Networks, Stakeholders and Nonprofit Organization

Governance: Whither (Wither?) Boards

A Conference for Practitioners and Researchers

 April 26 and 27, 2007

Kansas City, Missouri, USA

 Sponsored by

The Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership

University of Missouri – Kansas City

And

The Nonprofit Quarterly

 Call for Conference Papers

Effective governance and board leadership are integral to the nonprofit sector, yet scholars and practitioners alike continue to be challenged to understand the complex and changing nature of nonprofit governance and the boards that engage in it.  In spite of the significant amount of time and energy that we invest in initiatives to address issues of boards and governance, there remains a general sense that we know too little.

For example, the last two decades have seen the establishment and growth of many efforts (1) to better understand and communicate what effective boards are and do and (2) to build the capacity of boards and board members to serve their roles effectively.  Yet it is clear that poor board performance has hardly been eliminated.  Has the growth of this research and training infrastructure for nonprofit boards made any difference? 

It is also becoming increasingly clear that the governance of nonprofit organizations is not solely a matter of what boards do (or don’t do).  Many nonprofit charitable organizations organize and even implement their work through strategic alliances or networks of service-delivery, and engagement in these networks often affects the sort of decisions that typically have been considered the domain of board-level governance.  Similarly, most nonprofit organizations have long recognized that their stakeholders have (varying degrees of) influence on governance decisions.  Do these changing dynamics demand that we re-conceive the notion of nonprofit governance?  Instead of focusing solely on what boards do (or are responsible for), shouldn’t we focus on nonprofit governance as fulfilling the multiple expectations of stakeholders who have invested resources toward the mission of a nonprofit organization?  Will gaining a clearer understanding of the relationship of stakeholders and networks to governance will clarify the fundamental and future work of nonprofit boards?  There is much to be examined as we consider nonprofit governance for today and for the future.

We invite papers for this conference that focus on all aspects of nonprofit governance, including governance of public-benefit charities, grant-making foundations, and associations.  We are especially interested in papers that consider governance as it occurs beyond the domain of individual organizational boards - on other avenues or mechanisms of nonprofit organizational governance.  The following illustrate the kinds of questions and issues to be considered at this conference.

• It long has been recognized that nonprofit governance is complicated by the fact that nonprofit organizations have no shareholders.  What stakeholder interests do nonprofit boards usually see themselves as representing?  Are boards more likely to behave as if donors are more important stakeholders than clients?  In instances where boards successfully address multiple stakeholder interests, how is this accomplished?
• In what ways have nonprofit organizations explicitly and formally involved stakeholders in governance?  How has this been accomplished, is it changing, and what have been the results and consequences?

• How has the enhanced emphasis on accountability affected the roles and behavior of nonprofit boards?  Are boards taking a greater role in addressing issues of accountability and, if so, which boards and how?
• What has been the impact on the performance of those nonprofit organizations that have adopted some of the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation? 
• Should Sarbanes-Oxley (or relevant portions) apply to nonprofit charitable organizations?  Should other national legislation specifying governance requirements and mechanisms that are more specifically tailored to nonprofit organizations be enacted?
• How has the recent press for some nonprofits to become more entrepreneurial or “business-like” affected the nature of their governance and the behavior and effectiveness of their boards?
• Since accountability is usually conceived as providing evidence about performance, what role (if any) do boards take in assessing program performance; what role (if any) do boards take in assessing overall organizational performance? 
• If boards (as the available research suggests) typically do little about assessing program performance and especially about assessing overall organizational performance, why has that been true?  What might (can) be done to induce boards to take a greater role?  What should that role be?
• Are efforts to improve governance of nonprofit organizations focused too much on a “managerialist” approach, attempting to improve efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery and ignoring the civic or other roles of nonprofit organizations?  What standards or expectations might be established (and by whom) to encourage boards (and managers) to assess their organizations’ contributions to civic life?

We welcome papers that are empirical, papers that are conceptual, and prescriptive papers that are based on theory and research.  The deadline for receipt of proposals is December 18, 2006.  Proposals should be no more than 3 pages.  For empirical papers, proposals will include a statement of the problems or issues to be considered, an overview of the relevant literature, a statement of the methods used and a summary of the results or likely results.  Proposals for conceptual papers should also be no more than 3 pages and should include a statement of the problems or issues to be considered, an overview of the relevant literature, and a statement of the thesis or theses to be developed and how these add to our understanding of nonprofit organizational governance.  Proposals will be peer-reviewed and authors notified of acceptance by mid-January, 2007.

Proposals should be sent to Program Coordinator, Mr. Scott Helm.  They may be sent as email attachments to: helmst@umkc.edu, or they may be mailed to the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership, Department of Public Affairs, Bloch School of Business and Public Administration, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO 64110-2499.  Proposals also may be faxed to 816-235-1169.

The Nonprofit Quarterly again joins the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership as co-sponsor of this conference on nonprofit governance.  Similar to our previous conferences, the 2007 Governance Conference will be highly interactive and designed to facilitate active exchange among researchers, practitioners, and consultants.  This conference design includes research and paper sessions intermixed with plenary sessions and professionally-facilitated (no-presentation) dialogue sessions.  In multiple ways, researchers, practitioners, and trainers/consultants will share and discuss what they are learning from their research, study and practice, and explore their implications for future practice.

Questions about the conference may be directed to Bob Herman  (HermanR@umkc.edu or 816-235-2338) or Dave Renz (RenzD@umkc.edu or 816-235-2342).

Click here for information on the conference.