Association for Research on Nonprofits and Voluntary Action

Announcement
Spring 2010 Newsletter

Gearing Up for ARNOVA 2010 in Alexandria

We are really excited about this year's ARNOVA Conference! The Conference Woods Bowman,
Conference Chair
Planning Committee has been working hard, and the program is coming into
shape. We are planning our major sessions to take advantage of the resources in the Washington, DC, area;
and we are developing a challenging, even provocative exploration of the Conference theme "Government
and the Voluntary Sector: Redefining the Relationship?"

We all know that the recession of 2008-09, coming on top of 30 years of privatization and devolution - as
well as other developments in the field - is causing significant shifts in the relationships between
governments and nongovernmental organizations. What we do not know is the full extent and character of
those changes, nor what direction voluntary action, philanthropy and nonprofits will take as a result of those
shifts. We hope all ARNOVA members are planning to be part of this important Conference next fall as we
examine those questions.

Of course, there will be a wide range of papers and panels at the Conference, as always. Most will be on
topics other than the theme. So, there will be something for everyone's scholarly and practical interests.

The upcoming conference has set one new record already. Submissions were up 6% this year, topping the
500 mark for the first time ever. This is wonderful. Even more impressive: the number of submissions
addressing the Conference theme and other questions of public policy, have tripled to 105.

Papers are divided into 12 Tracks with 2 co-chairs for each Track. The co-chairs are hard at work reviewing
the proposals. Each of the three sections corresponding to a Track topic (theory, grassroots, and teaching)
appointed one of the co-chairs for those Tracks, and recommended a non-section member to fill the other co-
chair slot. This is a new arrangement that we hope will strengthen the links between the sections and the
planning process without Balkanizing it.

We fine-tuned the Tracks. Last year's Boards and Leadership Track is now Boards and Governance. The
Management Track became Management and Leadership. Strategy, Programs, and Innovation became
Strategy, Programs, and Faith and we added a Track on Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Those of you who submitted papers encountered the 2.0 version of our custom-made software that we have
built to manage the process and print the program. The staff has invested considerable time in this project to
fix the flaws in the old system that were the source of complaints about the program book last year. So far it
has worked smoothly and feedback has been very positive.

The record number of papers has prompted us to explore adding extra sessions on one or two days.
Furthermore, the huge number of policy-related proposals coupled with the Washington venue is stimulating
us to plan an "event-with-the-event" to raise ARNOVA's profile in the capital. We are exploring the
possibility of concentrating many presentations on policy topics on Friday afternoon and promoting a one-
day registration for staff members among nonprofits and policy organizations in the Washington area. This
will be an experiment in outreach for ARNOVA.

After years of holding conference registration rates constant - and losing money - we finally had to raise
them. By holding the conference in the suburbs we were able to keep hotel costs down, which allows us to
keep the rate at a reasonable level while losing less money. We have compared our Conference costs to other
professional associations, and we know our conference is still a bargain, even with this modest increase. We
trust that with the possible deals most can get on airfares to Washington from almost anywhere, this will
keep the Conference affordable.

So, we hope your calendars are marked to spend November 18-20, 2010, at the ARNOVA Conference in
Alexandria. We promise an stimulating and welcoming event for all.

The President's View

What ARNOVA Does for Its Members

It is no secret that I am emotional about ARNOVA. By now you have all heard that
I have attended each and every annual conference since 1987. This is also where I
met my wife. Clearly, ARNOVA has shaped my life. But, I am emotional about Ram Cnaan,
ARNOVA for many other reasons. If there was no ARNOVA, someone would have ARNOVA
had to invent it. President

I am glad that over 40 years ago, David Horton Smith came up with the original idea to start an
organization that is now ARNOVA. The organization was transformed along the way by dedicated
members and leaders, and we are now the home for some 1,300 members, all sharing an interest in
studying nonprofit organizations, voluntary action, philanthropy, and civil society.

My career was shaped by ARNOVA, and I know this is the case for many of us. When I went for
tenure, I showed that my work had been cited by ARNOVA members and many of my letters of
reference came from ARNOVA members. The existence of NVSQ as the leading journal in the field
legitimized my areas of research. The same happened when I went up for promotion to the rank of
professor. Being on various committees in ARNOVA also helped me demonstrate service to the
academic community and demonstrated my growing status among my academic peers. But most of all
it said to my colleagues that my area of research is significant and shared by many top scholars
nationally and internationally.

The many awards that ARNOVA gives at the annual conference have solidified more than one C.V.
and helped many members to showcase the fact their peers valued their scholarly work. The
community of scholars that meets annually has shaped and sustained many academic careers. In the
past ten years, I have written more than a dozen letters of recommendation for tenure and/or
promotion that turned out to be successful. I met these people at ARNOVA events, attended their
paper presentations in the annual conference, read their articles, and was able to assess their
contribution to the body of knowledge. It helped that I was able to say that I heard them presenting
and could comment on their presentation style. This is why I am so passionate about ARNOVA-it is
not only an association; it is also a community. And I hope that I can inspire each and every one of you
to feel the same.

If you read as far as this point you probably agree with me, though I may be wrong. Anyway, I have
two requests. First, I would like to know how many members of ARNOVA who receive this newsletter
electronically do read it. So, if you read this column, please click on my e-mail (below) and drop me a
line to say-I read the newsletter. The ARNOVA office in Indianapolis puts a lot of work into this
newsletter and we would love to know that there are people who read it. So, my first request is for you
to send me a line indicating you read the newsletter. My e-mail address is: cnaan@sp2.upenn.edu

My second request is more demanding and I hope you will still cooperate. As a member organization,
ARNOVA needs member support. The amount of time and labor many of you give to serve on
ARNOVA committees and make the life of the organization rich and meaningful is truly impressive.
But, we also need money.

Every member of the ARNOVA board of directors has donated to ARNOVA and generously so. Some
members gave too. But last year only 8% of our members gave to support our work financially. This,
as many of us know from our professional expertise, is far too few. For ARNOVA to stay financial
stabile and reduce dependence on foundations we need more members to give more money.

So, my appeal to you is to join me in supporting ARNOVA. If you will click on the following URL you
will be able to do so electronically. Please remember that a strong ARNOVA is not only important for
helping the field; it is also important for the sustenance of our careers and the preservation of the best
forum to exchange ideas and recruit colleagues for cross-national work. In addition this work we do
and support serves to strengthen the institutions of civil society to the benefit of all. So, please click
the following URL and help us become a better organization: https://www.arnova.org/cgi-
bin/arnova_donations.pl?goto=form

ED's Perspective - April 2010

How Healthy Is Civil Society?

For many who study voluntary action and the nonprofit sector in the U.S. (and elsewhere)
this question is a significant one. Statistics show the number of nonprofits and
associations in the U.S. at least doubling over the last 25 years. Some studies show high Thom Jeavons,
levels of membership and volunteering. Other studies question how significant those ARNOVA
memberships are, and they raise questions about the levels of volunteering. If we define Executive
civil society as "the presence and life of organizations (outside of government and Director
business), and networks of associations, that engage and support people in collective action to shape their
social, political and economic environment," then most data suggests civil society is basically healthy in the
U.S. and in many other countries.

However, there is a second meaning to "civil" that is not unrelated to the first. Civil behavior, according to
Webster, is "conduct observing or befitting accepted social usages, proper, or polite."

What is the connection between these two usages of the term "civil"? Well, both refer to essential building
blocks for constructive social interactions. Just as "civil society" is a label for the set of institutions and
relationships that allow citizens to build and sustain a healthy democratic society, so "civil" is a descriptor of
the kind of interactions that allow individuals to build and sustain those kinds of institutions and
relationships. "Civility" - understood as genuine mutual respect - is needed to create and maintain the kind
of public dialogue about important issues that make possible the resolution of differences between parties
who see those issues differently.

Observers of public conversations about political issues in the U.S. cannot fail to notice the erosion of
civility here in the last few years. Whether in local debates about what will be taught in public schools or in
our national struggle with health care policy, the public discourse is more and more often marked by
polarization, ideological rigidity, and the ridicule and demonization of "the other side."

Nonprofit organizations and voluntary associations can be valuable instruments for the public expression of
and conversation about values. This justification for having voluntary and nonprofit organizations goes back
(in the U.S.) to the Bill of Rights and the roots of the sector in the rights of freedom of religion, expression
and association. The function of associations as instruments for expressing, even advocating for, particular
social goals and sets of ideals is vital to a healthy democracy. But how those goals are articulated and those
ideals expressed is critical to the outcomes, to whether the resulting interactions build or undermine a healthy
democracy. Which takes us back again to the concept of a "civil society."

While historians will remind us that politicians have been calling each other names for a very long time,
many thoughtful people on the left and the right are expressing concern that the vitriolic tone of recent public
debates has reached new and disturbing heights. Efforts to find common ground on which inclusive
solutions for social problems can be built seem increasingly to be drowned out by those who make exclusive
claims to wisdom and truth, and deny the legitimacy of all other perspectives. Formal nonprofits and
informal associations have become vehicles for pursuing such campaigns. In this vein these institutions
become instruments, ironically, for creating an "un-civil" society.

As we think about these issues and observe what is happening in the U.S., we may be challenged to look
again that the roles of voluntary associations and nonprofits in the health of a democracy. James Madison
worried about factionalism as a threat to democracy and how voluntary associations could lead to more of
that. For some time now some research in our field has examined the relationships between the bonding role
of social capital and the bridging role, recognizing that when associations create too much of the first and too
little of the second they may be harmful rather than helpful to the health of society as a whole.

Next fall the focus of our Conference will be on the relationships between voluntary or nonprofit
organizations and governments. This should lead to instructive interactions on many topics. I hope the
conversation will also include a probing and thoughtful look at what is happening in the social and political
processes that shape governments, and an exploration of the role nonprofits and those who lead them play in
creating and sustaining a "civil society" in both senses of that phrase.
 News from and about ARNOVA's Members

And Lots of It!

Christopher Baker (Australia) recently submitted his PhD thesis "Estate transmission and post mortem
charitable giving in Australia". He has since begun work as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Asia-
Pacific Centre for Social Investment and Philanthropy at Swinburne University in Melbourne. His research
for the Center will continue to focus on intergenerational giving and the mismatch in western cultures
between high participation rates in inter vivos giving and low participation rates in giving from estates.

Chris Cornforth has been made Chair of the Voluntary Sector Studies Network (VSSN), the equivalent
organization to ARNOVA in the UK. VSSN holds its annual conference in September each year and
welcomes scholars from other countries. Details about the conference and VSSN's other activities can be
found at www.vssn.org.uk .

Norman Dolch has accepted a full-time position as a Special Lecturer in the College of Public Affairs and
Community Service at the University of North Texas teaching both online and face-to-face courses in
volunteer management and nonprofit administration.

Kathryn Etheridge has been working on mobilizing students towards the goals of civic engagement,
volunteering, and service-learning. Etheridge designed and implemented a Student Advisory Board to
strengthen capacity for CommunityEngagement@Wayne, an initiative of the Irvin D. Reid Honors College,
Wayne State University. CommunityEngagement @Wayne was awarded a Michigan Campus Compact
AmeriCorps*VISTA grant this past year, and is focused on service-learning, leadership, civic engagement,
and positive change in Detroit.

David Garvey, Director of the Nonprofit Leadership Program at the University of Connecticut recently
published an article on "The New England Nonprofit Work Force: Still a Secondary Academic Priority" in
the New England Journal of Higher Education (Winter 2010).

Martha Golensky, emerita professor of social work at Grand Valley State University, has a new book
coming out by Lyceum Books, Inc. in time for fall classes, entitled Strategic Leadership and Management in
Nonprofit Organizations: Theory and Practice. The text will be accompanied by a teacher's manual with
classroom tips, exercises and assignments.

Nancy Hall has recently completed three engagements facilitating nonprofit mergers. One involved two
child serving organizations. A second involved two nonprofits that provide assistive technology to the
disabled. The third brings together two mentoring groups. The common thread among the three is
that financial considerations were secondary to leadership needs. In all three cases, the board of directors
recognized a leadership deficit and merger became a way to fix the problem. The local philanthropic
community has applauded these merger efforts and rewarded the organizations with grants.

David Hammack, ARNOVA's former president, is delighted to report on the publication of a new and
important work, American Foundations: Studies on Roles and Contributions, which David edited with
Helmut K. Anheier. The volume was just released by Brookings Institution Press. Several ARNOVA
members contributed to this book. More information on can be found at:
http://www.brookings.edu/press/Books/2010/americanfoundations.aspx. The Aspen Institute Nonprofit
Sector Research Fund underwrote this project, and the Foundation Center and the Pocantico Conference
Center of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund also provided support. The UCLA Center on Civil Society and the
Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations collaborated in managing the work. Drafts of several papers
included in the book were presented at ARNOVA's recent annual conferences.

Dr. Rick Hoefer has been named the Dulak Professor at the School of Social Work, University of Texas at
Arlington. This award recognizes a distinguished record of scholarship, teaching and service in the area of
community practice. He is also the Editor, Journal of Policy Practice.

Renee Irvin served as a Fulbright Lecturer Fall semester 2009 at Sun Yat-Sen (Zhongshan) University in
Guangzhou China. There she taught Introduction to NGO Administration for first-year MPA students in the
School of Government. The Fulbright program orientation and on-site campus support at Sun Yat-Sen
University was excellent. The opportunity to observe a nascent nonprofit sector was invaluable for
providing a comparative context for a US-based curriculum.

Jeremy Kendall informs us that the Handbook on Third Sector European Policy: Multi-level Processes and
Organized Civil Society was published in North America by Elgar in February. This is the result of seven
years of research by the Third Sector European Policy (TSEP) network led initially from the Centre for Civil
Society at the London School of Economics & Political Science, and then from the School of Social Policy,
Sociology & Social Research at the University of Kent. More information can be found at
www.kent.ac.uk/tsep and http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/Bookentry_Main.lasso?id=12516.

Roland J. Kushner recently completed and published "National Arts Index 2009. An Annual Measure of
the Vitality of Arts and Culture in the United States" with co-author Randy Cohen of Americans for the
Arts. Early versions of the Arts Index were presented at ARNOVA in 2006 and 2007, and the full report,
featuring 76 different indicators of arts activity measured from the late 1990s through 2008, is available at
www.americansforthearts.org/go/artsindex.

Matthew Liao-Trothhas been named the incoming dean of the J. Whitney Bunting College of Business at
Georgia College & State University. He has already assumed part-time responsibility, and will go to full
time as of July. Matthew is a former ARNOVA emerging Scholar award winner. His new book was just
reviewed in NVSQ.

Rachel M. McCleary was awarded the 2010 Skystone Ryan Research Prize from the Association of
Fundraising Professionals (AFP) for her book Global Compassion: Private Voluntary Organizations and
U.S. Foreign Policy since 1939 (Oxford University Press, 2010).

This prize is given each year to the author whose book contributes substantially to the knowledge and
understanding of fund-raising or philanthropic behavior. Global Compassion discusses two recent trends in
foreign aid: commercialization of aid to for-profit contractors and the increasing involvement of the military
in humanitarian efforts, and it examines how private voluntary organizations, once the strength of U.S.
foreign aid, are now marginalized. Rachel McCleary is Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School
of Government, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Visitng Scholar, American
Enterprise Institute.

Barbara Metelsky, along with her fellow research team members and community partners, has been named
a winner of the 2010 Opal Mann Green Engagement and Scholarship Award for their research on nonprofit
board communication practices. This award from Office of Extension, Engagement, and Economic
Development at NC State University recognizes the creation of inclusionary teams, community-based
learning, and mutually beneficial action around local issues. The award is presented to teams whose
accomplishments demonstrate excellence as engaged scholars and who practice collaborative democratic
strategies. This research led to the development and pilot of a board training curriculum titled,
Communication Strategies that Build Board Leadership and Engagement.

Rob Paton has a paper on "Civil Society and the Commanding Heights: past, present, future" in the new
report of the Carnegie Trust UK's Commission on the Future of Civil Society. The report, Making Good
Society, explores key areas where a stronger civil society presence is urgently required - and already taking
shape. Copies of the report can be found at
http://democracy.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/civil_society/publications.

Angela Seaworth has recently been appointed the inaugural Director for the Center for Philanthropy and
Nonprofit Leadership at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Seaworth, a doctoral candidate at the Center on
Philanthropy at Indiana University, is charged with expanding the existing continuing education course
offerings and developing an academic program with concentrations in nonprofit management and
philanthropy. Those interested in this new program may contact Angela at seaworth@rice.edu.

Rob Sheehan, University of Maryland, has a new book out on strategic planning for nonprofit organizations
entitled Mission Impact: Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits. The book is the one in a series for
nonprofit executives, co-sponsored by Wiley Publishers and the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
The book applies leading edge ideas used often in the corporate world to the nonprofit setting, with a
strategy development process that can help nonprofits produce significant improvements in mission impact.

Robert Stebbins is the author (with Mark Durieux) of Social Entrepreneurship for Dummies, just released
by John Wiley. The book focuses on how to bring social responsibility to business enterprises, and examines
how implementing social responsibility goals in a business plan can enhance the bottom line.
A "Greener" NVSQ

In 2010, SAGE Publications, the publisher for ARNOVA of Nonprofit Voluntary Sector Quarterly, will be
partnering with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant a tree on behalf of each ARNOVA member who chooses
to receive electronic access to NVSQ instead of a print copy of the journal.

The Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit conservation and education organization, was founded in 1972, on
the centennial of the first Arbor Day. The Arbor Day Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit
membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with nearly one million members, supporters, and
valued partners. The Arbor Day Foundation is dedicated to tree planting, preserving existing forests, and
educating families and the community at large about the importance of nature. Trees will be planted in the
area of greatest need as determined by the Arbor Day Foundation; generally the areas are in national and
state forests located in the United States.

We have heard many expressions of interest from ARNOVA members in recent years about being "greener"
in our operations. So, SAGE and ARNOVA are excited to be able collaborate with the Arbor Day
Foundation to plant trees, preserve the environment and reduce our collective carbon footprint. ARNOVA,
and its members who receive the NVSQ will be part of this program.

So, be sure to check the online-only option when you renew your membership this year if you'd like a tree
planted on your behalf.
New Nonprofit Journal Launches in the UK

The Voluntary Sector Studies Network in the UK has recently launched a new high quality academic
journal, Voluntary Sector Review, which can be found at
(http://www.policypress.co.uk/journals_vsr.asp). A number of distinguished ARNOVA members serve
on the editorial board, and the journal would welcome contributions by ARNOVA members.
Institutions can take advantage of an introductory offer to for a free subscription for the first year
(http://www.policypress.co.uk/journals_vsr_subscribe.asp).
 With Appreciation to our Supporting Institutional Members

ARNOVA wishes to thank the following organizations, who have joined our ranks, or continued, as
Supporting Institutional Members. We greatly appreciate the special commitment to supporting the best in
research on nonprofits, philanthropy and voluntary action that their membership and their work represents.

The Beautiful Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute

Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University

Center for Nonprofit Policy & Practice Cleveland State University

Council on Foundations

Imagine Canada

Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Case Western Reserve University

Nonprofit Program at the Andrew Young School of Public Policy / Georgia State University.

The Rockefeller Archive Center

Association for Research on Nonprofits and Voluntary Action

550 W. North St., Suite 301
317-684-2120
Jonathan Kitto
Associate Director
jkitto@arnova.org