Urban Institute researchers evaluate federal, state, and local government programs and policies. Early on, we pioneered performance-management techniques government agencies still use to evaluate and improve public services, from economic development to garbage collection. And now we're adapting those strategies for the nonprofit sector—at home and abroad. Read more.
Eugene Steuerle, one of the nation's most respected public policy experts, whose portfolio ranges from taxes and federal spending on children to entitlements and the vitality of nonprofits, has rejoined the Urban Institute as an Institute fellow and the Richard B. Fisher
Nonprofits face growing demands to demonstrate their impact. Their ability to report on program performance is essential to organizational legitimacy and financial survival. This report chronicles the evaluation experiences of four youth-serving nonprofits that participated in the East of the River Initiative, a multi-year effort to increase the capacity of agencies to assess their performance. We detail key successes and challenges with the goal of sparking a dialogue between nonprofits, funders, and technical assistance providers about the proper value of evaluation in the sector.
This series of fact sheets provides a quick overview of the nonprofit sector in each of the nine parishes that comprise Central Louisiana – Allen, Avoyelles, Catahoula, Grant, LaSalle, Natchitoches, Rapides, Vernon, and Winn. Each fact sheet provides information on the number of nonprofits and congregations found in the parish; the types of services offered; basic financial measures, such as total revenues, expenses, assets, and liabilities; sources of revenue; and a measure of fiscal health. The fact sheets also include basic demographic information for the parish, such as total population, median age, race-ethnic composition and median household income. A companion report, A Profile of Nonprofit Organizations in Central Louisiana, provides a detailed analysis of the size, scope, fiscal health, and other dimensions of the sector.
Nonprofit organizations in Central Louisiana are an integral part of community life, helping people in need and providing cultural and civic opportunities to local residents. Yet most people have only a vague idea of the number and types of nonprofits in the region or the financial resources needed to support and sustain this work. This report is a comprehensive study of Central Louisiana's nonprofit sector. It examines the size, scope, and financial underpinning of the sector, and explores the extent to which nonprofits and religious congregations collaborate with each other and with other groups. It also reports the challenges that nonprofit and faith-based leaders see as critical to the region. A companion report, Central Louisiana in Focus, provides a statistical fact sheet for each of the nine parishes in the region.
Cities around the world are building urban cultural life as a way to develop local economies and revitalize urban centers. But they have done less to recognize and systematically promote the cultural lives of urban neighborhoods and their residents. This brief examines four characteristics of city cultural policy that affect cultural development and cultural life in neighborhoods. The brief is informed by policy forums held by The Living Cultures Project in New Orleans in 2008-2009 to address key policy issues confronting neighborhood and cultural life.
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Urban Institute researchers evaluate federal, state, and local government programs and policies. Early on, we pioneered performance-management techniques government agencies still use to evaluate and improve public services, from economic development to garbage collection. And now we're adapting those strategies for the nonprofit sector—at home and abroad. 