Key Projects, Awards, and Grants

Our commitment to advancing leaders in the public interest at the Evans School goes beyond the work of our research and outreach centers. Our faculty is among the top in the public policy and management fields when it comes to cutting-edge research and outreach. We make this work available to the public through key projects such as:

Public Service Clinics match the research interests of Evans School students with needed projects among regional public and non-profit agencies for producing things such as program evaluations, strategic plans, policy analyses, and new program designs.

Civic Engagement for the 21st Century aims to create a model of civic engagement that emphasizes shared ownership and success for efforts around complex policy issues at the local and national levels. Former Seattle Mayor Norman B. Rice, one of our distinguished practitioners-in-residence, leads the project.

Community Vitality Project works to understand what policies are most effective to reduce poverty and enhance vitality in communities that vary by urban-rural location, in terms of racial and ethnic diversity, and with regard potential economic linkages with surrounding areas.

Urban Institute’s Arts and Culture Indicators in Communities Project provides a model for measuring the value of art in society and the changing landscape of support for artists in a first-of-its-kind statistical portrait of cultural vitality. Assistant Professor Joaquín Herranz, Jr. contributed to this project as a consulting research associate at the Urban Institute.

Evans School Working Papers Series provides access to our faculty members' pre-published research papers.

The Electronic Hallway serves as a reservoir of case studies for those who teach public policy and administration.

Nonprofit Accountability Clubs examines how voluntary programs seek to mitigate agency conflict and resolve agency dilemmas in nonprofits.

Find out more about the faculty and staff at the Evans School who makes these projects possible.

Community Vitality Project

Understanding Levers to Reduce Poverty for Individuals and Communities

What are key ways to reduce poverty in communities? With funding from the Northwest Area Foundation, researchers from the Evans School are working to understand what policies are most effective in communities that vary by urban-rural location, in terms of racial and ethnic diversity, and with regard potential economic linkages with surrounding areas.

The five-year, $1.5 million Community Vitality Project will produce research papers that analyze the levers that both reduce poverty and enhance community vitality, with the goal of making recommendations for effective policies within the 8 states that the Northwest Area Foundation serves: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.

Nonprofit Accountability Clubs

Nonprofit Accountability Clubs Workshop:
Voluntary Regulation of Nongovernmental and Nonprofit Organizations

This one-day workshop brings senior nonprofit scholars to the University of Washington to present work on the emergence of nonprofit voluntary accountability clubs around the globe.

When: April 25, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Where: Allen Library Peterson Room
RSVP: gugerty@u.washington.edu or 206.221.4599

Workshop Packet (484 KB PDF)

Workshop Schedule

Coffee and Light Breakfast: 8:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Introduction: 9:00 - 9:15 a.m.
Welcome and Overview of the Clubs Framework and the Project
Draft Conceptual Framework Paper (377 KB PDF)
Mary Kay Gugerty and Aseem Prakash

Session 1 - Club History and Benefits: 9:15 - 10:30 a.m. (via teleconference)
Benefits of Accreditation for Fundraising Nonprofits in the Netherlands (259 KB PDF)
René Bekkers, Utrecht University and Vrije Universitei Amsterdam, Netherlands

A History of Nonprofit Clubs in the United States (291 KB PDF)
Woods Bowman, DePaul University

Break: 10:30 - 10:45 a.m.

Session 2 - Club Emergence and Structure: 10:45 - 12:15 a.m.
The Emergence of Collective Accountability Standards in the Humanitarian Sector (390 KB PDF) by Maryam Zarnegar Deloffre, George Washington University
Discussant: Christi Siver, Department of Political Science, University of Washington

What Determines the Emergence and Structure of Clubs Among State Nonprofit Associations? (250 KB PDF) by Mary Tschirhart, Maxwell School of Syracuse University
Discussant: Steve Page, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington

Lunch at Shalimar Restaurant: 12:15 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Session 3 - Club Sponsorship and Structure: 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Nonprofit Umbrella Associations as Reluctant Clubs (232 KB PDF) by Dennis R. Young, Georgia State University
Discussant: Christopher Heurlin, Department of Political Science, University of Washington

The Impact of Sponsorship on Club Design (286 KB PDF) by Angela Bies, Texas A&M University
Discussant: Stephan Hamburg, Department of Political Science, University of Washington

The Emergence of Nonprofit Clubs in Developing Countries (71 KB PDF) by Mary Kay Gugerty, Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington
Discussant: Sara Curran, Jackson School of International Affairs, University of Washington

Break: 3:30 - 3:45 p.m.

Session 4 - Club Structure and Effectiveness: 3:45 - 5:00 p.m.
Does Self-Regulation Work? Some Evidence from Europe (63 KB PDF)
Andreas Ortmann of Charles University Economics Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Can Self-Regulatory Club Goods Serve Mission Accountability? (299 KB PDF) by Dana Brakman Reiser, Brooklyn Law School
Discussant: Andrea Lairson, University of Washington School of Law

Reception and Dinner, University of Washington Club: 6:30 p.m.

*This workshop is sponsored by the Evans School of Public Affairs and the Marc Lindenberg Center of Humanitarian Action, International Developtment, and Global Citizenship.