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In 2005, the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies made a strategic decision to use the Bernard B. and Eugenia A. Ramsey Chair of Private Enterprise to anchor the development and growth of its Nonprofit Studies Program at Georgia State. Dr. Dennis R. Young was pleased to be appointed for this position. “My experience at Georgia State has been great because the Ramsey Chair provides resources and a leadership role to work with faculty, students and the Atlanta community to really develop the nonprofit program,” he says. “We’ve already had increased numbers in our undergraduate program and more development on the Ph.D. level.” Before coming to Georgia State, Dr. Young created the National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise (NCNE) in Arlington, Virginia and now serves as the President. He also helped to establish the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Case Western, and is the former president of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), and was recently listed on The Nonprofit Times’ “Power and Influence Top 50 List”.

Realizing the benefits of understanding nonprofit financing, Dr. Young has collaborated on the subject with a group of colleagues involved in NCNE around the country for more than four years. “Nonprofit financing is a general subject area that needs a lot of exploration. Nonprofits are organized in complex ways. They get their funding from many different combinations of sources and it varies by sub-sectors,” he says. Until recently, there was little research as to what determines the best mix of financial sources for nonprofits. Based on their stage of development, the funding for these organizations can range from charitable gifts to earned income to endowment investments. By speaking with community, nonprofit and academic leaders around the nation, Dr. Young and his colleagues developed underlying theories that nonprofits can use to determine the best combination of financial sources for their organization. Their work was published in a book titled, Financing Nonprofits: Bridging Theory and Practice.

According to the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics, over 1.4 million 501(c)(3) public charities existed in the United States in 2006. In 2004, public charities reported nearly $1.1 trillion in total revenues and just over $1 trillion in total expenses. As the size and scope of the nonprofit sector grows, challenges in technology, globalization, financial accountability and changing demographics will require new solutions and ideas. The Nonprofit Studies Program and the Ramsey Chair of Private Enterprise provide the opportunity to coordinate intellectual resources in order to more effectively contribute to this effort for the benefit of society.