Search
Publication
Reshaping Social EntrepreneurshipSocial entrepreneurship has come to be synonymous with the individual visionary - the risk taker who goes against the tide to start a new organization to create dramatic social change. The problem with focusing so much attention on the individual …
Publication
Surviving Innovation: An Overview of the Minnesota Innovation ProjectLight, P.C. … Surviving Innovation: An Overview of the Minnesota Innovation Project …
Publication
The Changing Shape of GovernmentWithout discounting the significant downsizing that has occurred, only one of the two ingredients for a leaner, more efficient government is in place. The girth of government-measured by the total number of federal employees-may be shrinking, but its …
Publication
To Restore and Renew: The State of the Federal ServiceThe terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11 reminded the nation just how important the federal public service is in times of crisis. The night after the attacks, President Bush said, "the functions of our government continue without …
Publication
What Federal Employees Want from ReformIt is no longer clear that the federal government work force can pass the following five tests of a healthy public service, which are that it should be: -Motivated by the public good, not security or a stable paycheck. -Recruited from the top of the labor …
Publication
Fact Sheet on the Continued Thickening of GovernmentThe past half century has witnessed a slow, but steady thickening of the federal bureaucracy as Congress and presidents have added layer upon layer of political and career management to the hierarchy. The past six years have been no different. Despite the …
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 …
Publication
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 …
Publication
Pathways to Nonprofit ExcellenceFourth in a series of reports on the changing nature of public service in government and the nonprofit sector, Pathways to Excellence focuses on a unique survey of contemporary thinking about creating effective nonprofit organizations. Based on interviews …
Publication
Facing the Futures: Building Robust Nonprofits in the Pittsburgh RegionThe Pittsburgh region faces tough questions as it faces the futures ahead. Will it, for example, find a way to stop its young people from leaving or slip further into the profile of a “weak market” city, with all that means for the erosion of jobs and …
Publication
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 …
Publication
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 …
Publication
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 …
Publication
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 …
Publication
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 …
Publication
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; …
Publication
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 reform. … Light, P.C. … The Way We …
Publication
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 …
Publication
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 …
Publication
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 process. … …
Publication
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 …
Publication
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 …
Publication
Government's Greatest Priorities of the Next Half CenturyNo one can be sure what the next fifty years will hold in terms of government achievement, nor can anyone be sure just what the federal government will be doing fifty years from now. The government will almost certainly launch entirely new endeavors, some …
Publication
Posts of Honor: How America's Corporate and Civic Leaders View Presidential AppointmentsFrom its very beginnings as a war-weary republic, the United States has always depended on citizen servants to lead its government. The Founding Fathers believed their young nation would not long survive as a representative democracy without leaders whose …