Thomas Pollak - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Thomas Pollak
The desire of individual donors and institutional funders to know how their money is spent, along... more The desire of individual donors and institutional funders to know how their money is spent, along with the increasing availability of financial information on nonprofit organizations, has increased the use and abuse of financial measures of nonprofit efficiency. We focus on two measures: the proportion of budget spent on non-program expenses and the ratio of fundraising expenses to contributions. We hypothesize variations in these measures by organizational size, age, and subsector, and we test these hypotheses with data reported by the organizations to the Internal Revenue Service. We conclude that the ratio measures vary by organizational characteristics, a factor both widely cited by watchdog groups and overlooked by agents that attempt to apply the measures to nonprofit organizations without regard for systematic variation.
This paper is a supplement to Grønbjerg, Liu and Pollak (forthcoming) and details findings summar... more This paper is a supplement to Grønbjerg, Liu and Pollak (forthcoming) and details findings summarized in that paper on the overlap and disjunction between two major listings of nonprofit organizations: the Internal Revenue Service national listing of tax-exempt entities (also known as the IRS Business Master File) for a particular jurisdiction and organizations incorporated as nonprofits in that same jurisdiction. Building on previous analyses, we hypothesize that nonprofits that are more likely to be in contact with the general public, have special coordinating responsibilities, are larger, and are older will be more likely to have secured both types of legal status and that their rates of obtaining dual status will increase more over time than their counterparts. Using Indiana as a case study, we use an updated comprehensive database of Indiana nonprofits from 2005 to test these hypotheses by examining the types of nonprofits that are included in both of the two legal status listi...
A substantial number of nonprofit organisations in the USA report inflows of charitable contribut... more A substantial number of nonprofit organisations in the USA report inflows of charitable contributions or grants without expenditures allocated to fundraising costs. This observation raises questions about how fundraising is carried out. Based on a survey of US charities, the paper observes that nonprofit organisations use a range of internal capacities and external relationships to conduct their fundraising. The use of staff members dedicated to fundraising is common, but much fundraising is still carried out by executive directors, volunteers and board members. Also, a substantial number of organisations engage external entities, including federated campaigns, support organisations and professional fundraising firms to generate contributions.
The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 2000
Given the diversity of higher education institutions in the United States, it is likely that the ... more Given the diversity of higher education institutions in the United States, it is likely that the number and type of fine arts programs3 and the amount of community participation vary among universities. However, systematic study of the nature and variation of programs and participation can be difficult since these activities are embedded within institutions. That is, rather than operating as independent organizations, university-based arts programs function as part of their larger institutions. In the current study we develop and test a framework that ...
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2010
We extend our deep appreciation to the nonprofits that participated in our survey. We thank also ... more We extend our deep appreciation to the nonprofits that participated in our survey. We thank also the Efroymson Fund at the Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of the Central Indiana Community Foundation for supporting this work. We are grateful for the very helpful comments on earlier segments and drafts of this paper from attendees at ). We are especially grateful to Ginger Elliott-Teague for her work on the 2005 Indiana nonprofit data base, Kellie McGiverin-Bohan for conducting a share of the interviews and commenting on earlier drafts of the paper, Mark Hager for suggesting as the basis for our discussion, and three anonymous reviewers for their careful and very helpful comments. All remaining weaknesses reflect our shortcomings entirely.
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2003
The American Review of Public Administration, 2011
... Contributions? Janelle A. Kerlin1 and Tom H. Pollak2 ... Corresponding Author: Janelle A. Ker... more ... Contributions? Janelle A. Kerlin1 and Tom H. Pollak2 ... Corresponding Author: Janelle A. Kerlin, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies, Georgia State University, PO Box 3992, Atlanta, GA 30302 Email: jkerlin@gsu.edu Page 2. ...
The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of ... more The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. ... Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF). ... Many nonprofit organizations have problems accurately tracking and reporting their overhead expenditures in financial statements. Is your organization one of them? ... This guide is based on information collected by the Nonprofit Overhead ...
The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of ... more The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. ... Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF). ... Nonprofit managers and their donors rely on functional expense reporting for both management and giving decisions. However, many nonprofit organizations misreport these expenses. ... This guide is based on information collected by the ...
Foundation News & Commentary, May 1, 2005
man balancing on tightrope, reaching for dollar Read Now (a pseudonym) is a nonprofit organizatio... more man balancing on tightrope, reaching for dollar Read Now (a pseudonym) is a nonprofit organization working hard to teach adults to read and write English. Many of the people it serves are immigrants who have never read or written any language, and for whom spoken English is new. Other clients were born in the United States, but never developed adequate reading skills. For those who achieve literacy, doors open to better jobs, participation in civic life and improved potential for their children. Read Now is typical of many small nonprofits ...
annual conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Miami, FL, 2001
The desire of individual donors and institutional funders to know how their money is spent, along... more The desire of individual donors and institutional funders to know how their money is spent, along with the increasing availability of financial information on nonprofit organizations, has increased the use and abuse of financial measures of nonprofit efficiency. We focus on two measures: the proportion of budget spent on non-program expenses and the ratio of fundraising expenses to contributions. We hypothesize variations in these measures by organizational size, age, and subsector, and we test these hypotheses with data reported ...
The desire of individual donors and institutional funders to know how their money is spent, along... more The desire of individual donors and institutional funders to know how their money is spent, along with the increasing availability of financial information on nonprofit organizations, has increased the use and abuse of financial measures of nonprofit efficiency. We focus on two measures: the proportion of budget spent on non-program expenses and the ratio of fundraising expenses to contributions. We hypothesize variations in these measures by organizational size, age, and subsector, and we test these hypotheses with data reported by the organizations to the Internal Revenue Service. We conclude that the ratio measures vary by organizational characteristics, a factor both widely cited by watchdog groups and overlooked by agents that attempt to apply the measures to nonprofit organizations without regard for systematic variation.
This paper is a supplement to Grønbjerg, Liu and Pollak (forthcoming) and details findings summar... more This paper is a supplement to Grønbjerg, Liu and Pollak (forthcoming) and details findings summarized in that paper on the overlap and disjunction between two major listings of nonprofit organizations: the Internal Revenue Service national listing of tax-exempt entities (also known as the IRS Business Master File) for a particular jurisdiction and organizations incorporated as nonprofits in that same jurisdiction. Building on previous analyses, we hypothesize that nonprofits that are more likely to be in contact with the general public, have special coordinating responsibilities, are larger, and are older will be more likely to have secured both types of legal status and that their rates of obtaining dual status will increase more over time than their counterparts. Using Indiana as a case study, we use an updated comprehensive database of Indiana nonprofits from 2005 to test these hypotheses by examining the types of nonprofits that are included in both of the two legal status listi...
A substantial number of nonprofit organisations in the USA report inflows of charitable contribut... more A substantial number of nonprofit organisations in the USA report inflows of charitable contributions or grants without expenditures allocated to fundraising costs. This observation raises questions about how fundraising is carried out. Based on a survey of US charities, the paper observes that nonprofit organisations use a range of internal capacities and external relationships to conduct their fundraising. The use of staff members dedicated to fundraising is common, but much fundraising is still carried out by executive directors, volunteers and board members. Also, a substantial number of organisations engage external entities, including federated campaigns, support organisations and professional fundraising firms to generate contributions.
The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 2000
Given the diversity of higher education institutions in the United States, it is likely that the ... more Given the diversity of higher education institutions in the United States, it is likely that the number and type of fine arts programs3 and the amount of community participation vary among universities. However, systematic study of the nature and variation of programs and participation can be difficult since these activities are embedded within institutions. That is, rather than operating as independent organizations, university-based arts programs function as part of their larger institutions. In the current study we develop and test a framework that ...
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2010
We extend our deep appreciation to the nonprofits that participated in our survey. We thank also ... more We extend our deep appreciation to the nonprofits that participated in our survey. We thank also the Efroymson Fund at the Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of the Central Indiana Community Foundation for supporting this work. We are grateful for the very helpful comments on earlier segments and drafts of this paper from attendees at ). We are especially grateful to Ginger Elliott-Teague for her work on the 2005 Indiana nonprofit data base, Kellie McGiverin-Bohan for conducting a share of the interviews and commenting on earlier drafts of the paper, Mark Hager for suggesting as the basis for our discussion, and three anonymous reviewers for their careful and very helpful comments. All remaining weaknesses reflect our shortcomings entirely.
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2003
The American Review of Public Administration, 2011
... Contributions? Janelle A. Kerlin1 and Tom H. Pollak2 ... Corresponding Author: Janelle A. Ker... more ... Contributions? Janelle A. Kerlin1 and Tom H. Pollak2 ... Corresponding Author: Janelle A. Kerlin, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies, Georgia State University, PO Box 3992, Atlanta, GA 30302 Email: jkerlin@gsu.edu Page 2. ...
The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of ... more The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. ... Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF). ... Many nonprofit organizations have problems accurately tracking and reporting their overhead expenditures in financial statements. Is your organization one of them? ... This guide is based on information collected by the Nonprofit Overhead ...
The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of ... more The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. ... Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF). ... Nonprofit managers and their donors rely on functional expense reporting for both management and giving decisions. However, many nonprofit organizations misreport these expenses. ... This guide is based on information collected by the ...
Foundation News & Commentary, May 1, 2005
man balancing on tightrope, reaching for dollar Read Now (a pseudonym) is a nonprofit organizatio... more man balancing on tightrope, reaching for dollar Read Now (a pseudonym) is a nonprofit organization working hard to teach adults to read and write English. Many of the people it serves are immigrants who have never read or written any language, and for whom spoken English is new. Other clients were born in the United States, but never developed adequate reading skills. For those who achieve literacy, doors open to better jobs, participation in civic life and improved potential for their children. Read Now is typical of many small nonprofits ...
annual conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Miami, FL, 2001
The desire of individual donors and institutional funders to know how their money is spent, along... more The desire of individual donors and institutional funders to know how their money is spent, along with the increasing availability of financial information on nonprofit organizations, has increased the use and abuse of financial measures of nonprofit efficiency. We focus on two measures: the proportion of budget spent on non-program expenses and the ratio of fundraising expenses to contributions. We hypothesize variations in these measures by organizational size, age, and subsector, and we test these hypotheses with data reported ...