ARNOVA Receives New Grant from the Gates Foundation

To Frame New Research on Nonprofits and Public Policy

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action [ARNOVA] has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a new initiative designed to encourage new research focused on how public policy affects the work of nonprofit organizations in the U.S.   The heart of this project will be a “Symposium on Public Policy and Nonprofits,” to be held this fall.  This will be a working meeting with leading experts in the field from nonprofits, government, think-tanks and universities. 

The Symposium will be followed by other activities designed to engage key players in the nonprofit community in a collaborative effort to improve knowledge about, and the formation of, public policy relating to nonprofits in the U.S.  An immediate goal for this work to support development of the research needed to understand, identify and advocate for better policies.

Those key players include policy-makers and practice leaders as well as academic researchers whose work or service centers on nonprofit organizations and their work.  The ultimate goal here is to support nonprofit charitable organizations and associations in becoming more effective in serving their communities and the public good. 

The findings, insights and recommendations of the Symposium will be published in a Working Paper and Report on “Critical Public Policy Issues for the Nonprofit Sector” next winter.

The project is being supported and advised by a Steering Committee that includes Dr. Leslie Lenkowsky of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University;  Dr. Elizabeth Boris, Director of the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy at the Urban Institute; and Tim Delaney, President of the National Council of Nonprofits.