A New GrantStation Partner: ARNOVA

In early 2019, I reached out to Lynnette Cook, Executive Director of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), to find out if she would be interested in writing a blog post for GrantStation. I had stumbled across several ARNOVA webinars I found intriguing, and was eager to learn more about what the organization was all about. We scheduled a call in March, and by early summer that initial phone call had turned into an exciting new partnership between GrantStation and ARNOVA.

Let me back this up a bit! What intrigued me about ARNOVA is that it represents “a diverse community of scholars, educators, and practice leaders that strengthens the field of nonprofit and philanthropic research in order to improve civil society and human life.” The idea of engaging researchers, and the important work they are doing, and delivering their thoughts and ideas to all of our readers, not only made sense, it also felt like a bridge that needed to be built. The web is littered with blog posts, trainings, and articles on how to build, manage, and grow your nonprofit based on one person’s experience, which is not just overwhelming, it can also be dangerous. Whom do you listen to? Whom do you trust to deliver well reasoned information?  These are questions we all ask ourselves. And here I had found a treasure trove of actual scientific research that could provide some clarity on what is really happening in the third sector, and how we can apply what we learn.

To move this process forward, Pracademics Section of ARNOVA and GrantStation have undertaken an exciting new partnership that will focus on a “research to practice and practice to research” project for 2021. Our goal is to find ways to connect the researchers’ work with the needs of the nonprofit community—connecting practitioners with research knowledge. To this end, six researchers participating in the Research to Practice Track of ARNOVA will be presenting their research to the GrantStation audience this year. Lynnette Cook commented that she really likes the two-way nature of the relationship we are building. "Our first priority is for ARNOVAns to share their research with GrantStation audiences. I also hope that we can support the nonprofit leaders who engage in this series by encouraging them to pose their own questions, which could lead to further, actionable research  by the ARNOVA team.”

Each researcher will be interviewed, and a feature article written, around their specific research topic. These topics vary widely, from confronting pandemia to social justice philanthropy and its relationship to Indigenous cultures. I encourage you to watch for these special feature articles in Tracks to Success on the GrantStation website throughout the first half of the year.

The first feature article in this series, Nonprofits in an Era of Growing Challenges, is an interview with Jon Van Til, Executive Secretary of the Civil Society Design Network and Professor Emeritus of Urban Studies and Community Planning at Rutgers University. His ARNOVA paper is titled, “Confronting Pandemia Amidst the Other Crises of Our Times,” and discusses the role of the nonprofit sector in times of upheaval, with a particular focus on where it stands in relation to the other sectors of society—government, business, and core culture. Stimulating reading! And definitely food for thought for those of us trying to lead our organizations in these challenging times.

In November 2021 ARNOVA will be celebrating its 50th year at their annual conference. The ARNOVA conference is designed to create a public conversation on, as well as opportunities for presenting research about, pressing issues and vital opportunities facing the voluntary or nonprofit sector. It is both a showcase for the best and most current research, as well as a seed bed from which new research is born. You may want to consider becoming a member of ARNOVA, or perhaps attending their conference in the fall.

I want to thank the ARNOVA leadership for agreeing to be part of this project—bringing the latest nonprofit sector research to the dedicated people working in the field. I hope you all find the information presented over the next six months interesting, stimulating, and actionable.