Public–Nonprofit Collaboration in Homeless Services: Are Nonprofit-Led Networks More Effective in Winning Federal Funding?

• Author: Jesus N. Valero,David Lee,Hee Soun Jang
• DOI: 10.1177/0095399720947991
• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Date: 01 March 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399720947991

Administration & Society

2021, Vol. 53(3) 353 –377

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0095399720947991

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Article

Public–Nonprofit

Collaboration in

Homeless Services:

Are Nonprofit-Led

Networks More Effective

in Winning Federal

Funding?

Jesus N. Valero1, David Lee2, and

Hee Soun Jang3

Abstract

Does nonprofit leadership have an impact on the performance of collaborative

networks? This article examines the degree to which nonprofit-led networks

and other governance characteristics matter in explaining the performance

of network achieving federal funding. Specifically, we hypothesize that

networks led by nonprofit organizations may achieve more funding and

project awards than those led by government organizations. Using data

from a national survey of local homeless service networks, we find that

contrary to the hypothesized expectations, networks led by nonprofits are

less successful in federal funding and project award than networks led by

government organizations.

1University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

2University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA

3University of North Texas, Denton, USA

Corresponding Author:

David Lee, Public Administration Program, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2424 Maile Way,

Saunders 631, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.

Email: lee211@hawaii.edu

947991AASXXX10.1177/0095399720947991Administration & SocietyValero et al.

research-article2020

354 Administration & Society 53(3)

Keywords

nonprofit-led network, cross-sector collaboration, homeless network,

federal grant competition

Public–nonprofit collaboration continues to be an important area of study for

public administration students and practitioners. Working with other organi-

zations is a strategic decision aimed at addressing problems that cannot be

solved independently (Agranoff & McGuire, 2003; Bryson et al., 2006).

Furthermore, working with different sectors has become a common gover-

nance model, especially in delivering local social services in the United

States. Cross-sector collaboration has also become a major research area in

the public administration context; however, many empirical research areas

remain insufficiently explored, including the choice of network governance

and its potential impact on joint achievement (Klijn et al., 2010). For exam-

ple, one of the first decisions to be made by the collaborating parties relates

to whether leadership should be granted to a government agency or a non-

profit organization. Other considerations include determining the conditions

most likely to affect a network’s success in winning government funding.

Specifically, it should be established at the outset (a) if networks led by a

nonprofit are more effective than government-led networks in winning fed-

eral funding, and (b) whether and how the network size or participation rate

would affect a network’s capacity to win federal dollars. In this study, ques-

tions related to the choice of governance models in cross-sector collaboration

are addressed, while aiming to establish its practical relevance in securing

important funding sources from the federal government.

In most extant studies on collaborative governance, it is assumed that gov-

ernment organizations initiate public service collaborations (Ansell & Gash,

2008; Bryson et al., 2006). Moreover, by using public dollars to fund collab-

orative efforts for public services, government is assumed to steer the col-

laboration process (McGuire, 2002). However, findings yielded by more

recent research indicate that, in the case of homeless service collaboration,

nonprofit (rather than government) organizations are increasingly leading

collaboration networks (Valero & Jang, 2016). Thus, these new trends prompt

the need to ascertain whether there are any differences in the resource

achievements between networks that are led by nonprofit organizations and

those led by government entities.

Empirical evidence indicates that having the leading agency that is willing

to invest time and resources to drive collaboration is key to successful network