Tara Kolar Bryan

• PhD Public Affairs
• Chair at University of Nebraska at Omaha

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February of 2022 caused a humanitarian refugee crisis on a scale unseen since World War II. The scale and speed at which refugees surged into other European countries required significant resources to respond to this influx. This study explores the perspectives of those working in NGOs about the resilience of...

Community foundations can play an essential role in organizing, facilitating, supporting, and promoting the development of social capital among community-based nonprofit organizations. Accordingly, the Omaha Community Foundation has delivered a year-long capacity-building program for local nonprofit leaders for over eight years. A distinctive featu...

This article presents the pedagogical, observational, and empirical findings from a social equity centered team-taught course that served as an effective learning approach for both students and faculty during a time of great uncertainty and unrest in 2020. The article begins by describing the context for why this course was offered, outlining the n...

This article combines the evaluation capacity building and nonprofit accountability literature to examine how nonprofits use evaluation data to address stakeholder expectations. Our study investigates how staff competency, technological resources, learning climate, and strategic planning influence a nonprofit's ability to demonstrate upward, latera...

This article synthesizes the literature on organizational capacity in an effort to improve our understanding of the relationship between capacity and various measures of nonprofit effectiveness. I define capacity as the means by which organizations achieve effectiveness, and propose a contingency model to explain how different measures of nonprofit...

Since online instruction in university programs is now commonplace, it is more vital to understand how key aspects of online courses influence student engagement. To build on the literature in this area, this study investigates the extent to which technological tools utilized in online settings enhance student engagement in public administration co...

This article examines the strategies and processes pursued by one foundation aimed at accelerating systems change reform efforts in four states. The findings suggest four strategies the Foundation employed in reform efforts: partnering with state policy actors to accelerate systems change efforts, providing technical assistance to support implement...

The purpose of this study was to (1) explore the individual level effects of a capacity building program targeting nonprofit leaders and (2) examine the extent to which the individual level effects of the program have become incorporated into organizations through shared understanding, processes, and structures. Through collection of data at two ti...

This report provides information to help the Omaha Community Foundation assess its newly restructured Nonprofit Capacity Building Program (NCBP). The assessment of the 2014-2015 Cohort is the first evaluation of this updated program. The questions that guided this evaluation were: 1. What is the cumulative impact of NCBP on participating nonprofit...

This report provides information to help the Omaha Community Foundation assess the capacity needs of the nonprofits they serve. The purpose of this study was to better understand the needs of Omaha metro area nonprofits as specified by organization leaders. The question that guided this study was: What are the capacity needs of Omaha community nonp...

This exploratory article offers a multilevel framework for understanding the outcomes of capacity-building initiatives in human service nonprofit organizations. Four distinct levels were considered: the individual, group-cohort, organization, and community levels. The findings suggest there are outcomes associated with each level as well as linkage...

Political inaction at the federal level in the United States has driven increased attention to the importance of planning for climate change at the metropolitan level. This study reports on a survey of 25 regional councils in the United States that measures the extent to which they have adopted climate change plans and to identify the factors that...

This report provides information to help the Omaha Community Foundation assess its 2014 Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative (NCBI). This assessment reviews the success of the program in achieving growth in identified capacity areas as well as the overall impact of the program on participating nonprofit organizations and their leaders. The report...

This report provides information to help the Omaha Community Foundation assess its Nonprofit Capacity Building Initiative (NCBI). The purpose of this evaluation was to better understand the impact of the program over time by surveying the NCBI alumni. The questions that guided this evaluation were: 1. What is the overall impact of the NCBI on organ...

With political inaction at the federal level in the U.S., there is increased attention on the importance of planning for climate change at the metropolitan level, where implementation of climate change policies would occur. This study reports on a survey of 25 regional planning organizations that was conducted to examine the extent to which regiona...

This paper seeks to understand the underlying processes that support change implementation in public and nonprofit organizations. It examines the role of dynamic capabilities in public organizations undergoing planned transformative service changes. We extend existing research on dynamic capabilities in public and nonprofit organizations by suggest...

In the United States, the voluntary regional council is the dominant organizational form used by local, state and federal agencies to address regional issues. However, research addressing the details of their operations including their structures, processes and programs has been limited. This article reports on a survey of thirty of these regional...