Balancing Margin and Mission: Nonprofit Competition in Charitable versus Fee-Based Programs

Competition in the nonprofit world has intensified in recent years, and nonprofit managers are challenged to devise strategies that will serve both organizational needs and public interest. We propose a framework for thinking about nonprofit competition based on the intersection of two dimensions: the domain of competition, which can be either fee-based or donative activities; and the competitive strategy, which can be either price- or differentiation-based. The experience of the American Red Cross, a prominent nonprofit organization facing competition in both fee-based and donative domains, provides data for the elaboration of the framework, and for tentative conclusions about the implications of nonprofit competition for both margin and mission.This publication is Hauser Center Working Paper No. 11. The Hauser Center Working Paper Series was launched during the summer of 2000. The Series enables the Hauser Center to share with a broad audience important works-in-progress written by Hauser Center scholars and researchers

Transforming for the Future: A 2013 Update from Gail McGovern, President and CEO

The importance of the Red Cross to our nation and to the world led them to transform the organization. When Ms. Forman arrived in 2008, the Red Cross was facing a number of serious challenges -- a repeated turnover in leadership; a $209 million operating deficit and significant debt; an unwieldy organizational structure; difficulties within the Blood Services operations; outdated IT systems; a powerful but tired brand; and a fundraising strategy in need of a makeover. It was very clear to Ms. Forman that the Red Cross needed to be saved so it could continue its humanitarian mission for generations to come. Six key initiatives were identified: achieving financial stability, increasing donations, improving Blood Services quality, revitalizing the Red Cross brand, modernizing our IT systems and promoting teamwork -- a part of what we call One Red Cross.Five years later, excellent progress has been made on all six initiatives. The Red Cross has been transformed into a financially stable, leaner and more efficient organization, better prepared for the future. Employees and volunteers have embraced change, created a culture of cost-consciousness and achieved extraordinary successes through the power of teamwork.This report tells you the story of the turnaround and transformation; what has been achieved, what is happening now, and the plans for the future. It is a story that involves dedicated volunteers, donors and supporters -- the true heroes behind the Red Cross mission

Modeling the fiscal impacts caused by climate change

Aim of the paper: The purpose is to gather the practices and to model the impacts of climate change on fiscal spending and revenues, responsibilities and opportunities, balance and debt related to climate change (CC). Methodology of the paper: The methodology will distinguish fiscal cost of mitigation and adaptation, besides direct and indirect costs. It will also introduce cost benefit analyses to evaluate the propensity of policy makers for action or passivity. Several scenarios will be drafted to see the different outcomes. The scenarios shall contain the possible losses in the natural and artificial environment and resources. Impacts on public budget are based on damage of income opportunities and capital/wealth/natural assets. There will be a list of actions when the fiscal correction of market failures will be necessary. Findings: There will be a summary and synthesis of estimation models on CC impacts on public finances, and morals of existing/existed budgeting practices on mitigation. The model will be based on damages (and maybe benefits) from CC, adjusted with probabilities of scenarios and policy making propensity for action. Findings will cover the way of funding of fiscal costs. Practical use, value added: From the synthesis of model, the fiscal cost of mitigation and adaptation can be estimated for any developed, emerging and developing countries. The paper will try to reply, also, for the challenge how to harmonize fiscal and developmental sustainability

Challenge Patient Dispatching in Mass Casualty Incidents

Efficient management of mass casualty incidents is complex, since regular emergency medical services struc-tures have to be switched to a temporary “disaster mode” involving additional operational and tactical struc-tures. Most of the relevant decisions have to be taken on-site in a provisional and chaotic environment. Data gathering about affected persons is one side of the coin; the other side is on-site patient dispatching requiring information exchange with the regular emergency call center and destination hospitals. In this paper we extend a previous conference contribution about the research project e-Triage to the aspect of patient data and on-site patient dispatching. Our considerations reflect the situation in Germany, which deserves from our point of view substantial harmonization

Productive Safety Net Programme and Children’s Time Use between Work and Schooling in Ethiopia

Government, non-government and donor organisations have developed a social assistance programme known as the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) which has two subprogrammes, namely the Public Work Programme (PWP) and Direct Support Programme (DSP). PSNP is designed to reduce the vulnerability of poor people to drought. It targets households in most cases without considering ex ante the issue of intra-household resource distribution. This paper assesses, using Young Lives survey data, the impacts of PSNP and Agricultural Extension Programme (AEP) on time use between work and schooling, as well as the highest grade completed by 12-year-old children in rural and urban Ethiopia. Empirically the study used propensity score matching techniques to estimate the impact of PSNP and AEP on child welfare measured by time use in various types of work, schooling and studying. We found that PWP in rural areas increases child work for pay; reduces children’s time spent on child care, household chores and total hours spent on all kind of work combined; and increases girls spending on studying. The DSP in rural and urban areas reduces time children spent on paid and unpaid work, and increases the highest grade completed by boys in urban areas. On the other hand, AEP in rural areas was effective in reducing child work for pay and total work, increasing time girls spent on schooling and the highest grade completed by girls