Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs Faculty Papers

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://digital.lib.washington.edu/handle/1773/11643

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Resilience amid uncertainty: The on-going impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on nonprofits in Washington State
(2021-12-13) Finchum-Mason, Emily A; Gugerty, Mary Kay; Barnhart, Erica Mills
This report represents the second phase of on-going research to understand how nonprofits in Washington State have responded to the twin public health crises of systemic racism and the COVID-19 pandemic, the types of support that nonprofits have been able access, and the financial and operational outlooks going forward. We find that nonprofits, which constitute a significant portion of the social safety net, took extraordinary measures to remain open and serve their communities amid intersecting health, social, and economic crises. The rapid adaptation often increased costs and put physical and psychological strain on nonprofit staff. Further, while funding deficits were not nearly as large as nonprofits expected in mid-2020 due to an abundance of emergency funding, financial outlooks remain uncertain as emergency funding pools have begun to abate. Institutional funders and policy-makers can help nonprofits weather an uncertain future by providing multi-year, unrestricted funding; funding nonprofit capacity and innovation; adopting trust-based philanthropic practices; and keeping online venues for participation public processes open.
Sharing Power?: The Landscape of Participatory Practices & Grantmaking Among Large U.S. Foundations
(2021-07-26) Husted, Kelly; Finchum-Mason, Emily; Suárez, David
Philanthropic foundations in the United States hold significant power in both defining societal challenges and the manner in which those challenges are addressed. There have been increasing calls for foundations to shift their power to affected communities and to democratize decision-making through greater participation. Whether and how large foundations engage stakeholders in their governance and grantmaking, however, remains an open question. This report explores the landscape of participatory practices and grantmaking among the largest foundations in the United States (by total assets), guided by four key research questions.
Local Impacts of a Global Crisis: How Washington state nonprofits are responding to COVID-19
(2020-10) Finchum-Mason, Emily A.; Husted, Kelly; Mary Kay Gugerty, Mary Kay Gugerty; Barnhart, Erica Mills
The COVID-19 crisis has caused deep and widespread strain across sectors and individuals since taking hold in early 2020. Despite this adversity, nonprofits—especially those comprising the modern social safety net—have continued to serve their communities during this tumultuous time (Kulish, 2020). This report seeks to understand (a) the major challenges facing nonprofits in Washington state as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, (b) the strategies that nonprofits are using to mitigate the effects of the crisis, (c) how nonprofits are experiencing changes in funder relationships as a result of the crisis, (d) the degree to which nonprofits in the state have accessed assistance under the CARES Act, and (e) the most pressing needs nonprofits have as they face the ongoing uncertainty and hardship presented by COVID-19.
One Bad Formula Can Spoil Everything: A Simple Adjustment That Would Improve the UN's Gender Inequality Index
(2019) McDonald, Max; Koblitz, Neal
A simple change in one part of the definition of the United Nations Gender Inequality Index (GII) could go a long way toward making it less problematic and more useful. In the definition of the GII we propose to replace the quantity where m is the maternal mortality rate and t is the teen pregnancy rate, by where C1 and C2 are constants. This alternative formula is a natural one, both because of how it combines with the other factors that go into the GII and because it is similar to the way that the problem of near-zero denomina- tors is handled in other areas of applied mathematics. The precise meaning of t and m and suggested values for C1 and C2 will be given below. We will explain the computation of the GII, discuss the other three indicators that it is based on, and show that the simple change from aF to AF would have useful consequences without altering the conceptual underpinning of the GII.
CARING FOR WASHINGTON’S OLDER ADULTS IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: INTERVIEWS WITH ORGANIZATION LEADERS ABOUT THE STATE OF SOCIAL AND HEALTHCARE SERVICES
(2020-10-09) Berridge, Clara; Parsey, Carolyn M; Ramirez, Maggie; Freitag, Callie; Johnson, Ian; Allard, Scott W
The COVID-19 pandemic presents significant and costly disruptions to social service and health care systems. Eight in ten deaths from the COVID-19 virus in the U.S. have occurred in people age 65 and older (CDC, 2020). In addition to the mortality risk, the pandemic presents grave health and economic risks by disrupting services to older adults that prevent institutionalization, emergency room visits, and other negative health outcomes. This report examines how the pandemic has affected the operation of social service and healthcare organizations that support Washington’s 1.7 million older adults (60+), including 107,000 people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Drawing on surveys and interviews with 45 senior leaders of social services and health care organizations serving older adults throughout Washington State, this report identifies current challenges confronting service delivery and client care, as well as those that will persist to shape future strategy and planning. Several key findings and themes emerge relevant to policy and practice.
Explanations for Persistent Nursing Shortages
(2008) Long, Mark C.; Goldfarb, Marsha G.; Goldfarb, Robert S.
This paper contributes to the economics literature on nursing market shortages by putting forward two new models that suggest three new explanations for perceived nursing shortages. The first model focuses on hospitals hiring both permanent staff nurses and temporary contract nurses. It shows that hiring both classes of nurses can represent optimizing behavior, and that an interesting kind of perceived nursing shortage results from this dual hiring. The second model posits two classes of hospitals, "premier" and "funds-constrained," and generates two distinct kinds of nursing shortages: economic shortages, involving unfilled, budgeted positions, and "noneconomic" professional standards shortages. We believe that the perceived existence of professional standards shortages may be a significant explanation for the widespread impression of persistent shortages.

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