Mary Kay Gugerty
Nancy Bell Evans Professor in Nonprofit Management
Mary Kay Gugerty is the Nancy Bell Evans Professor of Nonprofit Management & Philanthropy, the Associate Dean for Teaching & Learning and the Principal Investigator for the International Program on Public Health Leadership (IPPHL). Her research focuses on three areas: evaluation and impact measurement in the social sector; advocacy, accountability and voluntary regulation programs among nonprofit and NGOs; and agricultural and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa. She is an adjunct faculty in Political Science at the University of Washington and is a faculty affiliate at the Center for the Study of Demography and Ecology (CSDE) at the University of Washington, as well as at the Center for the Evaluation of Global Action (CEGA) at University of California, Berkeley, and at Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA).
Gugerty’s most recent book, The Goldilocks Challenge: Right-Sized Evaluation and Monitoring for Social Sector Organizations (2018) is co-authored with Dean Karlan and published by Oxford University Press.
Gugerty is also the lead editor of Voluntary Regulation of Nonprofit and Nongovernmental Organizations: An Accountability Club Framework, published by Cambridge University Press in 2010 and co-edited with Aseem Prakash and co-editor of Advocacy Organizations and Collective Action, also with Aseem Prakash and published by Cambridge University Press. Gugerty’s research on nonprofits and NGOs has been published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Regulation and Governance, Public Administration and Development, and Policy Sciences.
Gugerty’s research also explores issues in rural development and community development institutions in Africa. Current work examines agricultural household decision-making, women’s participation in agricultural supply chains, and the determinants of smallholder agricultural productivity. Earlier work examines the impact of NGO funding on indigenous self-help groups, the impact of ethnic diversity on collective action, and the role of rotating savings and credit associations (roscas) in promoting rural savings. This research has been published in American Journal of Political Science, Economic Development and Cultural Change, and the Journal of Public Economics, among others.
Gugerty teaches courses on nonprofit and public management, program evaluation & performance measurement, international development management, NGOs in Development, and African development. She is the recipient of the 2005 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service.
Gugerty holds a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University and a MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. She also holds a BA in Political Science and Economics from Georgetown University.
Faculty Director/Principal Investigator, International Program in Public Health Leadership (IPPHL). 2019-present.
Board Member, University District Business Improvement Area.
Faculty Director, Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, July 2016-2022.
Board of Editors, Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly 2021-present.
Board of Directors, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), 2015-2021
Board of Editors, Journal of Public Administration and Theory (JPART), 2009-2013; 2019-2021.
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology, 2007-present.
Faculty Affiliate, Center for the Evaluation of Global Action (CEGA), University of California-Berkeley. 2013-present.
Faculty Affiliate, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), 2012-present.
Member, Leap Ambassadors Community.
2018 Terry McAdam award for best book in nonprofit management from the Nonprofit Alliance: Goldilocks Challenge: Right-Fit Evidence for the Social Sector, with Dean Karlan.
Regulation by Reputation: Monitoring and Sanctioning in Nonprofit Accountability Clubs. 2016. With Joannie Tremblay-Boire and Aseem Prakash. Public Administration Review: 76(5): 712–722.
2016 William E. Mosher and Frederick C. Mosher Award from Public Administration Review for best paper: Regulation by Reputation: Monitoring and Sanctioning in Nonprofit Accountability Clubs.With Joannie Tremblay-Boire and Aseem Prakash
Books
The Goldilocks Challenge: Right-Sized Evidence for the Social Sector with Dean Karlan, 2018, Oxford University Press. Winner of the 2018 Terry McAdam award for best book in nonprofit management from the Nonprofit Alliance.
Voluntary Regulation of Nonprofit and Nongovernmental Organizations: An Accountability Club Framework, Mary Kay Gugerty and Aseem Prakash, editors. 2010. Cambridge University Press.
Advocacy Organizations and Collective Action. Aseem Prakash and Mary Kay Gugerty, editors. 2010. Cambridge University Press.
Recent Articles
Nonprofit Organizations and the Evaluation of Social Impact: A Research Program to Advance Theory and Practice. 2022. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. with Benjamin, L., and A. Ebrahim. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764022112359
Gugerty, M.K. Theory of Change and Logic Models: Foundation for the Evaluation of Social Programs. Forthcoming in The Oxford Global Handbook of Social Program Design and Implementation Evaluation, Rangarajan, A. and D. Pausell, editors, Oxford University Press.
Measuring for Success: Evaluating Leadership Training Programs for Sustainable Impact. 2021
Joel Njah , Bhakti Hansoti, Adebusuyi Adeyami, Kerry Bruce, Gabrielle O’Malley, Mary Kay Gugerty, Benjamin H. Chi, Nanyombi Lubimbi, Elizabeth Steen, Sonora Stampfly, Eva Berman, Ann Marie Kimball.
Annals of Global Health, 87 (1):63. https://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.3221
Discourses of evaluation: Institutional logics and organizational practices among international development agencies. George Mitchell and Francisco J. Santamarina, 2021.World Development: 146(2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105596
Delivering Development? Evidence on Self-Help Groups as Development Intermediaries in South Asia and Africa, 2019. With Leigh Anderson and Pierre Biscaye Development Policy Review. DOI: 10.1111/dpr.12381
Ten Reasons Not to Measure Impact — And What to do Instead, Stanford Social Innovation Review. Summer 2018. with Dean Karlan.
Beyond NTEE Codes: Opportunities to Understand Nonprofit Activity Through Mission Statement Content Coding. Nonprofit Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 47(4): 677-701. With Rachel Fyall and Kathleen Moore.
Husband and Wife Perspectives on Farm Household Decision-Making Authority and Evidence on Intra-Household Accord in Tanzania, 2017. With Leigh Anderson and Travis Reynolds. World Development 90(2017): 169-183.
Regulation by Reputation: Monitoring and Sanctioning in Nonprofit Accountability Clubs. 2016. With Joannie Tremblay-Boire and Aseem Prakash. Public Administration Review: 76(5): 712–722.
Regulatory Waves: Shifting Patterns of State Regulation and NGO Self-Regulation in Africa. 2016. In Regulatory Waves, edited by Oonagh Breen, Alison Dunn and Mark Sidel, Cambridge University Press.
Funding Civil Society? Bilateral Government Funding for NGOs. with David Suarez. 2016. Voluntas. doi:10.1007/s11266-016-9706-3.