Nonprofit Coordination and Capacity-Building Research: Some Examples from the State of Louisiana

This post is inspired by a dialog with Lamar White, Jr., who works as an assistant to Mayor Roy. With a new administration comes new ideas and the chance to innovate in the face of institutional inertia.

Nonprofit organizations are a vital part of a community's ability to provide services to the marginalized, and nonprofits often work independently of the government and compete with each other for limited resources. Because of this, any opportunity to eliminate redundancy in services should be readily welcomed. On the other hand, government must tread the fine line between advising and interfering, as nonprofit organizations have the desire--and the right--to make their own operational decisions.

In the following I hope to present examples of efforts to increase efficiency in the nonprofit sector, and suggest that these efforts stand on two important legs: coordination and research. These legs correspond to the reasons for merging the Center for Nonprofit Resources and the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center into the Greater New Orleans Nonprofit Knowledge Works in 1992:

1. Local initiatives focused on building the capacity of the nonprofit sector are uncoordinated and inconsistent in their messages, often working at odds with one another.
2. Much of the key information needed for planning either does not exist or is not readily accessible.

I couldn't have said it better myself. This organization is an excellent example when it comes to the innovative capacity-building research necessary to achieve nonprofit coordination in Alexandria. The GNO Nonprofit Knowledge Works

strives to enhance the management capacity of the local nonprofit sector to provide information-driven, systemic and effective solutions to community problems. We believe that evidence (data, published research, and community perspective) is an essential foundation for the development of effective social programs. And our unique emphasis on systems is based on our theory that no matter how well agencies operate independently, real community change will depend on nonprofits working together in systems that are oriented to meeting clients’ multidimensional needs. [emphasis mine]

[Although Hentschel (1999)* claims that data can be either quantitative or qualitative and that methods are actually more or less contextual, the common wisdom in America is that "data" refers to hard statistics derived from quantitative methods. Because of sampling techniques, this kind of data is usually very general and is good for identifying trends. "Community perspective" here would include qualitative information, teased from interviews and case studies. It yields highly contextualized results and is useful for determining the cause and effect relationships. "Published research," of course, can be either quantitative or qualitative.

Moreover, qualitative evaluative techniques have only recently come into the mainstream for assessing and monitoring the results of nonprofit programs and government policy. Traditionally, the "hard" statistics of quantitative empiricism, which emphasize reaching benchmarks and goals established before the onset of the project, have dominated evaluation. This approach to management and monitoring has been criticized for being inflexible. Qualitative and participatory evaluation methods often build in mechanisms for the ongoing assessment of projects, taking not only top-down management priorities into account, but also considering the demands and adaptations of the beneficiaries and stakeholders of a project. This empowering epistemological shift has obvious political implications, and our government does not exist in a vacuum of good policy research bereft of political motivation.]

The GNO NKW describe the purpose of one current project, a Community-Based Service Network, as the development of "a local model for the use of wraparound funds to increase coordination of care among local agencies." Wraparound funds usually do not come from typical funding streams, and therefore can be used more flexibly. Another project, the maintenance and dissemination program called Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, is a staggering resource with important lessons on the way community data and advice can be made available for the entire public (honestly, if you skip every other link in this post, at least look at this one).

Another example of the use of analytical information to inform public and nonprofit policy comes from the Urban Institute. They have compiled a research bibliography of studies related to Hurricane Katrina that is broken into six components:

(1) housing;
(2) children and families;
(3) arts and culture;
(4) disaster preparedness;
(5) community health; and
(6) poverty reduction and asset development.

This research has been compiled to be a tool of policy-makers and community organizations struggling to understand the problems (and their potential solutions) wrought by the failure of the levee system of New Orleans. It is, of course, only useful if it is used.

The group that may be most vital to streamlining our state's nonprofit sector is LANO, the Louisiana Association of Nonprofits. Their website advertises

• an expansive slate of trainings covering a wide range of nonprofit topics

• one-on-one technical assistance to help you confront the challenges you face in the nonprofit world

• member discounts that significantly lower the cost of operating a nonprofit and let you spend more money achieving your mission

• representation of the nonprofit sector to the Legislature, Governor's Office, and other local, state, and nation government agencies

• leadership for the nonprofits world, bringing national best-practices and innovative strategies to Louisiana.

LANO, in addition to the Greater New Orleans Nonprofit Knowledge Works, gives advice for starting one's own nonprofit organization. Their website also has a number of extremely useful features, including employment listings (I wish I would have seen this when I was preparing to get my B.A.), a member directory, and (wait for it) a central calendar of events and training. Perhaps the most notable is its section on capacity-building, which is highlighted by an eightfold certification program for ethics and accountability to improve the operation of nonprofits, called Louisiana Standards (also a must-read).

"Why haven't I heard of LANO before now?" you may ask. A possible reason is suggested by the graphic at left. LANO has five major operating centers, the closest of which to Alexandria is Lafayette, though we are grouped with the Northern Louisiana region out of Shreveport. At first glance, this may seem like regional discrimination, but let's consider a few numbers. As mentioned on CenLamar, Alexandria has about eighty nonprofits. According to an Urban Institute report, in 2003 almost half of nonprofit expenditures came out of New Orleans, when the state of Louisiana boasted around 3200 nonprofits. At that time, New Orleans was "home to nearly 900 charities spending $4.3 billion and holding $6.3 billion in assets."

It's no surprise that Alexandria is not home to one of LANO's centers. In light of this fact, and LANO's extensive resources and training opportunities, more Alexandria nonprofits should be encouraged to get involved with the greater nonprofit sector of Louisiana. When browsing the member directory, one finds that the Alexandria members include:

AfterCare Ministries
The Arts Council of Central Louisiana
Cenla Advantage Partnership (CAP)
Cenla Area Agency on Aging, Inc.
Cenla Medication Access Program (CMAP)
Central Louisiana Aids Support Services, Inc.
Central Louisiana Community Foundation
Central Louisiana Partners in Literacy
Community Development Works
Community Healthworx
Family Counseling Agency
Friendship House Adult Day Services Inc.
Hope House Inc.
Inner City Revitalization Corp.
Kent Plantation House Inc.
Louisiana Youth Prevention Services
Pediatric Therapy Center Inc.
Rapides Children Advocacy Center Inc.
Renaissance Home For Youth
Sickle Cell Anemia Research Foundation, Inc.
The Extra Mile Region VI (Pineville)
The Orchard Foundation
The Rapides Exploratory Education House, Inc.
The Rapides Foundation
The Shepherd Center
United Way of Central Louisiana Inc
Volunteers of America of Central Louisiana
YMCA of Central Louisiana
YWCA of Central Louisiana

That's twenty-eight by my count, excluding the Extra Mile because it's in Pineville. Some of these memberships may be defunct or expired.

LANO was founded in the late nineties by the Council for A Better Louisiana.

CABL is an excellent public interest research organization. They frequently conduct surveys on voter opinions (such as this one on statewide support for Health Care Reform), and they publish a popular resource called the Louisiana Fact Book for the 2007 Election Year: How Do We Measure Up... How Far Do We Have to Go?


I have only begun to understand the impact of operationalized research on the coordination of nonprofit organizations. I have learned that responsibly applying appropriate research methodologies--be they quantitative or qualitative--is essential to determining the efficacy of a particular project. Moreover, a combination of these methods can be used to uncover ways for the entire sector to improve. To name a couple of quick examples, quantitative statistics can be applied to government data to find patterns in target groups and funding streams, and qualitative research practices can be used to measure the opinions of those in nonprofit management towards government policies.

Let's return to my favorite example, the Greater New Orleans Nonprofit Knowledge Works. They explain the four areas in which they operate, which correspond strikingly to the needs of the nonprofit sector in the City of Alexandria:

1) collaborating with local funders to help them use evidence to strategically invest in the community;
2) working with collaboratives of agencies to design evidence-based, systemic approaches to addressing community problems and then with their member agencies to help them participate in the redesigned system;
3) providing individual agencies with on-demand information and advice to address their technical assistance needs; and
4) creating and maintaining centralized information systems and infrastructure for the local nonprofit sector.

The Knowledge Works is at the cutting-edge of innovation in this field, claiming, "Our systems redesign consulting and our information products require a good deal of innovation because we are working in young disciplines without much codified knowledge." It's true: determining the best research style, method of variable operationalization, and data analysis is no easy task (indeed, this is the field that I hope to study in graduate school; read my original musings on this subject here). In fact, among other things, the organization provides workshops for "evidence-based program planning and grantwriting." But what if a small organization lacks the resources to contract or train a researcher with such technical qualifications?

Consider the following study, conducted by researchers from Loyola a few years ago: Online Communication in Nonprofit Organizations. Following a basic research design, this study investigates the difference between email responses from nonprofits when donating directly to an organization's website or when donating through an intermediate website (to ensure legitimacy). The analysis of this study was accomplished by using descriptive statistics no more complicated than high school algebra.

Remember, making lasting and beneficial change in a community is a long process that requires the transparent participation of a number of actors, including policy-makers, community leaders, and researchers. In my opinion, this change must involve both top-down (government) and bottom-up (grassroots) feedback. Empowering beneficiaries to become active participants gives them a greater stake in their democracy, and ensures the longevity of whatever endeavor will be undertaken.


*Hentschel, J. (1999) Contextuality and data collection methods: a framework and application to health service utilisation, Journal of Development Studies, 35, 64-94.