The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations E-News
ISSUE #42, January 2008

This edition of the Hauser Center E-News highlights activities and events from November - December 2007.

1. Hauser Leadership Transitions
2. Ushering in a Second Decade
3. Activities Update
4. People in Action
5. People in the News
6. Student Organization Activities Fund Recipients
7. Recent Publications


1.  HAUSER LEADERSHIP TRANSITIONS

In Appreciation of our Former Faculty Director Mark Moore
After ten years at the helm of the Hauser Center, Mark Moore has stepped down as the Faculty Director, but will continue to be an active participant in the life of the Hauser Center as its Faculty Chair.  Moore was honored at a celebration tribute on December 18th in which key faculty and colleagues provided comments on his leadership and contributions.

Moore's commitment, wisdom and vision have been critical to the strengthening of nonprofit scholars and scholarship in classrooms and research initiatives across the university, and in other universities and research settings.  He has also helped to bridge the worlds of practice and scholarship, introducing ideas from the academy into the increasingly vital and urgent world of nonprofit management and leadership.  Spurred by Moore's leadership, the Hauser Center has made a substantial contribution to the creation of knowledge about the nonprofit sector and succeeded in engaging a significant portion of the Harvard University intellectual community in that effort.  The Center is now an intense intellectual community that has supported the development of junior faculty who have gone on to lead other nonprofit centers, and doctoral students who are now teaching about the important role that the voluntary sector can play in strengthening democracy and solving collective problems in universities across the country.

Welcome to Faculty Director Christopher Stone
Christopher Stone became Faculty Director of the Hauser Center on January 1, 2008.  Stone came to the Kennedy School in 2005 as the Guggenheim Professor of the Practice of Criminal Justice and since has expanded the international dimensions of the Wiener Center's Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, as well as initiating an Executive Session on Human Rights Commissions and Criminal Justice and a new Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety.  He brings to the Hauser Center twenty years of experience creating and leading more than a half-dozen nonprofit organizations in this country and internationally, experience he has already put to use teaching strategic management of nonprofits and NGOs.  He will continue to chair the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management as he takes on his new duties at the Hauser Center.

Announcing our new Executive Director Aviva Luz Argote
The Hauser Center is also delighted to announce that Aviva Luz Argote will join the Center as the new Executive Director, starting on February 27, 2008.  Argote is a Kennedy School alum and presently manager of special projects in the office of the president and provost of Harvard University.  She has previously held positions at the Rand Corporation, the Community for Education Foundation, and, most significantly, the Coro New York Leadership Center where she served as senior program director and director of the Coro Fellows program.  She brings to her new position not only this solid training in management and administration as well as experience leading and coaching teams, but a passion for the work and workplaces of nonprofit organizations.


2.  USHERING IN A SECOND DECADE

Hauser Center Second Decade Plan
The Hauser Center's mission includes teaching, research, and service to the nonprofit field.  In our second decade, we aim to strengthen and integrate all three.  We aim to engage scholars in all of Harvard's several faculties and schools, connecting them with practitioners leading a wide array of nonprofit organizations worldwide.  In brief, the Hauser Center will pursue a double strategy: first, to stimulate and support faculty as they probe the broad questions across the nonprofit field, and second, to strengthen nonprofit institutions in selected domains through the dissemination and interpretation of significant research.  Specifically, we plan to:
- Strengthen, coordinate, and support teaching about nonprofits and NGOs across the University through curricula and syllabi reviews, production of new teaching cases, and increased collaboration with the executive education program.
- Engage leaders in five separate domains across the nonprofit sector.  These domains will include (1) arts, culture, and media institutions, (2) nonprofits in China, (3) international humanitarian organizations, (4) nonprofits advancing justice and human rights, and (5) private philanthropic institutions.
- Design and build a nonprofit incubator for a select group of nonprofit start-ups.  The incubator will provide administrative support and leadership coaching to a small number of entrepreneurs, and will serve as a research laboratory through which faculty can build and test hypotheses about the dynamics of start-up organizations in the sector.
- Develop a global professional network of university alumni, scholars, and institutional leaders through strengthening the center's communications and internet presence to support and disseminate scholarship on the nonprofit sector, from both Harvard and other institutions, and to draw scholars, practitioners, and others into a virtual, global, professional network.

The Future of the Nonprofit Sector Panel Series
In the Spring 2008 The Hauser Center will host a series of panel discussions on which scholars and practitioners will explore together questions crucial to the future of the sector.  The first panel will take place in March 2008 and the series will continue throughout the year (details to follow).

The panels will cover the following themes, central to the Hauser Center's second decade plan:
1. How is globalization reshaping the business models of major arts and cultural institutions?
2. What future roles will international humanitarian NGOs play in international politics and relations among states?
3. Could greater use of the nonprofit form of corporation in the news media reverse the deterioration of journalism that seems to have accompanied ownership by public, for-profit corporations?
4. How can NGOs contribute to greater worker protection in developing countries, and is there a distinctive role for international private philanthropy in the reduction of poverty in developing countries?


3.  ACTIVITIES UPDATE

Hauser Center 10th Anniversary Research Colloquium
To both celebrate the Center's first decade and to spark discussion about future challenges facing nonprofit institutions, key players from both past and present convened in Cambridge November 26-27th for the Hauser Center 10th Anniversary Research Colloquium.  The Colloquium was organized around key "intellectual foundations" defined by the Center ten years ago – including theories about the nature, role, and impact of the voluntary sector; the development of international communities that could act effectively to deal with global problems even without a government; and the economic, social and political development of countries emerging from totalitarian regimes.  There was broad consensus among participants that the Center's work over the past decade has helped recast the view of the voluntary and nonprofit sector.  For additional information on the Colloquium, please read the HKS news story.

Hauser Center 10th Anniversary Seminar Series
As part of a yearlong schedule of activities celebrating Hauser's10th anniversary Mark Moore organized a seminar series throughout the fall semester led by the scholars whose work distinguished the Center's first decade.  The seminars that took place in November-December were:
 - Christine Letts presented "Teaching Nonprofit Management in Distance Learning Modes" on November 8th.
 - J. Richard Hackman presented "The Role of Values in Animating and Guiding Organizations" on November 15th.
 - Dutch Leonard presented "The Social Governance of Organizational Purpose: Are all Organizations Public?" on December 13th.

Nonprofit Governance and Accountability Project Seminar Series
As part of the Hauser Nonprofit Governance and Accountability Project and The Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative 2007-2008 Seminar Series "Problems and Prospects in Nonprofit Governance" we convened the following seminars:
 - On November 14th, Harvard Law School professor David Kennedy presented "Who Governs the Expert?  Expertise as Global Governance."
 - On December 11th, Harvard Law School professor Allen Ferrell presented "Non-Profit or For-Profit? Incentives and Implications for Security Exchanges."

Hauser Participation at ARNOVA Annual Conference
The 36th Annual Conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) was held this year in Atlanta, Georgia from November 15-17th.  Hauser Center faculty played several key roles in the conference, which attracted about 550 attendees.

Alnoor Ebrahim served as Conference Chair, and was responsible for overseeing the scholarly content, academic review process, and thematic tracks of the conference.  Dave Brown served as chair of a track on "Global and Comparative Challenges" and William Ryan chaired a track on "Boards, Governance, and Leadership."  Ebrahim also addressed the opening conference luncheon, and presented his research on "Accountability in Complex Organizations: World Bank Responses to Civil Society" on a panel.  Brown also made a presentation on "Architecture and Governance in International Advocacy NGOs and Networks: Consequences for Advocacy and Accountability."  Peter Dobkin Hall organized a "Colloquy on Federated Organizations" in which he presented his recent work on the subject and included Alnoor Ebrahim and Mark Sidel presenting a paper contributed by Marion Fremont-Smith.  Dobkin Hall was also a discussant for the panel on "Dynamics among Umbrella Organizations, Faith-based Organizations, and Religious Communities."  Tony Pipa moderated a colloquy panel entitled "Shared Challenges of Rebuilding Devastated Communities: Social Justice in the Gulf Coast After Katrina" that reviewed the current status of nonprofit work in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and discussed ways the charitable sector can address current needs and prepare for future disasters.

Strategic Frameworks for Nonprofit/Nongovernmental Organizations
This is a 10-week distance learning program organized by the Kennedy School Executive Education Program from March 10-May 16, 2008, for leaders of nonprofits and NGOs in the developing world.  The program consists of five (5) two-week online modules on topics including strategy frameworks, mission statements, portfolio management, marketing, and strategic positioning.  Participants will apply concepts developed at the Kennedy School to challenges facing their individual organizations using electronic workbooks and moderated discussion boards where they will share their experiences and gain insights from other leaders around the globe.  Each two-week module will culminate in a live discussion with faculty chair Christine Letts.  For more information visit the program website or press release about the program.


4.  PEOPLE IN ACTION

Steven Lawry has joined the center as senior research fellow, and co-principal investigator with Dave Brown on a new research effort to understand the role of transnational philanthropy in poverty reduction in developing countries.  Lawry joins the Hauser Center from Antioch College, where he served as president from January 2006 through August 2007.  Previous to joining Antioch, Lawry worked with the Ford Foundation, serving as assistant representative and rural poverty and resources program officer for South Africa and Namibia (1992-97), representative for the Middle East and North Africa (1997-2001), and director of the Office of Management Services at the Foundation’s New York headquarters (2001-06).  For additional information on Lawry's background and the philanthropy research project, please see the HKS press release.

Tony Pipa has taken on the role of domain director for International Humanitarian Organizations, a position that dovetails perfectly with his continuing role as director of the NGO Leaders Forum. Pipa will be scouring the university for scholarship relevant to the leaders of nonprofit and non-governmental organizations in this domain and looking for new research opportunities that will serve the leaders of these international humanitarian organizations.

Michael Byrne has joined the center as the new web services manager.  Byrne will play a crucial role as we work to raise the profile of the Hauser Center among leaders of major nonprofit and non-governmental organizations around the world.  In particular, Byrne will work closely with colleagues on the launch of the new center website and is skilled in, and committed to, the use of the internet to support social and professional networking.  To contribute feedback and ideas on the development of the new Hauser website, please contact Michael Byrne.

On November 3rd, Marshall Ganz spoke with student government leaders from across the country at the National Student Leadership Conference, sponsored by the Student Empowerment Training (SET) Project and the Institute of Politics.  Ganz spoke about his experiences in organizing and his framework and pedagogy for teaching leadership.  The SET Project provides training and support to student governments and state student associations.

Marie Besançon presented "Ending the Sudan's Institution of War" for the Peace Science Society International at the University of South Carolina, Columbia on November 4th.

Marshall Ganz engaged with students in Danny McCormick's Health Advocacy and Activism course at Harvard Medical School on November 5th in discussions around how to be effective in social change efforts.  Students in the class are developing research-based social change projects in health or medicine during this a one-month elective

Marshall Ganz is partnering with former teaching fellows on developing an organizing model in the Minnesota Episcopal Diocese in support of the millennium development goals.  The millennium development goals include a .7% contribution to economic development in the developing world, which the Episcopal Church committed to 7 years ago.  The research team is developing a diocesan model for organizing people to contribute their time, money, etc. to doing this work as a prototype for the Church nationally, as well as a way to engage in international parish partnerships.  A first training for the local leadership team was conducted in Minneapolis between November 9-11th to launch this project.

Marty Chen participated in the International Women Leaders Global Security Summit held in New York City, November 15-17th.  She was the commentator on the theme of economic justice and rights, "The Economics of Insecurity," and facilitated the discussions on this theme.

Peter Dobkin Hall was a lecturer at the event "Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Ives, and the Musical Transcendental," at the Lyman Allyn Museum in New London, CT, on November 17th.  This program, which combined performances of Ives's vocal music with discussion of his philosophical and religious ideas, is part of the Ives Vocal Marathon Project .

On November 18th Marie Besançon delivered the lecture "Non-Governmental Organizations and Conflict Resolution: The Role of Community Rehabilitation Project in the Sudan" to a class on "Women and Security Policy" for the Women and Politics Institute at American University in Washington, DC.

Alnoor Ebrahim served as a facilitator at a workshop on "Corporations and Human Rights: Accountability Mechanisms for Resolving Complaints and Disputes" held by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government on November 19-20th.

As part of his research project on "Policymaking as Civic Negotiation: Challenges of Accountability and Representation," Alnoor Ebrahim convened a team of nine international scholars for a planning workshop at the Harvard Business School on November 28-29th.  The project aims to understand how civil society actors seek to influence national-level public policies on poverty, with special attention to the challenges of accountability and democratic representation.  The participants came from six countries where the research is based: Brazil, Bolivia, India, Bangladesh, South Africa and Uganda. The workshop was supported by the Ford Foundation and the Harvard Business School.

From November 29-30th, Marshall Ganz led a training on Public Narrative for 19 participants in the Israeli Palestinian Negotiation Project, a collaboration between Mercy Corps Conflict Management Group, the Harvard Negotiation Project and Israeli Palestinian Negotiating Partners.  Sessions included an introduction to public narrative in the large group, work on "stories of self," "stories of us," and "stories of now" in small groups, and the debriefing the stories with the whole group.  Public narrative is a process through which individuals, communities, and nations construct their identity, make choices, and inspire action.  Leaders use public narrative to interpret themselves to others, engage others in a sense of shared community, and inspire others to act on challenges that community must face.

From November 27-December 2nd Marty Chen visited BRAC, the world's largest NGO founded and headquartered in Bangladesh but with operations now in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and several countries in Africa.  Chen worked with BRAC for five years in the 1970's and started its women's program, and during her visit met several village women she had worked with in that time.  Please email Beth Graves for Chen's write-up on that visit.

Peter Bell and Tony Pipa facilitated an NGO Leaders Forum meeting December 3-5th at the Greentree Estate in New York. The gathering brought together 12 chief executives of major US-based international development and relief NGOs with (among others) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, World Bank president Robert Zoellick, and foreign policy advisors of various US presidential candidates to explore policy issues related to reducing global poverty.  Ellen Levine provided staff assistance for the event.

Alnoor Ebrahim presented his research on Accountability in the World Bank to a group of international mid-career practitioners in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on December 5th, and at a seminar on political economy at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at UMass Boston on December 6th.

Marshall Ganz spoke to Kennedy School of Government staff at the December 12th Executive Dean's Coffee.  Ganz spoke about his organizing experience, his framework for teaching organizing, and on the role of organizing in meeting the challenges of the 21st century.

Dutch Leonard and Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Bower are hosting an online conversation on "The Future of Market Capitalism."  The online conversation is part of a larger Harvard Business School Centennial project in which the evolution of capitalism is being explored – particularly the value it has generated at the threats that may be arising that could impede its future value creation.  All are invited to join The Conversation by visiting the HBS Centennial website.


5.  PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

The News from the Kennedy School article on December 19th "How Civil Society is Affecting Change at the World Bank: A New Kennedy School Working Paper," reviews a new publication co-authored by Alnoor Ebrahim.  Link to the article here, and the complete paper here.

Marshall Ganz is quoted in the December 13th Christian Science Monitor article "From college classroom to Obama's campaign," about how an undergraduate course he taught inspired a student to go into politics.  Link to the article here.

The December 10th Wall Street Journal article "How Charities Can Make Themselves More Open," includes a potential project of Christine Letts' as an example of increased interest in measuring charity efficiency.  Link to the article here (subscription needed).

Peter Dobkin Hall provided quotes for two articles about the resignation of American Red Cross President Mark Everson.  The first is the November 28th Washington Post article "President of Red Cross is Forced to Resign" (link to article); and the second is the November 29th New York Times article "Firing Stirs New Debate Over Red Cross" (link to article).

The November 27th News from the Kennedy School article "Hauser Center hosts Research Colloquium to Mark 10th Anniversary," describes the event that brought together key people involved in the Hauser Center's last decade.  The article was written by Hauser staff Laura Ax.  Link to the article here.

Peggy Levitt is the focus of the "Who gets to say what the American Dream is?" article in the Fall 2007 edition of Wellesley magazine.  The article discusses Levitt's work on transnational studies and religion and highlights her recent book God Needs No Passport.


6.  STUDENT ORGANIZATION ACTIVITIES FUND RECIPIENTS

The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations is pleased to announce its Student Organization Activities Fund awards for winter 2007-2008.  We received applications from Harvard student organizations totaling over $17,000 and were able to award $8,000 this year.  As always, the students’ breadth of interest, depth of commitment and scope of influence were impressive.  We are pleased to support the following exciting student activities.

The Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni of Color Conference (AOCC)
6^th Annual AOCC, "Raising Our Voices (Re) Framing Conversations about Race and Education" February 22-23, 2008
Submitted by Keith Catone.

International Bridge Builders
2008 International Bridge Builders Conference
The conference will be held February 24-March 1, 2008
Submitted by Jen Scott and Karina Weinstein

Harvard Kennedy School Student Builders
New Orleans Service Project
January and March 2008
Submitted by Anthony C. Woods

Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy (HJHP)
Photo Exhibition/Expansion of Color Section for HJHP
February 25-29, 2008
Submitted by Emerita Torres

Human Rights Professional Interest Council
Human Rights for Policymakers: "A Skills-Building Conference"
March 7-8, 2008
Submitted by Ann Gurucharri

International Development Conference 2008 (IDC)
The 14^th Annual International Development Conference 2008
April 3-6, 2008
Submitted by Naoko Koyama

Kennedy School Review
Kennedy School Review Journal Publication
Published early May 2008
Submitted by David Ng


7.  RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Gabriele Bammer:
 - van Kerkhoff L., S. Courville, G. Bammer, S. Cork, D. Dumaresq and C. Ellis, "Mutual dependence, mutual strength: Trust, social learning and collaboration," in Ritchie, S. (ed.), Research Collaboration: Relationships and Praxis (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2007): 203-224.

Dave Brown:
 - Brown, L.D. and R. Tandon, "Action Research, Partnerships and Social Impacts: The Institutional Collaboration of PRIA and IDR," in P. Reason and H. Bradbury (eds.), Handbook of Action Research, (London: Sage Publications, 2008).
 - Heinrich, V. F., J. M. Mati and L. D. Brown, "The Varying Contexts for Civil Society Accountability: Insights from a Global Analysis of Country-level Assessments," in V. F. Heinrich and L. Fioramonti (eds.), Global Report on the State of Civil Society, (Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press. 2008): 325-340.
 - Brown, L.D., M. Leach, and J.G. Covey, "Organization Development for Social Change," in T. G. Cummings (ed.), Handbook of Organization Development, (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2008): 593-614.

Alnoor Ebrahim:
 - Ebrahim, A., "Beyond Dependence: Conceptualizing Information and Accountability in NGO-Funder Relations," in Paul Opoku-Mensah, David Lewis and Terje Tvedt (eds.), Reconceptualising NGOs and their Roles in Development: NGOs, Civil Society and the International Aid System, (Aalborg University Press: Aalborg, Denmark, 2007).
 - Ebrahim, Alnoor and Steve Herz. 2007. "Accountability in Complex Organizations: World Bank Responses to Civil Society," Kennedy School of Government Working Paper Number RWP07-060.  Link to the paper.


This edition of the Hauser Center E-News highlights activities and events from November - December 2007.

The Hauser Center E-News provides bi-monthly updates of Hauser Center events, activities, people and publications.  The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations is a University-wide research center based at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (KSG). The Center is not a degree granting institution.  Please e-mail Laura Ax at laura_ax@harvard.edu with E-News questions and feedback.

The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations
Harvard University
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http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/hauser