Book Review: Nonprofits as policy solutions to the burden of government

• DOI: 10.1177/0275074020907161
• Date: 01 May 2020
• Published date: 01 May 2020
• Author: Gabel Taggart
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

Book Reviews 441

mitigate government’s reputation crisis. For instance,

Lerman notes that the results of her survey experiment sug-

gest that her recommendations can influence how individu-

als feel about specific incidences but not about how citizens

feel about government as a whole. This is an important find-

ing, as it is these aggregate sentiments that cause the reputa-

tion crisis. The author does mention this shortcoming briefly;

however, she should probably spend more time addressing it

along with its implications for government. Perhaps she

could have tied it into the contention made earlier in the

book. That is, it is very difficult to change American’s per-

ceptions of government. In addition, the book is not as

focused as it could be. One glaring example is the last three

chapters which discuss privatization and the public good.

These chapters are informative and useful but do not fit

neatly into the outline of the book (i.e., government’s reputa-

tion crisis). Consequently, the information in these chapters

is superfluous at times. Therefore, the book seems like it

should end at chapter 10, which gives practical advice

regarding how to repair the reputation crisis.

Nevertheless, this book is highly recommended. As sur-

vey public administration courses cover citizen perceptions

toward government, this book could be listed as supplemen-

tary reading. This book could also fit into the reading lists of

more substantive courses that focus on either privatization,

citizen participation, or even behavioral public administra-

tion (given the series of experiments used to test the central

arguments).

ORCID iD

James Gerard Caillier https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0127-6343

Reference

Caillier, J. G. (2018). The priming effect of corruption and bureau-

cracy bashing on citizens’ perceptions of an agency’s perfor-

mance. Public Performance & Management Review, 41(2),

201–223.

Bryce, H. J. (2017). Nonprofits as policy solutions to the burden

of government. Boston, MA: De Gruyter Publications. 273 pp.

$39.99. ISBN 978-1-5015-1473-9.

Reviewed by: Gabel Taggart , University of Wyoming,

Laramie, WY, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0275074020907161

The principal contributions in Bryce’s Nonprofits as Policy

Solutions to the Burden of Government are in its advocacy for

the increased utilization of a specific class of nonprofit orga-

nizations as a means to lessening the burden of government

and in its detailed explanations and information for forming

and maintaining these types of organizations within the

bounds of existing laws. Bryce’s main goal in lessening the

burden of government is improved efficiency (pp. 17–18).

The main mechanism for improving efficiency is choice. His

argument is that providing nonprofit alternatives to govern-

ment provision of goods and services brings about choice

which leads to efficiency. Nonprofits allow for a suitable

alternative to government for various reasons: (a) they are

financed voluntarily rather than compulsory taxation; (b) they

are financed by investors who assess economic worthiness;

and (c) it creates an organization around a mission that can

create a core competency and greater efficiency by special-

ization. Bryce references the national debt as the main argu-

ment for why improved efficiency is needed.

Nonprofits that earn business income, or in most cases,

those that charge fees-for-service, are identified as a main

candidate for lessening the burden of government. Bryce

separates the special case of nonprofits into doers and facili-

tators. Doers are nonprofits that are “most likely to assume

and to carry out a burden of government” (p. 69). Facilitators

are those that raise money to support the doers or who “facil-

itate in other ways such as being a catalyst or a coordinator

so that other might directly and effectively lessen the burden

of government” (p. 69). As mentioned, Bryce provides help-

ful and detailed explanations of the laws and tax codes rele-

vant to forming and maintaining these nonprofits. For

example, the book provides excellent explanations for the

tests required for two types of doers: (a) 509(a)(1) types that

rely on contributions (e.g., The Vietnam War Memorial) and

(b) 509(a)(2) types that depend mostly on business income

(e.g., The Retiree Resource Corporation). This book serves

as an excellent resource that clarifies the existing tax laws.

Given that much of the book is devoted to explaining how

to form and maintain these nonprofits within the bounds of

existing law, Bryce’s main audience are practitioners, both

government actors and private actors, who are seeking to

form nonprofits that lessen the burden of government. At

times Bryce does also provide suggestions for college-level

class activities or discussion, so instructors and students in

fields such as law, government, public policy, public man-

agement, and nonprofit studies are also within the target

audience. Researchers and scholars of these same fields may

also be an audience and, indeed, they will find many con-

cepts for engagement within this book.

However, the book could do more to address the research

in public administration and public management on the

numerous and competing public values (see Bozeman, 2007;

Moore, 1995). Public managers are in a constant struggle to

balance efficiency with other public values such as effective-

ness, responsiveness, representation, equality, and justice, to

name a few. This contrasts with business where the need for

profits, and by extension—efficiency, is the reason for exis-

tence and thus the main concern. For nonprofit organiza-

tions, mission and vision statements delineate which values

are important. While substituting nonprofits for government

in the provision of goods and services may safeguard some