Responding to funding scarcity: governance challenges in Swedish and South African development partnerships

Purpose In the context of the general funding scarcity in the nonprofit sector, this paper aims to inquire into the governance challenges facing nonprofit aid organizations in a donor–recipient partner relationship. In particular, the authors focus on the challenges of commercial diversification as the espoused alternative to aid-funding. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative design was deployed to collect and analyze data collected from interviews conducted in three case organizations in an aid development partnership. Findings The various responses at the organizational level are presented as well as analyses of the inter-organizational aspects. All organizations have responded strategically to reductions in funding from state/government and other aid sources by attempting to diversify commercially yet at the same time maintain dependency on aid-funding. This entailed tensions between the logics of the market and mission. These tensions are manifest not only within the organizations but also in the relations between them. Originality/value Analyses of the twin-track strategies have highlighted that maintaining aid dependency and resource diversification have different and conflicting relational prerequisites and require diverse and conflicting internal capabilities. The paper develops a conceptual framework for capturing the governance challenges of this strategic dilemma and concludes that the choices of pursuing continued aid-funding and seeking new commercial opportunities are invariably mutually exclusive.

Privatization and school mental health

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the relationship between privatization and school mental health (SMH) in the USA, as well as to present a case study of the SMH system in South Carolina. Design/methodology/approach The authors reviewed data regarding states’ mental health systems (e.g. public, private and hybrid of public and private), mental health budgets and percentages of schools with mental health clinicians. Findings The results demonstrate that the majority of states have public mental health systems. There is variability between states regarding general funding, as well as funding for SMH. Further, there was variability in the percentage of schools with SMH clinicians, with South Carolina reporting the greatest percentage. South Carolina’s mental health system, which is a public–private hybrid is reviewed, along with relevant history on the development of SMH programs in the state. Originality/value This paper contributes to the general knowledge by describing the provision and funding sources for SMH services within the USA. It yields important implications for integrating public mental health services within schools.

Sector Choice and Sector Regret

Although sector choice theory is improving, we have less understanding of how social entrepreneurs view their sector choices in hindsight, particularly given the various barriers to changing organizational form once a legal entity has been established. This article finds that one in six organizational founders in the fair trade industry regrets their initial sector choice. In addition to defining and examining the prevalence of sector regret, this article also identifies three factors that correlate with the sector preferences of fair trade entrepreneurs postestablishment: general funding and support, the availability of grants, and salary. In other words, money, money, and money. As presaged by Dennis Young in 1983, financial flexibility appears to be a key factor in sector fit. Using semistructured interviews ( n = 46) and a survey ( n = 117), this article examines sector regret and what it tells us about the real differences between the sectors.

Performance Of Children With Autism In Parent-Administered Cognitive And Language Exercises

There is a broad scientific consensus that early and intensive therapy has the greatest chance of positive impact on an individual with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the availability, quality, and general funding for early intervention programs is often lacking, leaving newly diagnosed children without adequate and sufficient therapy during the most critical early period of their development. Parent-administered iPad-assisted therapy has the potential to reduce the gap between the amount of therapy recommended for children with ASD and the amount they receive. However it is unclear how ASD severity and age influence a child’s ability to engage with and learn from computerized cognitive exercises. In this manuscript, we describe data from a tablet-based therapeutic application administered by parents to 1,514 young children with ASD over the course of four to twelve months. We report that older children and children with milder forms of ASD performed better and progressed faster in cognitive and language exercises. However, most children were able to engage with and learn from exercises independent of their age or ASD severity. This data confirm that tablet-based cognitive and language exercises can be successfully administered by parents to children as young as two years of age over the course of many months independent of ASD severity.

Funding Support for School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support Implementation and Scale-Up

The process of selecting, implementing, and scaling-up evidence-based practices is a major focus and difficult accomplishment for states. Renewed commitment to improving student outcomes has led directly to the need for effective practices implemented at scale. The funding decisions made at state, regional, and district levels remain a key to large-scale implementation of effective practices. In this article, we summarize the funding decisions of nine states that implemented School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) across at least 500 schools or 30% of the schools in the state. A survey about funding sources, funding levels, and funding decisions was completed by the key implementers in each state, and a follow-up interview was used to clarify and confirm initial information. The results indicate that different states used different funding approaches, but in general, funding of SWPBIS was provided predominantly through special education sources and that initial demonstrations led to larger scale implementation when state policy makers developed creative procedures for using multiple funding sources within a unified implementation effort. Implications for funding the scaling of evidence-based practices are discussed.