Nonprofit Governance and Accountability Project
The first Governance and Accountability Symposium was convened October 3-4th, entitled Toward a Public Policy Strategy for Nonprofit Governance and Accountability.  At the Symposium, forty nonprofit researchers, policy analysts, and legal scholars tackled a range of questions at the core of public policy debates about governments role in promoting better governed, more accountable nonprofits.

The discussion ranged from the philosophical to institutional. Some participants argued that -- considering the public subsidies they receive in the form of tax exemptions government policy should hold nonprofits accountable for progress toward their stated goals, while others held that such regulation would constitute an inappropriate infringement of their leaders vision and methods. Taking up the institutional challenges of promoting better governance through public policy, two presenters offered novel approaches for enabling government to achieve widely agreed upon ends like prevention of fraud of theft, including uniform disclosure standards to help stakeholders better understand a nonprofits performance, and a new SEC-type regulatory body that would collect and make such information available.

The symposium was organized by the Nonprofit Governance and Accountability Project, a joint initiative of the Hauser Center and Harvard Law School formed to encourage Harvard researchers to address these questions. Click on conference papers numbers 33.1 to 33.2 for access to the edited versions as they become available.

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Roy Ahn was a panelist for a discussion on nonprofit collaboration, "The Collaboration Question: Potential and Pitfalls," at the Associated Grantmakers Annual Nonprofit Partners Meeting in Boston, on September 6th.

On September 7th, Marshall Ganz held an evaluation of the second round of an organizer training program in Israel in collaboration with Shatil, an Israeli community advocacy organization, Tel Aviv College, and Hebrew University.  The core teaching team met via video conference to reflect on the year's program of reflective practice for full time community advocates that combines theoretical work, skill development, and individual coaching.

On September 11th, the Hauser Center held its annual Fall Student Open House for Harvard University students.  More than 75 students attended from the Kennedy School of Government, the Graduate School of Education, and the Divinity School, among others.  Faculty and researchers affiliated with the Hauser Center greeted students, talked about the courses they will teach this academic year, and answered students' questions about courses, research opportunities, Hauser Center activities and career planning.

The Hauser Center's leadership, faculty, researchers and staff gathered for an annual breakfast on September 18th to launch the new academic year.  The group included seven faculty and staff who have joined with the center since last year's breakfast.  Participants spent the morning reviewing the status of current research and key research questions to tackle in the coming year.

Marty Chen and James Heintz (University of Massachusetts/Amherst and Research Coordinator of WIEGO's Statistics Program) presented a seminar entitled Informal Employment, Poverty and Gender: Understanding the Linkages at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in Ottawa, Canada on September 20th.

On September 27th, Marty Chen and Joann Vanek (Director of WIEGO's Statistics Program) gave an update on WIEGO to trade union leaders at the AFL-CIO in Washington, DC and attended an AFL-CIO ceremony and dinner to honor Ela Bhatt, founder of the Self-Employed Womens Association and founding chair of the WIEGO network.  On this day they also led a technical discussion at the World Bank on Measuring the Informal Economy."

Peter Dobkin Hall was a panelist on October 1st for the session "Charles Ives in War and Peace," at the Ives Marathon at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT.

From October 6-8th, Marshall Ganz met in Sante Fe, NM with the Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club and other members of the Sierra Club Leadership team to lead a 2-1/2 day workshop on building relationships and motivating others in collaborative work.  The participants learned to strengthen their networks, design motivating tasks, solve conflicts constructively, find shared interests, tell their public stories, and set personal and group goals.

Marty Chen gave a talk on October 9th on "The Informal Economy in Pakistan: A Comparative Perspective" to a cross-section of government and civil society representatives in Islamabad, Pakistan.

On October 9th, Peter Dobkin Hall was a panelist at the Roundtable on Religion and Philanthropy organized by Contribute Magazine in New York City.

Dave Brown was a member of a task force to develop a proposal for a new Center for Civil Society Studies in Berlin that is a joint initiative of Transparency International and the Vodaphone Corporation.  He participated in a conference in London on October 10-12th to discuss the proposed Center and its governance.

On Oct. 16th, Marshall Ganz, Sarah Staley, and the Leadership Development Project coordinating committee met in Boston to develop the curriculum for the third series of Sierra Club workshops on leadership development, to take place in February and March 2007 in Washington, California, Florida and New Mexico. 

Rajesh Tandon, President and Founder, and Martha Farrell, Education Director of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), visited the Hauser Center on October 16-17th. They offered a Work in Progress Seminar on "Citizen Participation in Democratic Governance" and Rajesh was a guest lecturer in Dave Brown's course on Civil Society and Development.

From October 17-19th, Alnoor Ebrahim participated in a reflective review process on NGO capacity building research at the International NGO Training and Research Center (INTRAC) in Oxford, England.  For the past three years, he has served as a member of an external "Catalyst Group" to INTRAC on bridging capacity research with practice, or "Praxis."

Dave Brown participated in the conference, "The Voice of Global Civil Society," organized by the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria and the Centre for International Governance Innovation at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Canada from October 18-19.  For the conference he co-authored one of three future scenario papers with Budd Hall (University of Victoria) and Rajesh Tandon (PRIA).

Kathy Buechel, who serves on the board of the Independent Sector (IS) and chairs the IS Membership Committee, presented a measure at the IS 2006 Annual Conference that was adopted by the membership to restructure the dues of IS to make them more transparent and aligned with IS's strategic goals.  Tiziana Dearing and Guy Keeley were also participants at the Annual Conference, which was from October 22-24th in Minneapolis.

In Geneva, on October 24th, Marty Chen participated in a meeting of the Working Group on Labor Rights of the High Level Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, and on October 25th, she participated in a workshop on The Effectiveness of Labour Law to Promote Social Goals in Low-Income Settings organized by the International Institute for Labour Studies.

Rita and Gus Hauser, founding donors of the Hauser Center, visited the Hauser Center on October 25th.  The Hausers had come to Harvard to celebrate the creation of the Rita E. Hauser Chair in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the Harvard Law School, a gift from The Hauser Foundation.  While at the Hauser Center, Mr. and Mrs. Hauser met with several faculty, and received updates on the center's current research and operations.

On October 26-27th, Marty Chen participated in a meeting of the Working Group on Legal Empowerment of Informal Enterprises of the High Level Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor in Cairo, Egypt.

Paul Hodge is quoted as the lead baby boomer expert in the Executive Summary of  "The Final Report to the President and the Congress," published by the 2005 White House Conference on Aging.  For the report, click here.  Paul Hodge has also been elected Chairperson of the KSG Alumnae Association Board of Directors.

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The Hauser Center offers sponsorship to students, faculty, and researchers though the following funds:

Student Organization Activities Support
The Hauser Center funds various Harvard student groups whose activities are primarily focused on the nonprofit sector. This academic year Hauser has $7,000 available for student support. The amount is divided between the fall (October/November) and spring (February/March) appeals.
 

The Nonprofit Governance and Accountability Research Fund
The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations and Harvard Law School in a joint venture created this fund to encourage Harvard scholars to focus on the challenges of improving nonprofit governance and accountability, a relatively unstudied area that has recently emerged as a public policy priority. Over the course of five years, the Fund aims to support projects across the University that will produce outstanding research, new practice frameworks, and policy analyses that can inform policy debates, as well as improve the practice of nonprofit governance. For more background on the project, visit the Governance and Accountability Program website.
 

The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations Research Fund
Thanks to a multi-year gift from Rita and Gustave Hauser, the Hauser Center runs an annual research fund. This academic year, Hauser will provide up to $79,000 in research support to our Hauser Center colleagues, and up to $30,000 to promising doctoral research across the country. The appeal is emailed in the fall (November) and in the spring (March).

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