Civil Society through a Research LensElizabeth T. Boris, Ph.D.

DirectorCenter on Nonprofits and Philanthropy

Exploring the Big Questions ConferenceMarch 26, 2015

Los Angeles, California

Research on Civil Society

Informs plans, strategies and management

Promotes learning innovation &

feedback

Informs Public Policies

Dispels mythsPromotes Visibility

Research can help answer our

Big Questions

How does Civil Society Interact with the Big Trends?

Globalization of Economy

Political Polarization

Environmental Degradation

Changing Demographics

Federal & State Budget

Deficits

Growing income

inequality

Health Care Reform

Tax Reform Immigration Reform

What does Civil Society do?

How Do Nonprofits & Philanthropy:Contribute to individual and community well-being

Promote civic engagement

Impact the economy

Work with government and business in communities

Economic Impact

CONTRIBUTED

5.4% OF GDP IN2012

EMPLOYED

13.7 MILLIONINDIVIDUALSIN 2010

Economic Impact of Nonprofits in California

Source: California Association of Nonprofits. 2014. Causes Count. Available online at http://calnonprofits.org/causes-count

Economic Impact of Nonprofits in California

Source: California Association of Nonprofits. 2014. Causes Count. Available online at http://calnonprofits.org/causes-count

Finances2012

Revenue $2.16 trillion

Expenses $2.03 trillion

Assets $4.84 trillion

To understand the

Dimensions of Civil Society:

Community and National Assets and Trends

Growth of the Nonprofit Sector (Excluding Hospitals and Higher Education)

Source: The Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics, Core Files (Public Charities, Trend File)

% Change in Number of Organizations

% Change in Inflation-Adjusted Revenue

1991-2001 2001-2011 1991-2001 1991-2001 2001-2011 1991-2001

All USA 76.6% 47.1% 159.9% 54.8% 36.1% 110.6%

California 70.3% 41.6% 141.3% 95.0% 24.6% 142.9%

San Fernando Valley 69.2% 67.6% 183.6% 94.1% 28.8% 150.0%

Nonprofit Subsectors: National, California, & San Fernando Valley

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

Arts, Culture,and

Humanities

HigherEducation

OtherEducation

Environmentand Animals

Hospitals andPrimary Care

Facilities

Other HealthCare

HumanServices

International Public andSocial Benefit

Supporting

Subs

ecto

r O

rgan

izat

ions

as

a Pe

rcen

tage

of N

onpr

ofit

s in

Reg

ion

United States California San Fernando Valley

Trends in Revenues and Expenses: National Public Charities

Source: The Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics, Core Files (Public Charities, Trend File)

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

1,800

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012Bill

ions

of I

nfla

tion

-Adj

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Total Revenue Total Expenses

Total Revenue (Excluding Hospitals and Higher Ed) Total Expenses (Excluding Hospitals and Higher Ed)

Source: The Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics, Core Files (Public Charities, Trend File)

Trends in Revenues and Expenses: California Public Charities

0.0

50.0

100.0

150.0

200.0

250.0

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012Bill

ions

of I

nfla

tion

-Adj

uste

d D

olla

rs

Total Revenue Total Expenses

Total Revenue (Excluding Hospitals and Higher Ed) Total Expenses (Excluding Hospitals and Higher Ed)

Trends in Revenues and Expenses: San Fernando Valley Public Charities

Source: The Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics, Core Files (Public Charities, Trend File)

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012Bill

ions

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Total Revenue Total ExpensesTotal Revenue (Excluding Hospitals and Higher Ed) Total Expenses (Excluding Hospitals and Higher Ed)

• Map community resources and needs

• Share nonprofit resources

• Build the local Knowledgebase

• Track program outcomes

• Link to local data sources

• Customize for local partners

NCCS Community Platform for N. Virginia

Research can help to answer:

Operationalquestions about

Civil Society

Civil Society Trends

Transparency Accountability PerformanceMeasurement

Economic & Social Impact

Tax & Regulatory

Policy

Financial & Capacity

Challenges

Fee for Service &

Enterprises

New Giving Tools & Models

Impact Investing

Governance, staffing & structure

Program & Financial management, contracting

Fundraising, Marketing, communications & partnering

Volunteer management & donor relations

Performance measurement & evaluation

National Survey of Nonprofit Governance: What do Boards Do?

52%

44%

32%29% 27%

FinancialOversight &

Policy

Planning MonitoringPrograms &

Service

Fundraising CommunityRelations

1%

4%

9%

13%

23%

50%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Other Income

Investment Income

Government Grants

Private Contributions

Fees Government

Fees Private

Sources of Revenue2012

Nonprofit-Government Contracts and Grants

Nearly 350,000 contracts and grants with Nonprofits (average 6 per organization) in 2012

Over $137 billion in contracts and grants

Government Agencies on Contracting with Nonprofits

• Without nonprofit organizations agencies would not be able to provide important services and programs.

“ …as a state agency it is a way for us to impact communities throughout the state through the not-for-profits. We don’t have the staff nor do we have the capability of doing our programming throughout the state so this is a way to work with organizations, or to provide support to organizations who can further our mission along with their mission.”

• State agencies are taking steps to improve their relationships with nonprofit organizations through better communications and interactions that focus on partnerships.

“I suppose there is a time for being more of a ‘gotcha’ policing entity…in my experience it’s been more effective to be more of a partner and technical assistant.”

To understand what

Influencesindividuals and groups

Why do people give, volunteer?

What works? Why? When? Where?

Why do people get involved in community and political activities?

Civic EngagementPromotes and facilitates civic education, voter registration, other forms of community involvement

Brings together groups and individuals to learn about and work on solving community issues

Educates about causes and promotes participation—civil rights, poverty, health

Total private contributions increased to $335.17

Congregations receive 31% of total

Corporations, 6%

Bequests, 8%

Foundations, 15%

Individuals, 72%

Private Giving for 2013

CorporationsBequestsFoundationsIndividuals

Research on Fundraising

Fundraising Effectiveness Project probes how to increase giving:

Giving: about 2% of GDP for the last 40 years

Research question: What would it take to move that percentage upward?

Research to date: suggests a greater focus on retaining past givers might yield big benefits

Volunteering

62.6 million people volunteered in 2013 25.4% of the population

They volunteered an estimate total of 8.1 billion total hours Valued at $163 billion

Organizational Research Needed

Management &Administration

Finances-Commercial

Revenues, Expenses, Surplus

Governance

Volunteer Management

Leadership & Staffing

Infrastructure & Capacity

Sector Research Needed

Achievements, Impacts,

Innovation

Advocacy & Social

Change

What Works & Why

Self-Regulation

Relationships w/Governments

& Businesses

Civic & Social Capital Building

Donor and Volunteer

Motivations

Conclusions• Civil Society is vibrant, diverse and growing, but our knowledge base is

still fairly primitive, especially at the state and local levels.• Scope and dimensions research is well underway

• Economic impact research is becoming more robust

• Civic engagement research is in its infancy

• Impacts of specific initiatives on communities and populations are evaluated, but synthesis and knowledge sharing is weak

• Management and financial research is increasing

• Performance research and data gathering is in demand, but capacity to collect, analyze and use performance data is quite limited

• Policy analysis is not well developed outside of associations

• Universities have important roles to play in designing and implementing basic and applied research

• Community collaborations will ensure that the research is valid and useful.

Elizabeth T. Boris, Ph.D.Director

Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy

Urban Institute2100 M Street NW

Washington, DC 20037202-261-5770

eboris@urban.org

The Urban Institute

Thank you!

References• Boris, Elizabeth T. and C. Eugene Steuerle, eds. Nonprofits &

Government: Collaboration & Conflict, 2006, Urban Institute. • CalNonprofits. Causes Count. www.calnonprofits.org/causes-count• Ferris, James M., Elwood Hopkins. Place-Based Initiatives in the Context of

Public Policy and Markets. http://bit.ly/18iICyu,• 2014 Fundraising Effectiveness Report.

http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=2000052• Ostrower, Francie. Nonprofit Governance in the United States: Findings on

Performance and Accountability from the First National Representative Study. 2007. Urban Institute

• McKeever, Brice and Sarah Pettijohn. The Nonprofit Sector in Brief: Public Charities, Giving and Volunteering, 2014. Urban Institute.

• Pettijohn, Sarah et al. Nonprofit-Government Contracts and Grants: Findings from the 2013 National Survey, 2013. Urban Institute. www.urban.org/nonprofitcontracting.cfm

• Roeger, Katie et. al., Nonprofit Almanac 2012, Urban Institute.

Other Resources

– Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, the Urban Institutehttp://www.urban.org/center/cnp/index.cfm

– The Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies.http://www.ccss.jhu.edu/index.php?section=content&view=20

– The Foundation Center. http://foundationcenter.org/– Giving USA Foundation. Giving USA. http://www.givingusareports.org/– National Center for Charitable Statistics, the Urban Institute, http://nccs.urban.org. – Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ) http://nvs.sagepub.com/– Nonprofit Management and Leadership (NML).

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1542-7854 – PerformWell www.performwell.org– Stanford Social Innovation Review – Volunteering in America. http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov– Bureau of Labor Statistics, Volunteering in the U.S., http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/volun.pdf– Icon credit, Slide #6, Stephen Borengasser, DeadType, Urban Institute– Icon credit, Slide #21, Ferran Brown, Urban Institute– Photo credit, Slide #5, http://www.flickr.com/photos/53258658@N08/5925958386

Research & Programs• At the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy we conduct research

to inform public policy and nonprofit and foundation practice, for example, in national surveys of Nonprofit-Government Contracts and Grants, and we convene policy-makers and practitioners in Emerging Issues Seminars on tax and other public policy issues.

• Through our National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), we create and share research quality data on nonprofits and philanthropy, produce the Nonprofit Almanac and research on the size and scope of sector and other topics, and collaborate with IRS, states, and others to promote better nonprofit data.

• We also develop tools for practitioners, for example, PerformWell.org, and we host webinars on performance measurement, conduct evaluations, and mentor Emerging Scholars from diverse backgrounds.

Elizabeth T. Boris, Ph.D.Founding Director, Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute since 1996; involved in research on the nonprofit sector for 36 years; previously at the Aspen Institute and the Council on Foundations.

eboris@urban.org202-261-5770Urban Institute

2100 M Street NWWashington, DC 20037

www.urban.org

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