RGK Center for Philanthropy Summer Fellowship: Week 1

I am currently participating in a summer fellowship at the RGK Center on Philanthropy and Community Service at the University of Texas-Austin with Peter Frumkin, Ph.D--an amazingly brilliant nonprofit scholar.

The program lasts for 4 weeks, so I hope to write a blog post at the end of each week about how things are progressing and what we are up to.

Along with myself there are six other young nonprofit doctoral students (representing Sociology, Public Policy, and Public Administration programs). It is such an amazing opportunity to be able to interact with future nonprofit scholars who are studying the sector from different "disciplinary lenses."

The first week of the program was an absolute thrill. We began with a 1.5 hour "get to know you luncheon," and then transitioned right into business: presenting our research on the nonprofit sector.

• The first presentation focused on methods of strategic adaptation in public and private higher educational institutions. A very fascinating paper. Essentially, the student was trying to show that in higher education there are different funding strategies that are pursued in public and private institutions and how these strategies change over time.

• The second presentation was something that I, personally, am not very familiar with; however, Dr. Frumkin had much knowledge of--that is, the world of museums and contemporary art. The student will be conducting an ethnography to demonstrate how museums, a nontraditional market, use art as an investment.

• The third presentation focused on innovation in nonprofit and public sector organizations. A very a timely piece (at least for me) since the next day at USD we held our symposium on time-tested models of nonprofit innovation. In this presentation the student was trying to show the differences in perceived innovation among employees in the nonprofit and the public sector.

• Finally, the fourth presentation was on the purported "leadership deficit" facing the nonprofit sector and wage inequality in nonprofit and public sector organizations. This presentation is such a "hot topic" right now in the nonprofit sector that it sparked so many ideas by everyone in the room.

All of these papers will be online at the end of the program... and from there, hopefully in a journal somewhere (keep your fingers crossed).

Next week, I will be the first presentation followed by the final two student presenters. The topics should continue to be very interesting. Stay tuned!

RGK Center for Philanthropy Summer Fellowship: Week 1