Civil Society

Too few boards are doing a good job of helping nonprofit grops carry out their missions, explains Francie Ostrower in this Chronicle of Philanthropy commentary. They need to be more active in fund raising, monitoring programs, community relations, educating the public, and monitoring the board's own performance.

This brief profiles community-based nonprofits in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that are helping newcomers adjust to their new social and political environment, while affirming their cultural identities. The brief focuses on nonprofit groups that serve Asian, Middle Eastern and African populations and examines the characteristics of these organizations in terms of their number, size, location, and scope of activities. The findings provide a unique picture of the community-based resources that are helping immigrants incorporate into American life.

Over the past decade the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area has become increasingly diverse, driven in large part by the growth of the Latino population. By 2006, almost 610,000 Latinos lived in the region. Today's immigrants, like those before them, contribute to the development of civil society organizations and rely on them for services and activities. Yet little is known about these organizations and the ways they help newcomers build and engage in civil society. This brief provides an overview of nonprofits and religious congregations in the Washington, D.C. region that focus on providing services and support to the Latino population.

Nonprofit boards are receiving increased attention from policymakers, media, researchers and the public. Yet most research, policy proposals, and best practice guidelines have been oriented toward large organizations. This brief helps fill a major gap in our understanding by focusing on governance among midsize nonprofits, identifying certain problem areas, and suggesting strategies that those engaged with midsize nonprofits may find helpful in strengthening their boards. The discussion uses data on the subset of 1,862 midsize organizations in our Urban Institute National Survey of Nonprofit Governance, the first national representative study of nonprofit governance.

Most heads of midsize nonprofits give their trustees low marks for fundraising and monitoring board performance, an Urban Institute study of nonprofits with annual expenses between $500,000 and $5 million has found.

The Nonprofit Almanac 2008, from the Urban Institute Press, offers data and facts charting the sector’s recent evolution. The statistics-packed volume can help nonprofit managers, researchers, the press, and the public better understand changes in the sector and its economic role.

This working paper offers a descriptive analysis of the Latino nonprofit sector in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It examines the extent to which Latino nonprofits are equipped to address the needs of a rapidly growing Latino population. The study finds that both nonprofit organizations and religious congregations that primarily serve Latinos offer a wide range of services. Many of these groups are located in the suburbs. While Latino nonprofits constitute a significant economic presence in the region, the majority of organizations remain small. Data on nonprofits are drawn from the National Center for Charitable Statistics, and data on churches were collected by telephone survey.

In this Washington Post commentary, senior fellow Eugene Steuerle argues that the increased collaboration and competition between businesses and nonprofits calls for a continuous reexamination of tax laws governing charitable giving and charitable status.

The extent of our nation's preparedness to address large-scale disasters will likely receive renewed attention around the anniversaries of Hurricane Katrina and the attacks of 9/11. This commentary recommends that disaster planning address not only the immediate and short-term responses to disaster, but also the longer-term social service needs of disaster victims, such as mental health services and case management. The Urban Institute's study of the American Red Cross September 11th Recovery Program provides a sense of the need for such services and their value to those affected by disaster. Integrating longer-term recovery services into disaster planning can help ensure their availability in the wake of future disasters.

Nonprofit organizations are a crucial link in our nation’s emergency preparedness and disaster response efforts, but their role is not always well integrated into disaster planning. After both Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, nonprofits provided immediate and longer-term assistance to help people cope with devastating life changes and the emotional aftermath, but the importance of long-term services is not well understood or even acknowledged by victims and policymakers alike. This brief highlights the lessons learned from the Urban Institute’s assessment of the American Red Cross September 11th Recovery Program, which provided grants to community-based organizations to provide longer-term case management, mental health services, and other services to facilitate recovery to eligible individuals.