Understanding the Agency-Foundation Relationship: The Role of Nonprofit Foundations in Delivering Local Park and Recreation Services

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Andrew Pitas ◽  
Samantha Powers ◽  
Andrew Justin Mowen
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Public Park ◽  
Parks And Recreation ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Recreation Service ◽  
Park And Recreation Agencies ◽  
Park And Recreation ◽  
Potential Strategy ◽  
Equitable Outcomes

Inadequate funding is a common and longstanding concern for local public park and recreation agencies. Traditionally, these services are funded predominantly through tax-based allocations, supplemented by other streams such as earned revenue, dedicated levies, and sponsorship agreements. Cost-cutting measures such as outsourcing, overall staffing reductions, and an increasing reliance on a parttime workforce have also become increasingly common in the context of local park and recreation service delivery. Partnership with nonprofit organizations represents another potential strategy to adequately fund local park and recreation services.Partnerships between local park and recreation agencies and nonprofit park and recreation foundations have a long history, and help support local park and recreation agencies in a variety of capacities. Their importance may also be growing as a function of the decline in tax-based support and earned revenue due to both the Great Recession and the global COVID-19 pandemic. Such partnerships are not unique to local parks and recreation however, and are common—and widely studied—at the national and transnational level. Despite their importance to local park and recreation service delivery, and the established body of knowledge examining these partnerships at the national and transnational level, the local agency-foundation relationship remains understudied. In this manuscript we begin to address this gap by providing a clearer picture of the agency-foundation relationship, and identifying strategies for how local park and recreation agencies can most effectively leverage these partnerships. To do so, we employ a qualitative research method, interviewing leaders from both local public park and recreation agencies and nonprofit park foundations. Results illustrate a variety of motivations for initiating an agency-foundation relationship (funding/capacity, deteriorating conditions, and equity), as well as a number of distinct benefits of such a partnership (increased operational capacity, advocacy and outreach, expertise, and non-governmental status). Respondents also identified various characteristics of a successful agency-foundation relationship (effective communication, clear roles and responsibilities, strong connections, and flexibility/responsiveness), and challenges to success (competition for scarce resources, and equity). Based on these results, we propose several strategies to help local park and recreation agencies maximize these partnerships (communicate frequently and with purpose, build relationships, formalize ties, and strive for equitable outcomes).

Examining the Agency-Foundation Relationship in Local Park and Recreation Services

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Pitas ◽  
Samantha Powers ◽  
Andrew Mowen
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
Recreation Service ◽  
Park And Recreation ◽  
Community Based Services ◽  
Practical Implications

Local park and recreation agencies supply a variety of community-based services, often at little or no direct cost to users. To supplement tax-based allocations, many agencies rely on partnerships with park foundations, nonprofit organizations that directly support park and recreation service delivery. Despite their prevalence and importance, there is a lack of empirical evidence about the agency-foundation (AF) relationship; this project begins to address this need, and seeks to inform the efforts of professionals navigating these partnerships. Results from a survey of National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) member agencies (n = 235) illustrated that these partnerships are generally viewed as close, effective, and strong, and of particular value relevant to “big picture” agency activities such as fundraising and community engagement. A comparison of communities indicates that the AF relationship is more common in larger communities, and among larger and more complex agencies. Practical implications for practitioners and potential directions for future research are discussed.

Social Context of Performance Appraisals in Public Parks and Recreation: A Statewide Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mulvaney ◽  
Mike Kianicka
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Employee Participation ◽  
Performance Appraisals ◽  
Public Parks ◽  
Appraisal System ◽  
Public Park ◽  
Parks And Recreation ◽  
Park And Recreation ◽  
Supervisor Trust

Well-designed performance appraisals provide a formal evaluation system to measure employees’ contributions to the agency while motivating staff and enhancing productivity levels. Despite their prominence and popularity, performance appraisal systems are often a contentious activity within public park and recreation agencies. Appraisal literature has indicated that many of these frustrations stem from issues such as (1) criteria that is not job related, (2) unclear or confusing rating levels, and/or (3) poorly designed processes and inconsistent implementation techniques. Recent research has also suggested many of these issues might be linked to the social dimensions surrounding the appraisal system. The purpose of this study was to build upon the previous appraisal research in public parks and recreation by exploring the role of two process proximal social context factors (employee participation and supervisor trust) on the utility of the appraisal system. More specifically, the cumulative effects of employee participation at various stages (job analysis, instrument development, appraisal interview, and training related to the appraisal system) and employees’ perceptions of their supervisor on employees’ reactions to their agency’s appraisal system were examined. Analyses indicated supervisor trust and employee participation significantly contributed to public park and recreation professionals’ satisfaction with their appraisal system, satisfaction with their appraisal interview, and their procedural and distributive justice perceptions with their appraisal system. Study findings and implications for management are discussed.

scholarly journals Multitasking NPOs: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Funding Intentions and Nonprofit Capacities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Stühlinger ◽  
Sophie E. Hersberger-Langloh
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Funding Source ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Lock In ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractNonprofit organizations (NPOs) often find themselves under pressure to invest all of their available income in mission-related activities rather than in capacity building. We investigate one factor that can influence the decision to invest in such capacity-building tasks: funding sources pursued by an organization. Drawing on the benefits theory of nonprofit finance, we take these funding sources as predetermined by an organization’s mission and propose an extension of the theory by linking it to economic multitasking theory, which states that organizations prioritize tasks that offer greater and more measurable rewards. Through regression analyses of survey data from Swiss nonprofits, we analyze the extent to which funding sources sought affect the amount of effort invested in three areas of capacity building: public relations, impact focus, and resource attraction parameters. The results support the predictions of multitasking theory by showing that the effort invested in certain capacity-building tasks is affected considerably by seeking a specific funding source. The effects are stronger for resource attraction-related tasks than for tasks closer to the service delivery of NPOs. The results indicate that an organization’s mission affects not only the available funding sources but also the extent to which an organization invests in its capacities, which can lead to a ‘lock-in’ status for organizations.

Within Source Diversification When the Going Gets Tough: Examining Alterations to Human Service Nonprofit Funding by Levels of Government

2021 ◽  
pp. 45-66
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Government Funding ◽  
Federal State ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Nonprofit Funding ◽  
State And Local ◽  
The Government

Government increasingly relies on nonprofit organizations to deliver public services, especially for human services. As such, human service nonprofits receive a substantial amount of revenue from government agencies via grants and contracts. Yet, times of crises result in greater demand for services, but often with fewer financial resources. As governments and nonprofits are tasked to do more with less, how does diversification within the government funding stream influence government-nonprofit funding relationships? More specifically, we ask: How do the number of different government partners and the type of government funder—federal, state, or local—influence whether nonprofits face alterations to government funding agreements? Drawing upon data from over 2,000 human service nonprofits in the United States, following the Great Recession, we find nonprofit organizations that only received funds from the federal government were less likely to experience funding alterations. This helps to illustrate the economic impact of the recession on state and local governments as well as the nonprofit organizations that partner with them.

Disaster Recovery Service Delivery: Toward a Theory of Simultaneous Government and Voluntary Sector Failures

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin O’Donovan
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Disaster Recovery ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Disaster Relief ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
Recovery Service ◽  
Limited Supply

This article introduces a theory of government and voluntary sector failure in the context of disaster relief and recovery. It theorizes that government and voluntary sectors will fail based on the amount of demand. This implies that the supply of public services is fixed and demand for public services varies to a greater degree than previously considered. This article argues that government, formal nonprofit organizations, and informal voluntary groups will simultaneously fail (or partially fail) to supply public services. Furthermore, limited supply of services and varying levels of demand predict failure to deliver relief and recovery services.

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