Nonprofit Social Service Agencies Research Articles

Factors that contribute to strong working alliances between case managers and clients

Summary Published literature has demonstrated that strong case manager–client working alliances foster improvement among clients. Reflecting a case-management context, this study explored how working alliances, as perceived by clients, are related to interpersonal capacities (or social support); intrapersonal dynamics; severity of problems facing client; and other client and case manager characteristics. The study included 101 clients and their 26 case managers at four nonprofit social-service agencies. Findings Working alliances, as perceived by clients, were observed to be associated positively with 3 variables: working alliance as viewed by case manager, length of time client worked with case manager, and client female gender. In turn, client mental-health or substance-use problem was linked to client unfavorable perception of working alliance. No link was observed between client perception of alliance and 6 variables: client social support, goal achievement, problem severity, client–case manager shared ethnicity, case manager work experience, and client age. Applications The findings suggest that working alliance is collaborative and interactive throughout the helping process. This impacts social work training protocols. Case managers who must establish working alliances with clients need the relevant collaboration skills, which may need to be introduced and practiced at in-service meetings or workshops.

Government Consulting Program to Encourage Knowledge Sharing between Nonprofit Social Service Agencies in South Korea

Nonprofit social service agencies in South Korea have dramatically improved their service quality in the last few decades. However, with increasing competition among nonprofit social service agencies, quality differences among nonprofits have remained unresolved and in many cases increased. The Korean government has implemented the Quality Management Program to decrease disparities among nonprofit social service agencies. This study explores the impact the consulting program has on high and low performing agencies and provides insight into knowledge sharing. This exploratory qualitative study is comprised of semi-structured interviews with 18 leaders from high and 4 leaders from low-performing nonprofit social service. The results showed that the program fosters mutual growth between high and low-performing agencies and improves the evaluation results of the low-performing agencies. Leaders of low performing agencies indicated that consulting was helpful but participating in the mandatary program was shameful. Structural barriers at the low performing agencies, limited time-frames, and non-voluntary participation were found to be limitations in improving consulting outcomes. Addressing these limitations would facilitate the development of a voluntary knowledge sharing culture among nonprofit agencies. This article discusses the limitations and implications for future research and practice in developing knowledge in social work.

The Perception of Leaders Regarding Networking among Nonprofit Social Service Agencies: Focusing on Competitive Environments in South Korea

With a growing number of nonprofit social service agencies in South Korea, leaders are required to networking among agencies to provide quality services. On the other hand, increasing competitive environments negatively impact building relationships. Leaders of nonprofit social service agencies have an initiative to network; however, there is little research on understanding these leaders’ experiences of networking. This study explores the perception of leaders regarding networking among nonprofit social service agencies. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 social workers who are in a leadership position at nonprofit social service agencies. Results revealed that most leaders were aware of the importance of networking and were involved in networking activities, however, they perceived the quality of networking as low and superficial. In addition, the findings indicated that within competitive environments, leaders' lack of awareness of the importance of networking and lack of incorporation of networking prevent its facilitation. Implications for practice and for future research in strong networking are suggested.

Impact of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies on frontline health and social service providers in Southeast Michigan, U.S.A.

Rising hostility towards immigrants characterised the 2016 Presidential election in the United States (US) and subsequent policy priorities by the new presidential administration. The political shift towards aggressive policies targeting undocumented immigrants is far-reaching and extends into other communities that convive con-or coexist with-immigrant communities. Our study aims to examine the rippling effects of these anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric on health and social service providers in Southeast Michigan who predominantly serve Latino immigrants. Between April and August 2018, we conducted in-depth individual interviews in two Federally Qualified Health Centers and a non-profit social service agency at a county health department. We interviewed 28 frontline health and social service providers. After coding and thematic analyses, we found that staff members' experiences in supporting immigrant clients was congruent with definitions of secondary trauma stress and compassion fatigue, whereby exposure to clients' trauma combined with job burden subsequently impacted the mental health of providers. Major themes included: (a) frontline staff experienced a mental and emotional burden in providing services to immigrant clients given the restrictive anti-immigrant context; and (b) this burden was exacerbated by the increased difficulties in providing these services to their clients. Staff described psychological and emotional distress stemming from exposure to clients' immigration-related trauma and increased mental health needs. This distress was exacerbated by an increased demand to meet clients' needs, which involved explaining or translating documents into English, assisting with legal paperwork, referring clients to mental health resources, addressing increased transportation barriers, and reestablishing trust with the community. Our findings add qualitative data on the mental health implications for frontline providers who support Latino immigrant clients impacted by immigration and highlights the need for further research and resources that address the workplace-related stress generated by heightened immigration enforcement.

“You’ve Just Cursed Us”: Precarity, Austerity and Worker’s Participation in the Non-Profit Social Services

Though not monolithic, the non-profit social services sector has been an arena where workers and management participated in various forms of shared planning, service development and organizing the labour process. This included: 1- formal participation processes such as collective bargaining with union representation, and 2- practice-profession or task participation. Drawing on 34 qualitative interviews undertaken with a variety of actors (Chief Executive/Senior Directors, senior operational management, Human Resource Managers, frontline staff, and, where available, union representatives) in two non-profit social service agencies in Ontario (Canada), the article traces how these forms of participation have changed as a result of government austerity policies alongside the expansion of precarious employment and funding in the non-profit sector. Using exemplar quotes and qualitative analysis, the article shows that worker’s participation in each form has declined, while management simultaneously has extended greater control over the labour process and removed or reduced forums and opportunities for input from staff. In terms of task participation, measurement and governance structure of New Public Management (NPM) and austerity have led to less autonomy and choice, especially in the area of working time. The study also found that unitarist approaches, intolerant of staff voice and possible dissent, have displaced earlier representative participatory approaches that either utilized the management chain, or embraced and worked constructively with unions. Though these pressures existed prior to the introduction of austerity policies, the data show that decreased worker’s participation coincides and is further undermined by the financial and governance processes associated with NPM and austerity-linked cuts in government and other forms of funding. Overall, the data and analysis suggest that participation in the Non-profit Social Services (NPSS) may be another casualty of this current wave of neoliberalism.

International staff exchange: Evaluation of a collaborative learning partnership

This article presents the evaluation of a staff exchange program between a US and a German non-profit social service agency. The program’s 12-year history, challenges, and successes are presented. Focus group and in-depth interview findings include the following: (1) support from leadership and staff impacts sustainability, (2) development of collaboration principles is key for continued partnership, (3) financial input seems small when compared to outcomes, (4) traveling abroad and hosting fosters positive learning experiences, (5) agencies learned to better position themselves and increased their retention, and (6) themes among staff include observing, reflecting, and learning from each other. Suggestions for replication are made.

Nonprofits and Political Activity: A Joint Consideration of the Political Activities, Programs, and Organizational Characteristics of Social Service Nonprofits

ABSTRACTNonprofit social service agencies are essential to the safety net assisting Americans with low incomes. These agencies also fulfill important civic functions through political activities such as policy advocacy and public education. To learn more about nonprofit political behavior, we analyze unique survey data drawn from 1,205 faith-based and secular nonprofit social service agencies across the United States. We distinguish between six different types of political activity while also considering program service areas. Our findings indicate that there is substantial variation in the type of political activity undertaken by social service nonprofits, and organizational characteristics can help explain this variation.

Austerity policies, ‘precarity’ and the nonprofit workforce: A comparative study of UK and Canada

Drawing on qualitative interview data from case studies in Scotland and Canada in the post 2008 era, this article explores the impact of austerity policies on the conditions and experience of employment in two nonprofit social service agencies and their shifting labour process. Despite differences in context, the article finds a similarity of experience of austerity-compelled precarity at several levels in the agency. This precarity increased management control and evoked little resistance from employees. These findings contribute to our understanding of austerity as articulated differently in different contexts, but experienced similarly at the front lines of care work.

Unforeseen consequences: Medicaid and the funding of nonprofit service organizations.

Medicaid reimbursements have become a key source of funding for nonprofit social service organizations operating outside the medical care sector, as well as an important tool for states seeking resources to fund social service programs within a devolving safety net. Drawing on unique survey data of more than one thousand nonprofit social service agencies in seven urban and rural communities, this article examines Medicaid funding of nonprofit social service organizations that target programs at working-age, nondisabled adults. We find that about one-quarter of nonprofit service organizations--mostly providers offering substance abuse and mental health treatment in conjunction with other services--report receiving Medicaid reimbursements, although very few are overly reliant on these funds. We also find Medicaid-funded social service nonprofits to be less accessible to residents of high-poverty neighborhoods or areas with concentrations of black or Hispanic residents than to residents of more affluent and white communities. We should expect that the role of Medicaid within the nonprofit social service sector will shift in the next few years, however, as states grapple with persistent budgetary pressures, rising Medicaid costs, and decisions to participate in the Medicaid expansion provisions contained within the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Organizational Capacity of Nonprofit Social Service Agencies

The U.S. social safety net is formed by governmental and nonprofit organizations, which are trying to respond to record levels of need. This is especially true for local level organizations, such as food pantries. the organizational capacity literature has not covered frontline, local, mostly volunteer and low resource organizations in the same depth as larger ones. This analysis is a consideration of whether grassroots nonprofit organizations have the ability to be a strong component of the social safety net. Based on the literature on organizational capacity, a model is developed to examine how service delivery at the local level is affected by organizational capacity. Surprisingly, we find few of the characteristics previously identified as important are statistically significant in this study. Even when so, the material effect is negligible. Current organizational capacity research may apply to larger nonprofits, but not to the tens of thousands of small community nonprofits, a significant limitation to the research to date.

Community Positions, Neoliberal Dispositions: Managing Nonprofit Social Services Within the Bureaucratic Field

In this article, we demonstrate the critical value of Loïc Wacquant’s reworking of Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of the bureaucratic field for the study of nonprofit social services. In particular, we suggest that this approach offers a richer understanding of the neoliberalization of nonprofit social service agencies. To illustrate this point, we draw upon interviews with nonprofit social service providers in Winnipeg, Manitoba, examining the field competition between welfare and neoliberal orientations to social service practice, as nonprofit agency managers seek to adapt to the shifting conditions of the bureaucratic field. Building upon Wacquant’s analysis, we argue that the welfare dispositions presented in our interviews are inadequate to protect the social services from neoliberal restructuring. Instead, we present the reflexive practices articulated by Indigenous social service agencies as a model for a counter-transposition that could offer a more powerful challenge to the neoliberalization of the bureaucratic field.

The Quality Assurance and Improvement Workforce in Social Services: An Exploratory Examination

Quality assurance and improvement (QA/I) professionals are in pivotal positions in their organizations, yet almost nothing is known about this workforce in the social services. This exploratory study examines a small sample of QA/I professionals at private, nonprofit social service agencies. Findings reveal that most QA/I professionals are well educated, seasoned clinicians and many are social workers. However, many lack research skills and formal QA/I training. Accreditation frequently led them to their QA/I role, and none started their career to become a QA/I professional. Social work programs should consider career paths in QA/I and develop training curricula for these professionals.

Does Performance Measurement Improve Strategic Decision Making? Findings From a National Survey of Nonprofit Social Service Agencies

Nonprofits have encountered increased pressures for accountability and performance in recent years, both from their funding entities as well as the public. The adoption of performance measurement systems assumes that managers will use performance information to make better decisions. However, little research has focused on performance information use in the nonprofit sector. This study seeks to address this gap in the literature. Using survey data from several hundred nonprofit social service organizations in the United States, this article examines the extent to which reliance on various performance measures improves strategic decision making within nonprofit organizations. Authors find a positive relationship between the range of performance measures used by nonprofits and their level of effectiveness in strategic decision making. Other factors that also contribute to strategic decision making within nonprofits include effective governance, funding diversity, and education level of the executive director.

NATURAL DISASTERS: Arsenic Spike from Ike

Vol. 117, No. 7 NewsOpen AccessNATURAL DISASTERS: Arsenic Spike from Ike Naomi Lubick Naomi Lubick Search for more papers by this author Published:1 July 2009https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.117-a294aAboutSectionsPDF ToolsDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InReddit A study of the sediment left behind by flooding from Hurricane Ike in September 2008 shows that although levels of most of the toxic compounds assayed are low, some concerns remain about elevated arsenic levels. The larger impact, however, may come from the cooperation between scientists and community members, whose combined effort has yielded valuable insights as coastal communities gear up for the 2009 hurricane season.To determine exactly what Hurricane Ike delivered, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston joined local volunteers from community organizations to collect sediment samples. The samples, collected from hard surfaces to distinguish flood-borne sediment from pre-existing soil, were analyzed at a nearby laboratory. The results showed mostly “good news,” the team reported in the February 2009 white paper “Analysis for Toxic Materials in Sediments from Hurricane Ike in Galveston, TX.” The sediment did not contain sufficient levels of most pollutants measured—such as polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, and petroleum products—to require remediation.However, several sites had elevated levels of some metals, including arsenic at amounts up to 48 times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s residential screening level, although below the level that legally requires cleanup. Moreover, the highest arsenic levels were found in a particularly poor neighborhood. “Without adequate information and self-protection,” the team wrote, “this community will likely suffer a heavier exposure burden, and may be most vulnerable to the effects of that burden.”The report is not comprehensive, the team acknowledges; the nine samples collected cannot show the complete picture, and the analytical tests were basic. However, with the resources at hand (and a $7,500 budget), the minimal data set is enough to support the team’s basic conclusions: floodwaters tend to stir up what’s already there, while sometimes adding more contaminants from elsewhere, depending on where the floodwaters originated.Some likely sources of the arsenic in Galveston include now-defunct industrial sites, says project co-investigator Jonathan Ward. An old tin smelter across Galveston Bay, for example, once dumped its waste into a channel that directly flowed into the estuary, Ward says. Co-investigator Sharon Petronella says the UTMB team wants to map out such “legacy” contaminants in a geographic information system to serve as a “predecessor for a risk assessment working backwards.”Howard Mielke, a research professor at Tulane University who has documented lead-laden soils of New Orleans and other cities, notes that such a historical record would have been useful in assessing Hurricane Ike flood deposits. With 22% of the Galveston samples containing lead levels over 200 ppm, Mielke says the post-Ike lead content seems relatively high. He adds, “Because of their extraordinary vulnerability, no child should be playing in soil with a lead content above 100 ppm.”The sediment monitoring project is part of UTMB’s LEAST Lead Initiative, which seeks to reduce lead poisoning in Galveston in cooperation with county and state agencies and with St. Vincent’s House, a nonprofit social service agency. The impetus for the monitoring project came from St. Vincent’s executive director Michael Jackson, who rallied support at a meeting in the gutted bottom story of the agency a few weeks after Ike struck. Petronella says, “If you don’t have a community voice at the table, you are not going to understand what the community needs.” Community involvement such as having residents tell their neighbors how to protect babies from hand-to-mouth exposure had been important to LEAST Lead’s efforts prior to Hurricane Ike and proved equally effective with regard to exposure to flood debris and sediments.Researchers outside the project agree that the collaborative nature of the work is a positive highlight of the report. Research geochemist Geoff Plumlee of the U.S. Geological Survey, who assessed New Orleans flood deposits after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, says the report “actually got me thinking about things we could do at the local grass-roots level, because that’s clearly where the impacts are.”FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 117, No. 7 July 2009Metrics About Article Metrics Publication History Originally published1 July 2009Published in print1 July 2009 Financial disclosuresPDF download License information EHP is an open-access journal published with support from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health. All content is public domain unless otherwise noted. Note to readers with disabilities EHP strives to ensure that all journal content is accessible to all readers. However, some figures and Supplemental Material published in EHP articles may not conform to 508 standards due to the complexity of the information being presented. 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Did the Faith-Based Initiative Change Congregations?

We use national surveys of congregations conducted in 1998 and 2006-2007 to assess whether or not the faith-based initiative increased congregations’ social service involvement, government funding, or collaborations with government or nonprofit organizations. More congregations indicated interest in social services and government funding in 2006-2007 than in 1998, but congregational involvement in social services, government funding, or collaborations has not increased since 1998. An in-depth local study of partnerships between congregations and nonprofit social service agencies leads to the same conclusion. The faith-based initiative did not change congregations’ behavior or expand their role in our social welfare system because it overlooked congregations’ longstanding role in community systems, and it was built on false assumptions about congregations’ latent capacity to expand that role and the extent to which they constitute a meaningful alternative to existing organizational networks of social support.

Paternalistic or Participatory Governance? Examining Opportunities for Client Participation in Nonprofit Social Service Organizations

Nonprofits represent a substantial group of third‐party agents that deliver public services, yet little is known about the extent to which these organizations embrace participatory governance practices. Using survey data from nonprofit social service agencies in Michigan, the author examines how these organizations provide opportunities for client participation and identifies factors that contribute to these practices. Four methods of securing client involvement are examined: participation in agency work groups, client feedback surveys, advisory boards and committees, and client service on the agency board of directors. The results indicate that government funding plays a systematic role in promoting these activities within nonprofits. These findings carry important implications for the government–nonprofit contract relationship by demonstrating that government funding shapes the practices of nonprofits in ways that promote democratic governance.

The Status of Low-Income Neighborhoods in the Post-Welfare Reform Environment

It has long been recognized that children and adults living in poverty are at risk for a number of negative outcomes. As inequality in the distribution of wealth, income and opportunity has grown in the U.S. during the post-welfare reform era, impoverished children and their families have tended to become increasingly concentrated in urban low-income neighborhoods. Research evidence demonstrates that living in these neighborhoods affects family well-being in several key areas: economic and employment opportunity, health and mental health condition, crime and safety, and children's behavioral and educational outcomes. Using the neighborhood indicator approach, public and nonprofit social service agencies will be better positioned to develop a comprehensive and integrated service delivery model at the neighborhood level by using neighborhood assessment to locate services and utilize neighborhood intervention strategies.

Funding source, board involvement techniques, and financial vulnerability in nonprofit organizations: A test of resource dependence

The study examined here tested a resource dependence view of the organization on a sample of nonprofit social service agencies. Results indicated that CEOs of privately funded nonprofit agencies were more likely to use board involvement techniques than CEOs of government-funded or commercially supported organizations. In addition, privately funded agencies were less vulnerable to economic shock than government or commercially funded agencies, and funding source explained incremental variance in board involvement and vulnerability beyond characteristics of the organization and board. These results provide support for assertions of resource dependence theory and suggest that a CEO's strategic engagement with an organization's board depends in part on the nature and concentration of the organization's resources.

Intergenerational Programming for Foster-Adoptive Families

Generations of Hope serves foster and adoptive children, their adoptive families and older adults through an innovative program that is breaking new ground in the development of caring intergenerational communities. It was created in 1993 as a non-profit social service agency designed to improve the service delivery and policies of the child welfare system; it ended up helping not only foster and adopted children but senior citizens as well. This paper examines critical social issues facing both foster children and senior citizens in the United States and how this program created a neighborhood that combines several generations of kin-like support to meet the needs of these vulnerable groups. We describe how the Generations of Hope model brings together in tangible ways critical shifts in perspective regarding foster care and gerontology. The lessons we have learned speak to research, policy making and practice.

The “Other America” After Welfare Reform: A View from the Nonprofit Sector

SUMMARY This article examines the experiences of private, nonprofit social service agencies and their role in the “social safety net” following the 1996 welfare reforms. Among other concerns, the research suggests that declining welfare rolls are not indicative of widespread poverty reduction and increased self-sufficiency, as many nonprofits, especially those providing emergency food and shelter services, have experienced increasing demands during this time period. On a positive note, the growing role of nonprofit advocacy work emerged as one mechanism for improving the popular and political response to those living in poverty or near poverty conditions.