Foundations in the Washington, DC Region: The Puzzle of a Modest-size Foundation Sector in a Wealthy Area

This paper offers a portrait of the Washington, D.C. foundation sector, addressing its relatively modest size and activity. Looks at factors that shape activity, and includes recommendations for the future. Includes data on giving, assets, and the region's nonprofit sector as a whole. With bibliographical references

The Nonprofit Technology Gap - Myth or Reality?

Presents findings of a technology survey of roughly 1,100 nonprofit organizations in four key fields (children and family services, elderly housing and services, community and economic development, and the arts) in 2009. Includes numerous charts and tables

The State and Future of the National Social Sector Infrastructure

This report examines the state of the national social sector infrastructure—which we define as the support system that helps the social sector thrive—and discusses how to strengthen it. We explore the challenges and opportunities of growth in the social sector infrastructure, inequities and disparities in the social sector and its infrastructure, and the importance of well-being. Within these themes, we offer suggestions for the future. We hope our findings will help social sector infrastructure providers, funders, and users understand the current state of the national social sector infrastructure and gain insight into how they can help strengthen it

Social Sector Infrastructure

This infographic visually represents our broad definitions of the social sector and its infrastructure. These definitions reflect their diversity, scope, and impact. We hope our definition and framework will inspire future research, as well as inform the way we think about, talk about, and support the social sector and its infrastructure. To learn how we developed these definitions, please read our report, The Social Sector Infrastructure: Defining and Understanding the Concept. To explore our definitions further, please visit our feature, Exploring the Social Sector Infrastructure

The Social Sector Infrastructure: Defining and Understanding the Concept

This report seeks to deepen understanding of the social sector infrastructure, which we define as the support system that helps the social sector thrive. In this report, we detail how we developed broad definitions that capture the full breadth of both the social sector and its infrastructure to reflect their diversity, scope, and impact. We hope our definition and framework will inspire future research, as well as inform the way we think about, talk about, and support the social sector and its infrastructure

An Overview of the Financing of National Social Sector Infrastructure Providers

In this report, we provide an overview of the financing of national social sector infrastructure providers incorporated as nonprofits by exploring their overall size, revenue structures, and financial health from 2014 to 2019, which constitutes the most recent six-year data released by the Internal Revenue Service. We also make initial observations about the gifts that MacKenzie Scott made to national social sector infrastructure providers in 2021. We hope our findings will help social sector infrastructure funders, providers, and users learn more about infrastructure financing and the steps they can take to strengthen infrastructure providers' financial health

Demonstrating Diversity in Star Formation Histories with the CSI Survey

We present coarse but robust star formation histories (SFHs) derived from spectro-photometric data of the Carnegie-Spitzer-IMACS Survey, for 22,494 galaxies at 0.3<z<0.9 with stellar masses of 10^9 Msun to 10^12 Msun. Our study moves beyond "average" SFHs and distribution functions of specific star formation rates (sSFRs) to individually measured SFHs for tens of thousands of galaxies. By comparing star formation rates (SFRs) with timescales of 10^10, 10^9, and 10^8 years, we find a wide diversity of SFHs: 'old galaxies' that formed most or all of their stars early; galaxies that formed stars with declining or constant SFRs over a Hubble time, and genuinely 'young galaxies' that formed most of their stars since z=1. This sequence is one of decreasing stellar mass, but, remarkably, each type is found over a mass range of a factor of 10. Conversely, galaxies at any given mass follow a wide range of SFHs, leading us to conclude that: (1) halo mass does not uniquely determine SFHs; (2) there is no 'typical' evolutionary track; and (3) "abundance matching" has limitations as a tool for inferring physics. Our observations imply that SFHs are set at an early epoch, and that--for most galaxies--the decline and cessation of star formation occurs over a Hubble-time, without distinct "quenching" events. SFH diversity is inconsistent with models where galaxy mass, at any given epoch, grows simply along relations between SFR and stellar mass, but is consistent with a 2-parameter lognormal form, lending credence to this model from a new and independent perspective.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures; accepted by ApJ; version 2 - no substantive changes; clarifications and correction

Evaluation Research and Institutional Pressures: Challenges in Public-Nonprofit Contracting

This article examines the connection between program evaluation research and decision-making by public managers. Drawing on neo-institutional theory, a framework is presented for diagnosing the pressures and conditions that lead alternatively toward or away the rational use of evaluation research. Three cases of public-nonprofit contracting for the delivery of major programs are presented to clarify the way coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures interfere with a sound connection being made between research and implementation. The article concludes by considering how public managers can respond to the isomorphic pressures in their environment that make it hard to act on data relating to program performance.This publication is Hauser Center Working Paper No. 23. 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

Development and Reporting of Prediction Models: Guidance for Authors From Editors of Respiratory, Sleep, and Critical Care Journals

Prediction models aim to use available data to predict a health state or outcome that has not yet been observed. Prediction is primarily relevant to clinical practice, but is also used in research, and administration. While prediction modeling involves estimating the relationship between patient factors and outcomes, it is distinct from casual inference. Prediction modeling thus requires unique considerations for development, validation, and updating. This document represents an effort from editors at 31 respiratory, sleep, and critical care medicine journals to consolidate contemporary best practices and recommendations related to prediction study design, conduct, and reporting. Herein, we address issues commonly encountered in submissions to our various journals. Key topics include considerations for selecting predictor variables, operationalizing variables, dealing with missing data, the importance of appropriate validation, model performance measures and their interpretation, and good reporting practices. Supplemental discussion covers emerging topics such as model fairness, competing risks, pitfalls of “modifiable risk factors”, measurement error, and risk for bias. This guidance is not meant to be overly prescriptive; we acknowledge that every study is different, and no set of rules will fit all cases. Additional best practices can be found in the Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis Or Diagnosis (TRIPOD) guidelines, to which we refer readers for further details