Making Nonprofits Work: A Report on the Tides of Nonprofit Management Reform

The nonprofit sector is under tremendous pressure to improve its organizational performance. Its funders-governments, charitable organizations, and individual givers-insist on economy and results, while its clients-both communities and individuals-demand efficiency and responsiveness. This report charts the current trends of management reform in the nonprofit sector. It begins with an assessment of the current climate for reform at both the national and local levels, then examines the four popular methods, or "tides" being advocated: scientific management, which is built on a template of best practices; liberation management, which uses outcome measurement to gauge success; war on waste, which promotes private industry-style cost-cutting techniques; and watchful eye, which emphasizes public exposure as a disciplining tool for nonprofits. The report ends with a discussion of the limits of knowledge in the general field of nonprofit management reform, and a report on the estimated strength of each of the four reform tides. Paul C. Light concludes that the nonprofit sector has a remarkable opportunity to prevent the excesses and avoid the fads that have dominated reform efforts in government and the private sector, but only if it recognizes the limits of knowledge on what does and does not work in making organizations run more efficiently. An Action Report on Public Service