View Research by Author - Jennifer Auer

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/JenniferAuer

This report presents findings of a telephone survey of 1,500 clients who received services under the American Red Cross September 11th Recovery Program. The program provided longer-term assistance, such as case management, financial assistance, and mental health services, to individuals and families with continuing needs related to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Over 80 percent of those who received mental health services said that it helped them cope with stress and other issues, although two-thirds indicated grief continues to interfere with their lives to a large or moderate extent. Additionally, 43 percent said they or their families still needed services to further their recovery.

Louisiana's nonprofits are poised to play pivotal roles in the state's recovery through job training, health care provision, affordable housing construction and more. This brief presents survey results, detailing the operating status and needs of Louisiana's charitable organizations in hurricane-affected areas. It finds fewer than half of the nonprofit health and human service providers surveyed are fully operational--and in the New Orleans area, fewer than half are providing any services at all. They expect their recoveries to be slow, despite an initial influx of donations, and cite providing housing for staff and volunteer reinforcements as necessary to meet community needs.

Nonprofit organizations act as community anchors in neighborhoods across the United States, providing a place for residents to meet and visual evidence of investment in the area. The importance of nonprofits is particularly evident in low-income communities like Wards 7 and 8 in the District of Columbia. This study uses telephone surveys and site visits to compile a profile of the charitable organizations that are headquartered in these two wards. The study examines the types of services offered by local nonprofits, the populations they serve, as well their tenure, annual budgets and sources of income. The findings show a relatively underdeveloped nonprofit sector that exhibits some unexpected characteristics.

From organizations that provide child care and early childhood education programs for preschoolers to groups that offer after-school and computer literacy programs for teenagers, nonprofits play crucial roles in the lives of children in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Vital Signs, a series of community profiles, compares the nonprofit resources and fiscal health of organizations serving children in the region's 11 jurisdictions. Taken together or individually, the profiles are a tool for the region's policy-makers, philanthropists and child advocates.

The accessibility of nonprofit services is a key factor in promoting effective service delivery networks for children and youth. In the D.C. metro area, little was known about the location of nonprofit providers in relation to the residential patterns of children, particularly from low-income families. This document, which is the second in a series of "fast facts" on child-related nonprofits in the D.C. region, summarizes the major findings of the report entitled, "Spatial Connections: Examining the Location of Children and the Nonprofits That Serve Them in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area." The research finds a significant relationship between the locational patterns of child and youth nonprofits, particularly social welfare organizations, and high rates of child poverty in neighborhoods in the region.

In order for child-related nonprofits to provide effective services, they must have sound financial structures and maintain good fiscal health. Currently, little is known about the financial well-being of nonprofits that serve children in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. This document, which is the first in a series of "fast facts" on child-related nonprofits in the D.C. area, summarizes the major findings of the report entitled, "Accounting for Kids: The Financial Structure and Fiscal Health of Nonprofit Child and Youth Providers in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Region." It reveals that many of these nonprofits showed signs of fiscal stress in 2000, one year before the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center that exacerbated the decline in the D.C. regional economy.

The accessibility of nonprofit services is a key factor in promoting effective service delivery networks for children and youth. Until now, little was known about the location of nonprofit providers in relation to the residential patterns of children, particularly from low-income families. Using a newly developed dataset of nonprofit organizations in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, and the Urban Institute's Neighborhood Change Database, this study takes aim at this information gap by providing the first empirical assessment of the spatial allocation of locally-oriented child and youth nonprofit resources in the D.C. region. The report finds a significant relationship between high rates of child poverty in neighborhoods and the locational patterns of child and youth nonprofits, particularly social welfare organizations, in the region.

The nonprofit sector is facing a changing funding environment and a steadily rising need for its services. This study of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area takes a systematic look at the region's nonprofit sector to identify notable strengths and gaps in activity and the financial contributions that nonprofits make to the region. The report examines the sources of income upon which nonprofits rely to support their operations, especially its reliance on government funding, and it analyses both the operating margin and net assets of the sector to assess fiscal health. The findings suggest that greater attention needs to be paid to managing the sector's financial resources, particularly its assets.

In January 2000, the Foundation Media Relations Project was launched to bridge the gulf between journalists and foundations. This localized, experimental effort was based on recommendations in a report by Burness Communications for the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. The report, Overcoming the Jitters, singled out regional associations of grantmakers as a logical starting point to help diverse foundations work with the news media. The Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy assessed the Foundation Media Relations Project and extracted the lessons learned. Highlights from these lessons are presented in this document—a primer for foundations and philanthropy leaders nationwide. The Center's recommendations for overcoming the media jitters: a receptive attitude, sufficient resources and support, patience, and commitment.

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