Award Date

5-1-2021

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Public Policy and Leadership

First Committee Member

Patricia Cook-Craig

Second Committee Member

Christopher Stream

Third Committee Member

Jessica Word

Fourth Committee Member

Jessica (Starr) Hoffman

Number of Pages

184

Abstract

Managing nonprofit data is both complicated and essential. Nonprofits, while struggling to manage and utilize data to its fullest potential, are increasingly required to do so for funding purposes. Despite the increased pressure on nonprofit managers to report more outcomes to grant funders, little research is available to guide the data management process in nonprofits. Research that does exist is primarily focused on the for-profit or business sector, which is operationally and fundamentally different than nonprofits. For example, for-profit entities typically do not have the same restrictions on how to use funds, such as a percentage cap on spending for non-direct business costs (or overhead), that nonprofits must contend with. Additional funding restrictions, such as funders not allowing infrastructure spending, further constrain how nonprofits manage their technology and their data. As such, the research, and recommendations for data management in the for-profit sector are often not as applicable to the nonprofit sector.

This dissertation sought to discover the ways in which nonprofits manage their data, and whether those data management practices are related to nonprofit program outputs and outcomes. Utilizing Stage Theory, the literature review focused on the data collected and used by nonprofits, as well as their data management practices, and that review was used to create a Nonprofit Data Management Stage Model. The model organizes nonprofit data management practices into four separate practice domains and places data management elements in each domain into five distinct stages of data management. Using results from a survey sent to domestic violence shelters across the nation, reported data management practices were placed within the various domains and stages within the Nonprofit Data Management Stage Model. Output and outcome measures collected from the same survey were used to test the relationship between data management practices and program outcomes of nonprofits.

Keywords

Assessment culture; Data management; Nonprofit; Nonprofit assessment; Nonprofit evaluation; Stage theory

Disciplines

Work, Economy and Organizations

File Format

pdf

File Size

1421 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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