Editor’s Note to Issue 11(2)

It is my pleasure to introduce this special issue on philanthropy and social impact. The issue derives from papers delivered at a research symposium on this theme hosted by the Center on Philanthropy & Public Policy at the University of Southern California in March of last year. The introductory essay by James Ferris and Elizabeth Graddy, who co-hosted the conference, describes the selected papers, so I will not steal their thunder or replicate their content. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed attending the symposium and that I am gratified by the quality of these papers and the new insights they offer at the intersection of public policy and philanthropy.

We round out this issue with a book review by Cassady Brewer on a new volume called Regulatory Waves, co-edited by Oonagh Breen, Alison Dunn and Mark Sidel. The book studies state regulation and self-regulation of the nonprofit sector in 16 countries. The book breaks new ground in understanding nonprofit sector regulation and Prof. Brewer brings his own ideas to the subject in his thoughtful review essay.

I write this note at a time of global turmoil with the coronavirus pandemic still raging, the worldwide effects of the resulting economic dislocations just beginning to be felt and understood, and social protests against police violence and racism in the United States roiling our cities in a presidential election year. If ever we needed better understanding of how the nonprofit sector and civil society and changes in public policy can help, in the face of all too much governmental fecklessness and perversity and societal fragmentation, it is now. Good research on such complex subject matter takes a long time to generate, evaluate and apply, but the problems are here to stay for a while and the urgency remains obvious. This journal stands ready to consider all thoughtful and rigorous contributions to understanding the conundrums we now face.

As of this writing the search committee has not yet identified my successor and the search is still open. A copy of the Call for Nominations is included as Supplementary Material with the online version of this article. If you are interested or wish to nominate someone, please contact Dr. Elizabeth Boris, Search Committee Chair, at eboris@urban.org

Thank you and enjoy reading this issue.