Measuring Research and Development Expenditures in the U.S. Nonprofit Sector Conceptual and Design Issues: Summary of a Workshop (2015) / Chapter Skim
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3 Understanding R&D within the Nonprofit Sector
3 Understanding R&D within the Nonprofit Sector
Pages 27-54
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, became clearer at the workshop through these presentations. The presentations and subsequent discussion among workshop participants identified five key challenges that many participants said the National Science Foundation (NSF)
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VOICES FROM THE NONPROFIT SECTOR Leaders from six different nonprofits -- the American Cancer Society (ACS) , Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, LeadingAge, Hillside Family of Agencies, Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association, and Mote Marine Laboratory -- presented views of R&D at their organizations.
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By focusing on this mission, the board and staff of ACS have worked together to identify and approve seven priority areas: lung cancer and tobacco control; nutrition and physical activity; colorectal cancer; breast cancer; cancer treatment and patient care; access to care–public policy; and global health. ACS ensures research dollars are directly tied to these priority areas in order to drive the greatest impact.
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The first, produced by the ACS surveillance and health services research department, has developed current incidence and mortality rates from various forms of cancer by gender. The accompanying publication, Cancer Facts and Figures (American Cancer Society, 2014)
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Other examples of ACS' intramural research include work on tobacco tax policy, which includes analysis of trade policies, and tobacco control, as well as nutrition and physical activity and their direct linkages with cancer. The statistics and evaluation department serves as the internal analysis group.
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Serving 1 of every 65 Minnesotans, LSSM operates 23 different lines of service in every county. The mission statement for LSSM is Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota expresses the love of Christ for all people through service that inspires hope, changes lives, and builds community.3 The organization is also part of a parent organization, Lutheran Services in America (LSA)
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across six states. LSSM plans to measure health care metrics as they create an ACO in Minnesota with multiple disability service providers.
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4 According to Stone, the organization represents an array of services among 6,000 members, including nursing homes, assisted living, adult day home, community-based services, and many low-income senior housing providers. CFAR "brings a breadth of knowledge and experience to a wide variety of research areas.
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This knowledge has led to the focus on housing services, keeping people in their communities as long as possible, preventing evictions, avoiding movement into nursing homes, and avoiding costly hospital admissions ultimately producing Medicare and -- Medicaid savings. LeadingAge used the research findings to develop a model of housing that centers on a service coordinator along with a wellness nurse.
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Initial results after 1 year of the program show reductions in the rate of growth in Medicare costs when compared with a control group with similar demographic characteristics. Stone indicated that they also have ongoing development projects, including a learning collaborative of 12 housing providers around the United States, that partner with health care and social services of various sizes and types.
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This project originated at a state regional meeting when concerns were raised about bees dying in large numbers, coupled with the risks 5 Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association's website: http://pwrbeekeepers.com/ [December 2014]
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We wanted to reduce our dependence on importing these packaged bees." In 2009, PWRBA applied successfully for a $15,000 Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education (SARE) grant6 from the U.S.
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In 1 year, PWRBA was able to quadruple the number of nucs it produced. Within 3 years they were able to produce enough nucs to support the entire student class and many existing beekeepers as well as to produce queen bees.
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, offered her perspective on R&D. She began with HFA's mission statement: Hillside Family of Agencies provides individualized health, education, and human services in partnership with children, youth, adults, and their families through an integrated system of care.7 7 The mission statement for Hillside Family of Agencies: http://www.hillside.com/ Generic.aspx?
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Hiring a research director proved challenging, and HFA learned that few similar nonprofit organizations had internal research departments. Further, they were unsuccessful in identifying someone who could understand and communicate effectively with researchers and practitioners.
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Cristalli shared that as HFA has expanded research partnerships with other institutions, they have come to see themselves as "in a transition from being only a service provider to also being a knowledge purveyor. We are now sharing and disseminating what we learn in the literature through invited book chapters and peer-reviewed publications." Cristalli illustrated HFA's mix of service provision and research by describing the Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection (HW-SC)
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HFA employs five business intelligence staffers and a full-time PhD-level research coordinator. Prior to using this data-driven process to target participants, she said, HFA merely recruited interested young people and checked their qualifications against the list of risk factors.
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In addition to this focus on disseminating scientific findings to the research community, Mote also maintains a commitment to translating and transferring research knowledge through an aquarium, which serves as an informal science education center. More than 350,000 people visit the center each 9 The strategic vision for Mote Marine Laboratory: http://mote.org/about-us/missionvision [December 2014]
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CHALLENGES The presentations from representatives of the six different nonprofit organizations and the discussions that followed shed light on a number
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Understanding the Diverse and Unique Nature of R&D in the Nonprofit Sector One of the primary reasons the workshop steering committee set up presentations by individuals from nonprofit organizations was to learn about the types of activities that might constitute R&D in this sector. As their representatives reported, the organizations vary in the extent to which research is a distinct activity versus being embedded within their programmatic activities.
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Feller stated, "The challenge for NSF, I think, in designing this survey is how tightly they adhere to the existing definition of R&D, or how flexible or accommodating they are in encompassing the multitude of activities that these organizations do." Ron Fecso, a consultant and member of the workshop steering committee, noted that this poses a difficult issue for NSF to consider, but added that in industry, quality control activities are not considered research. Therefore, he argued, to the extent that program evaluation is for the purpose of ensuring the quality of services and conducting market research, it is not necessarily research.
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They said the discussions at this workshop make clear that the traditional terminology of R&D does not work in many nonprofit organizations, and the way the nonprofits themselves think about their activities and the words they use for those activities can affect how they respond to survey questions. Among the alternative terms that participants suggested were applied research, evidence-based decision making, translational research, data mining, testing, capturing information, or experimenting.
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For example, he noted, the Current Population Survey asks multiple questions, rather than a single question, to determine whether someone is active in the labor force, and if so, unemployed. Similarly, a series of questions may help to tease apart the subtle distinctions between research done for evaluation and research done for other purposes, he stated.
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Some nonprofit organizations conduct research in-house through their intramural research programs. Others may provide extramural research funds to other organizations that will conduct the research.
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Stone elaborated on Mickle's observations, saying that because many nonprofit organizations are funded through grants, donations, and other "soft money," the amount of and ways in which they are engaging in research will be variable, particularly among individual member organizations that are part of umbrella groups. Some of these organizations have their own research institutes, while others do not.
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. putting a value on it and bringing it into economic accounting." He cited the examples of staff comprised entirely of volunteers, such as the Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association.
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CHAPTER SUMMARY Presenters shared their experiences and perspectives on R&D at their nonprofit organizations. Many workshop participants voiced their opinions that nonprofit organizations are conducting research worthy of being captured in the NSF survey.
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