The Governance of Not-for-profit Organizations

Not-for-profit organizations play a critical role in the American economy, but little attention is paid to the pressures and challenges that affect their governance. We know such firms don’t try to maximize profits, but what do they maximize?

The Governance of Not-for-Profit Organizations tackles that question head-on, assembling experts on the not-for-profit sector to examine the diverse and wide-ranging concerns of universities, art museums, health care providers—and even the medieval church. Contributors look at a number of different aspects of not-for-profit operations, from the problems of fundraising, endowments, and governance to specific issues like hospital advertising. The picture that emerges is complex and surprising—one in which some institutions function as efficiently as for-profit firms while others appear to be maximizing the interests of their elite workers, rather than those of their donors, customers, or society at large.

Edward L. Glaeser is professor of economics at Harvard University and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is the editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics and coauthor, with Alberto Alesina, of Fighting Poverty in the U.S. and Europe: A World of Difference.