Conducting research, analyzing results, and synthesizing the findings for key stakeholders is fundamental to the study and practice of public and nonprofit management. Applied Research Methods in Public and Nonprofit Organizations (©2014, John Wiley & Sons), by Mitchell Brown and Kathleen Hale, takes an integrative approach to applied research, emphasizing design, data collection, and analysis. Case studies are used to illustrate the everyday nature of research, and practical exercises reinforce concepts across all sections of the text. The book includes forms and formats for data collection and analysis, plus writing excerpts that demonstrate results reporting and presentation.
Governing Cross-Sector Collaboration (©2014, John Wiley & Sons), by John J. Forrer, James Edwin Kee, and Eric Boyer, addresses the reality of today’s interconnected society. Through an examination of the primary modes of cross-sector collaboration, including collaborative contracting, partnerships, networks, and independent public services providers, the book presents a clear case for how public managers can assess the trade-offs and use these options to improve public service delivery. Nonprofit organizations, businesses, and third-party contractors are increasingly partnering with government to deliver public services. Governing Cross-Sector Collaboration provides specific examples and a framework for public managers to make strategic choices about how to engage private and nonprofit actors in delivering public goods and services while ensuring the public interest. The book also provides effective methods for choosing, designing, governing, and evaluating networks, partnerships, and independent public-services providers.
Nonprofit sustainability lies at the intersection of exceptional impact and financial viability. The Sustainability Mindset (©2015, Jossey-Bass), by Steve Zimmerman and Jeanne Bell, offers nonprofit professionals and board members a step-by-step guide to move organizations towards this intersection. Having agreement around the organization’s intended impact is critical to developing a meaningful map. Among the questions to ask, suggest the authors, are:
- What is the issue or problem the organization is trying to address?
- If we went away today, to whom would it matter and why?
- Who are the primary direct beneficiaries of our organization?
- What is the geographic impact of our impact?
- What does success look like and how can it be measured?
Public Budgeting in Context (© 2014, John Wiley & Sons), by Katherine G. Willoughby, examines budgeting at all levels of U.S. government—federal, state, and local—and in a sample of governments around the world. Budget and policy agenda setting and executive leadership, legislative budget powers and the influence of the judiciary on modern government budgets are exposed. Budget execution requirements of the bureaucracy, the input of customers, clients and citizens to government budgets, and media influences on public budgets and agencies are highlighted. Budget mechanics—budget types, formats, timelines and reforms—are introduced and compared. The book introduces an emerging method for investigating the outcomes of government spending—human rights budget analysis—and includes as an example the assessment of budget reform and results of public health spending in one selected government.