nonprofit organization. In this article I relate how in the spring of 2002, staff at the organization responded to a recurring political issue: local business groups were again calling for official action against “aggressive panhandlers” in the downtown district. I use ethnographic and historical data to show that the organization’s institutionalization and ties to the public sector have allowed staff to develop resources and skills for being both contentious claim-makers and influential actors in the institutional political arena.

中国的非营利部门与城市反贫困治理

作者分析了中国在城市反贫困治理中,非营利部门可能的作用空间以及发展所面临的约束条件。作者认为,在当前城市贫困问题日趋严重的形势下,中国有发展非营利部门的迫切要求。非营利部门可以很好地提高贫困者的经济机会;有效促进对贫困者的赋权;加强对于贫困者的安全保障。然而相对于功能需求来说,中国非营利部门的发展严重滞后。因此,创造有利于非营利部门发展的制度环境至关重要。     

浅析我国非营利组织的公信力建设

社会发展的多元化趋势使非营利组织的发展成为必然,而在和谐社会的理念下,非营利组织的发展也面临着更严峻的挑战,尤其表现在非营利组织的公信力建设方面.当前,非营利组织的公信力不强,社会影响力不足.建立问责机制,加强自身能力建设,引入顾客导向的营销理念,并处理好与社会其他组织的关系,是增强非营利组织社会公信力的必由之路.     

Maximizing public relations with the organization–public relationship scale: Measuring a public's perception of an art museum

This study employed the organization–public relationship scale to measure member perceptions of an art museum. Analysis shows member perceptions of the museum–public relationship differentiated members likely to continue their membership from those likely to discontinue their membership with the museum. This study confirms the appropriateness of using the organization–public relationship scale with museums.     

Nonprofit Governance Quality: Concept and Measurement

ABSTRACT

A nonprofit “governance quality index” was developed to enable verification and falsification of contemporary theoretical insights on social service organizations. Indicators were generated based on an extensive qualitative exploration. For the quantitative validation, a data set was composed of 526 respondents from 52 organizations. Five subdimensions of governance quality are introduced and are recommended to be used as separate scales, rather than combined into a single score on governance quality. Furthermore, the recommendation is made to rely on multiple raters per organization to assess governance quality or related concepts, given the substantial within-organization variance found.     

Cause identity: A measurement of disability organizations’ communicated values

This article introduces the concept of “cause identity” as an important consideration in public relations practice as well as research. Ten different disability organizations were used to examine how – as measured through communicated values – organizational identity is expressed. Results of a quantitative content analysis of marketing and public relations materials used by the organizations indicated very few distinctions in their organizational identities. Rather, a strong collective identity was shared among all ten organizations.     

Researching Giving and Volunteering in Australia

The giving of time and money, mainly to private nonprofit organisations is not trivial, but in Australia has been little studied. This article introduces a special issue of the Australian Journal of Social Issues which draws on data collected in the largest study of giving and volunteering conducted in Australia hitherto. It seeks to establish terminological guidelines and reviews past Australian research on giving and volunteering, arguing that there has been a disproportionate interest in volunteering. It seeks to put to rest some common myths about giving and explores whether the increase in giving and volunteering can be attributed to government policy. It concludes by introducing the other papers in the collection.     

Policy lessons for strengthening nonprofits

Those who develop or influence Australian public policy impacting on the nonprofit sector rarely have adequate empirical research upon which to base their judgments. Giving Australia research evidence relevant to strengthening giving and volunteering is brought together in this article to inform policy options for government, nonprofit and philanthropic entities. It begins with consideration of research findings related to the capacity of those that give or volunteer and the implications these findings have for policy. Three key criteria are developed for assessing policies to strengthening giving and volunteering, behaviours that primarily assist nonprofit organisations – policies that build trust between those that give and the recipients of their gifts, policies that strengthen affiliation and policies that encourage planned giving.     

Through the looking glass: A decade of Red Cross crisis response and situational crisis communication theory

Crisis communication has emerged as a hot topic in public relations literature. However, little attention has been paid to nonprofit organizations (NPOs), one of the largest sectors of public relations practice. In particular, few studies have examined that the crisis response strategy NPOs can employ to repair their reputations. For the Red Cross and other NPOs, when faced with a crisis, communicating with their publics is critical to restore a positive reputation and, ultimately, to the continued success of the organization once the crisis has passed.