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Publication
The Continuing Crisis in Charitable ConfidenceFour years after September 11th, public confidence in charitable organizations remains stuck at a contemporary low. According to a telephone survey of 1,820 randomly-selected Americans interviewed on behalf of NYU Wagner's Organizational Performance …
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Searching for Social EntrepreneursThe question for this paper is not whether social entrepreneurs exist, however, but whether the field of social entrepreneurship is too exclusive for its own good. The field has mostly defined social entrepreneurs as individuals who launch entirely new …
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Depleting GovernmentThe federal government's "quiet crisis" of the 1980s has become the "deafening crisis" of the early twenty-first century. Virtually every measure of the state of the public service as envisioned by Alexander Hamilton has worsened over the past two …
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How Americans View Charities: A Report on Charitable ConfidencePublic confidence in charities is key in guaranteeing a vibrant future for treating and solving the world's most important problems. Public confidence affects charitable giving and volunteering, employee recruitment, and gives charities the freedom to …
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Public Opinion toward Legislating for the Future: An UpdateThe past two years have been unsettled at best for Congress. Public approval toward Congress remains low, legislative debates have been contentious, polarization remains high, and Congress has a mixed record in dealing with major long-term issues such as …
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Predicting Organizational Crisis Readiness: Perspectives and Practices toward a Pathway to PreparednessLight, P.C. …
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Social Security and the Politics of AssumptionsThis article addresses the importance of economic and demographic assumptions in framing the public policy process. It examines functions of such assumptions as an important aspect of government and as a new challenge for public managers. Using Social …
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Politics Is the Issue: A Response to Robert MyersPresents a response to a critique of a report on actuarial estimates for social security in the U.S., featured in the 1985 issue of the periodical "Public Administration Review." Potential impact of political pressure on the social security estimates; …
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The Way We Were?Discusses the possible reform of Social Security in the United States (US). Social Security myths and realities; Implication of social welfare problems; Options of the US Congress in …
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The Inspectors General at Missle AgeFocuses on the challenges which inspector generals (IGs) in the United States are facing, despite the commemoration of the implementation of the Inspector General Act in 1978. Reference to the opposition which the act faced; What problems was created for …
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Placing the Call to ServiceReveals the message from two surveys of senior-level appointees from the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Estimated number that said they would strongly recommended presidential service to a good friend; Percentage that …
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Our tottering confirmation process.Examines the presidential appointment process in the U.S. Background on the confirmation process; Analysis of the confirmed appointees of several presidents; Cause of delays in the confirmation process; Role of the Senate in the confirmation …
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The Volunteering DecisionDiscusses what prompts and sustains the volunteering decisions of presidents in the U.S. Views of President John F. Kennedy on volunteerism; Volunteer programs that former president Lyndon Johnson helped create; Other presidents of the U.S. that gave …
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Recommendations Forestalled or Forgotten? The National Commission on the Public Service and Presidential AppointmentsNearly two decades after the first Volcker Commission issued its report on the federal public service, the presidential appointment and confirmation process remains long, cumbersome, intensive, and embarrassing. As the evidence presented in this essay …
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The Search for Social EntrepreneurshipResearch on social entrepreneurship is finally catching up to its rapidly growing potential. In The Search for Social Entrepreneurship, Paul Light explores this surge of interest to establish the state of knowledge on this growing phenomenon and suggest …
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Homeland Security's Extreme MakeoverAs the Department of Homeland Security proceeds with its own recovery from hurricane Katrina, Americans have to wonder what, if anything, can be done to make sure the nation is ready for catastrophes such as earthquakes and terrorist attacks that come …
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The Katrina Effect on PreparednessThis report, comparing data collected in two surveys, one prior to Hurricane Katrina and one following, identifies a significant drop in public confidence in government's ability to handle disasters in the wake of the botched response to Hurricane …
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The Homeland Security HashFour years after it opened its doors, the Department of Homeland Security is by general agreement one of the most troubled cabinet-level agencies in the federal government. Hardly a day goes by without some fresh report on a contract gone bad, a new …
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The Troubled State of the Federal Public ServiceThe United States cannot win the war on terrorism or rebuild homeland security without a fully dedicated federal civil service. Unfortunately, federal employees report that both the quality of their work life and their level of job satisfaction have …
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Trust in Charitable OrganizationsPublic confidence in charitable organizations such as the Red Cross and United Way is essential to a high performing nonprofit or charitable sector. Indeed, confidence affects almost everything that matters to the future of the sector, especially the …
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Restoring the President's Reorganization AuthorityReorganization offers a significant opportunity to align agencies by mission rather than constituencies. If done well it can strengthen accountability, reduce wasteful duplication and overlap, tighten administrative efficiency, improve employee …
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The Civil Service and National Security Personnel Improvement ActIt was twenty-five years ago that this Committee took up the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. That statute reflected an effort to modernize a personnel system that had not been reformed since 1946, and addressed many of the issues embedded in this bill. …
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Next Steps in Human Capital ReformThe testimony explains why the Committee's proposed legislation to establish a Department of Defense national security personnel system marks an important step forward in crafting long-overdue changes to our outmoded human capital system in …
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An Update on the Bush Administration's Competitive Sourcing InitiativeTestimony regarding the Bush Administration's competitive sourcing initiative, which promises to subject at least 50 percent of the Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act (FAIR Act) not-inherently governmental jobs up for competition by some …