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www.american.edu/spa
Nonprofit Management
at American University
School of Public Affairs
SPA prepares nonprofit leaders to play a significant role in the development
and delivery of public services. Our acclaimed faculty offer expertise in defining
missions, building effective governance, acquiring resources, maintaining high
accountability standards, managing human resources, and thinking strategically.
Faculty Highlights
Khaldoun AbouAssi, whose research interests include public and nonprofit theory
and management, governance, and international development, joined SPA in fall 2015
as an assistant professor. He also serves in leadership positions at several professional
organizations, including the American Society for Public Administration and the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action. AbouAssi also
has extensive practical experience, having worked for more than 12 years in public and
nonprofit organizations in the Middle East.
Lewis Faulk is an assistant professor at SPA. His research and teaching expertise
includes nonprofit finance, the intersection of nonprofit organizations and public
policy, competition in the nonprofit sector, factors that influence foundation grantmaking, diversity and wages in the nonprofit workforce, and organizational capacity
and financial health. Faulk’s research has been published in leading nonprofit and public
management journals, including Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Nonprofit
Management and Leadership, Voluntas, and Public Administration Review.
Associate Professor Anna Amirkhanyan’s research and teaching expertise includes
public and nonprofit management, government contracting, organizational performance,
citizen participation, mixed-methods research, and the intellectual history of public
administration. Her articles have been published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, the Journal of Policy
Analysis and Management, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, and the
American Review of Public Administration. In 2014-2015, Feeding America funded
her Charitable Food Assistance Study, co-authored with Associate Professor Alison
Jacknowitz and Professorial Lecturer Jane Palmer.
Recent PhD Placements
in the Nonprofit Sector
Amanda J. Stewart
SPA/PhD ’14,
Assistant Professor,
North Carolina
State University
Sarah Pettijohn
SPA/PhD ’14,
Assistant Professor,
University of North
Carolina at Charlotte
Jaclyn Piatak
SPA/PhD ’13,
Assistant Professor,
University of North
Carolina at Charlotte
SPA — Urban Institute Collaboration
SPA has partnered with the Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy (CNP).
The partnership will advance mutual goals of creating new data sources for nonprofit researchers and
greater community impact by engaging AU students and faculty in the work of the CNP, developing
co-sponsored events, and advancing the Nonprofit Panel Dataset Project. Outcomes to date include
the June 2015 Shaping the Future of Nonprofit Data Symposium hosted at American University and
attended by researchers from around the country, and the start of an ongoing graduate student internship
funded by SPA and hosted by the CNP. You can follow these and other developments at #NPDProject.
Above: Attendees at the Shaping the Future of Nonprofit Data Symposium captured ideas for survey instrument and data collection strategy.
What Our Alumni Say
“We are a community
of world-class minds and
roll-up-your-sleeves-to-getsomething-done leaders—
something our national
officials should emulate.”
Andy MacCracken,
SPA/BA ’11 and
SPA/MPA ’14
Executive Director &
Cofounder, National Campus
Leadership Council
“SPA graduates are everywhere
– and being able to note that
connection from the outset
has helped advance a number
of conversations critical to
strategy and coalitions for
the nonprofits I have led.”
“My education at AU was one
of the best. In my later life—the
career paths I chose—the AU
experience was truly helpful.
The School of Public Affairs
truly enabled me to do a much
better job in my work life.”
Erin Fuller, SPA/BA ’93 and
SPA/MPA ’94, President,
Coulter Companies,
specializing in nonprofit
governance, marketing,
branding, and communications
John Boyer, SPA/PhD ’89
Chairman, MAXIMUS
Foundation
Select Research
M E AS U R I N G GOVER NMENT CO NTRACTORS’ PERFORM ANCE
A study by Anna Amirkhanyan, et al., examines the performance of
contracted childcare centers in Ohio and finds that performance assessments
of the clients, leadership, staff, and government regulators varies significantly.
Evaluations are influenced by different organizational and environmental
factors. The authors suggest that the strength of the government-contractor
relationship improved these assessments, while the extent of red tape and
formalization in contracts undermined them. The study, titled “The Performance
Puzzle: Understanding the Factors Influencing Alternative Dimensions of Performance,” was published
in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.
F UN D I N G A N D S EL F- REGU L ATION
Khaldoun AbouAssi investigated the assumption that an organization
is more likely to adopt self-regulation practices if it has a high level of
resource dependence. The study finds moderate support for claims that
diversity of funding sources positively correlates with self-regulation
practices. Additional research is planned to identify differences between
resource dependency explanations and plausible alternatives. The study,
titled “Testing Resource Dependency as a Motivator for NGO SelfRegulation: Suggestive Evidence from the Global South,” appeared in
Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.
Alumni Placement
41
%
of SPA graduates work in the nonprofit sector
Select Research
ACCO U N TA B I L IT Y A N D EX P EN S ES AT FO U NDATI O NS
Amanda J. Stewart and Lewis Faulk examine the potential paradox of accountability engendered by the qualifying distributions requirement of the Tax Reform
Act of 1969, as administrative expenses can be counted toward foundations’
qualifying distributions. Using a 14-year panel, the analysis indicates that professionalization, measured by operating and administrative expenses, has a positive
association with foundation grant-making. From a policy perspective, the current
structure of the qualifying distributions mandate does not appear to lead to a
crowding out of grant allocations as administrative expenses grow. The article,
titled “Administrative Growth and Grant Payouts in Nonprofit Foundations: Fulfilling the Public Good
Amid Professionalization?,” was published in Public Administration Review.
N G O - D O N O R R ELATIONS HIPS
Khaldoun AbouAssi examines the responses of NGOs to changes in the
funding priorities of their donors. The article draws on qualitative research
into the responses of four NGOs – responses ranging from suspending
the relationship, reaching common ground, automatically executing the
donor’s interests, and voluntarily and deliberately adapting to the situation. AbouAssi identifies four modes of response: exit, voice, loyalty, and
adjustment. He also offers additional interpretations of NGO responses and
discusses the implications for NGO management. The article, titled “NGOs’
Hands in Donors’ Pockets: What Happens When Donors Move! How
NGOs React to Shifts in Donor Funding?,” appeared in Nonprofit and
Voluntary Sector Quarterly.
We Know Success
SA MP LE
EMP LOYERS
SA MPL E
IN TE R N SH IPS
• AIDS Alliance for Children,
Youth and Families
• American Foundation
for the Blind
• Brookings Institution
• Ashoka
• Green Building
Certification Inc.
• American Civil
Liberties Union
• Higher Education
for Development
• International Institute
of Education
• Pew Research Center
• National League of Cities
• Urban Institute
• World Wildlife Fund
Select Research
GE N D E R PAY GAPS IN THE NONP ROFIT SECTOR
Lewis Faulk, et al., report that gender pay gaps in the nonprofit sector are smaller
in industries where nonprofits outnumber for-profits and where higher proportions
of female-dominated occupations exist. They also show that gender pay gaps are as
large as in the for-profit sector in some industries. Yet, in other industries, women
make more than comparably qualified men. The authors found this was not due to
the absence of gender pay ceilings in the sector, but rather that relative pay equality
is compressed around a wage floor. Titled “An Analysis of Gender Pay Disparity
in the Nonprofit Sector: An Outcome of Labor Motivation or Gendered Jobs,”
the study was published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.