Nonprofit Studies Program¹
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

The Nonprofit Studies Program (NSP) was organized in 2001 to foster collaborative research on the nonprofit sector within the academic community, to promote policy research that is relevant in today’s political and economic environment, and to serve as a link between scholars and nonprofit practitioners in creating and disseminating knowledge about the sector. By coordinating intellectual resources, it seeks to develop a better understanding of how the sector works. Through rigorous policy analysis, it strives to find ways to harness the unique advantages of the sector for the public good. Through the development and dissemination of “best practices”, it hopes to improve management tools and practices for more effective operations of nonprofit organizations.

Research interests and expertise among nonprofit studies program faculty and associates cover a broad range of topics, including: organizational management systems and strategies, public-private partnerships, public policy regarding nonprofits, philanthropy and the formation of social capital, tax policy and government funding for nonprofit arts organizations. During 2004, the NSP was engaged in funded research projects, participated in several conferences and community forums, and sponsored its fourth annual nonprofit executive leadership roundtable.

Projects

African American Philanthropy. David M. Van Slyke, Janet L. Johnson, and Shena Ashley. This study utilizes available surveys of metro Atlantans which have been sponsored by the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta to study the methods, patterns and motivations for charitable giving and volunteering of African Americans. The study analyzes such questions as: How do the patterns of formal giving and volunteering differ for African Americans relative to other racial and ethnic groups? To what causes do African Americans give and volunteer? What motivates African Americans to give and volunteer? What factors inhibit their giving and volunteering? The report was released in spring 2004.

Sustainable Funding for the Arts: What Can Atlanta Learn from the Detroit Experience. Michael Rushton. This report, released by Research Atlanta in summer 2004, follows upon Rushton’s 2003 study “Sustainable Funding for the Arts: Earmarked Taxes and Options for Metropolitan Atlanta.” In 2002, voters in Metro Detroit narrowly defeated a proposal to increase the property tax in order to provide funding for nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. In this new report, Rushton combines the precinct-level referendum results with Census data for an empirical study of who favors increased cultural funding. The results are interpreted for Atlantans in terms of what local advocates of an earmarked tax for the arts might learn from the Detroit experience. AYSPS Graduate student Wenbin Xiao played a key role in providing research assistance.

Culture and Public Finance: A Symposium. Michael Rushton, Editor. In spring 2004, the journal Public Finance and Management published a symposium on Culture and Public Finance. Rushton, in addition to being the Guest Editor for the symposium, contributed an introductory survey on government support of nonprofits in the arts. Other papers included studies of the earmarked tax support for the arts in Metropolitan Denver, a comparative study of arts funding and social capital, and an examination of the determinants of public support for the arts in Austria.

Government Finance of Nonprofit Activities. Michael Rushton (with Arthur Brooks). The National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise is producing a book on a comprehensive approach to nonprofit finance, to be edited by Dennis Young of Case Western Reserve University. At the fall 2004 meetings of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Activity, held in Los Angeles, Rushton and Brooks presented some preliminary findings from their chapter on how nonprofits receive financial support, whether directly, or indirectly through the tax system, from government. The volume is expected to be released in late 2005 or early 2006.

Government Contracting with Faith-Based Providers: An Economic Perspective. Michael Rushton. In this study, Rushton uses recent developments in the economic theory of contracts to consider the implications of the federal government’s Faith-Based Initiative. A preliminary version was presented at a colloquy on Charitable Choice, organized by Rushton, at the Los Angeles meetings of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Activity. Work on this project is ongoing.

Activities

2004 Nonprofit Executive Leadership Roundtable. The fourth annual Nonprofit Executive Roundtable was held May 5, 2004, at the Court Salon of the Student Center on the Georgia State University campus. Nonprofit leaders and scholars in the region, many of whom were in attendance for their third or fourth year, met for a morning of presentations and discussion on two topics of particular import to today’s nonprofit sector: accountability relationships between nonprofits, the public, and donors, and government contracting with faith-based organizations.

Professor Michael Rushton of the AYSPS Nonprofit Studies Program served as Master of Ceremonies for the Roundtable, and a special welcome was given by Dean Roy Bahl. The 2004 event was underwritten by the Northern Trust Company.

The keynote speaker for this roundtable was Professor Evelyn Brody, J.D., of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology. Professor Brody is a nationally prominent expert on the legal, economic, and social issues affecting nonprofit organizations. She is currently involved with the American Law Institute’s project to draft “Principles of the Law of Nonprofit Organizations,” and her keynote address was inspired by this work. Professor Brody noted that in the push for nonprofit accountability, many forces operate simultaneously on the governance and operation of a nonprofit organization. She focused in her presentation on the role and the limitations of current law in providing for accountability.

Professor Brody was joined during the second half of the morning by Robert Franklin, Presidential Distinguished Professor of Social Ethics at Emory’s Candler School of Theology, and Professors Michael Rushton and David Van Slyke of the AYSPS Nonprofit Studies Program, for a panel discussion of the present and future role of government funding for faith-based organizations. Professor Franklin set the stage with opening remarks on the issue, and moderated the subsequent panel discussion. Professor Brody provided some legal context to the “Blaine amendments” adopted by many states, and the constitutional amendment that has been proposed in Georgia. Professor Rushton analyzed the pros and cons of the government funding of faith-based organizations from an economic and organizational theory standpoint. Professor Van Slyke talked about public attitudes towards government funding of faith-based organizations and the implications for “crowding out” of private philanthropy, referencing recent Nonprofit Studies Program survey research.

1. For a complete listing of AYSPS Active Research Sponsored Grants from CY2004, see the Appendix: Report on External Funding.