About Me

I am an Associate Professor in Public Affairs at Arizona State University, a College Professor, and the founding director of the M.S. in Program Evaluation and Data Analytics program. I also work as a Data Scientist at the Urban Institute supporting the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS). I teach masters and PhD-level courses in public management, nonprofit management, program evaluation, urban policy, and data science.

My research broadly covers the economics of the nonprofit sector, social innovation, urban policy and the governance of artificial intelligence. Topics include nonprofit entrepreneurship, capital markets for social enterprises, performance management, open science methodologies, and algorithmic fairness.

I will be on sabbatical for Fall 2024 and Spring 2025.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Social Science (2010) 
Syracuse University

Masters in Public Policy (2006) 
Carnegie Mellon

CV: Updated Jan 2024  [ PDF ]

 

Recent Publications  [scholar]  [researchgate]

Grasse, N. J., Heidbreder, B., Kukla-Acevedo, S. A., & Lecy, J. D. (2024). Some Good News, More Bad News: Two Decades of the Gender Pay Gap for Nonprofit Directors and Chief Financial Officers. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 0734371X241248854.

Lecy, J.D. “Embracing Data-Driven Management: Adapting Public Administration Theory and Performance Management for the Digital Age” [ SSRN working paper ]

Li, T., Searing, E. A., & Lecy, J. D. (2023). “Administration costs.” In Elgar Encyclopedia of Nonprofit Management, Leadership and Governance (pp. 13-16). Edward Elgar Publishing.

J.D. Lecy, EAM Searing, & T. Li (2023). “Misuse, Misunderstanding, and Misinterpretation of Nonprofit Accounting Information.” In: Accounting Research on Nonprofit Organizations, Edited by Linda Parsons & Danial Tinkelman. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Lecy, J.D. (2023). “Funding Structure of Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Nonprofits: Fiscal Models and Government Support.” A report for the Urban Institute [ download ] [‘fiscal’ R package ].

Monroe-White, T., & Lecy, J.D. (2022). The Wells-Du Bois Protocol for Mitigating Machine Learning Bias: Building Critical Quantitative Foundations for Third Sector Scholarship. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 1-15. [ download ] [ protocol ]

Santamarina, F.J., Lecy, J.D. & van Holm, E.J. (2022) How to Code a Million Missions: Developing Bespoke Nonprofit Activity Codes Using Machine Learning Algorithms. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 1-10. [ download ] [ code ]

Thornton, J. & Lecy, J.D. (2022). Net impact of government funding on nonprofit fiscal health: burden or benefit? Nonprofit Management and Leadership. [download ]

M. Kim, FO. Andersson, L Faulk, T Harrison, & JD Lecy (2022). “Diversity in Nonprofit Entrepreneurship Factors that influence the creation, growth, and survival of new nonprofit organizations are key to understanding the vitality, diversity, and representation of the nonprofit sector.” A white paper prepared for The Independent Sector.

Lo, L., Scally, C. P., Lecy, J., & Kumari, S (2022). The Financial Health of Community Based Development Organizations. [ technical report ] [ methodology ] [ R package ]

Searing, E. A., & Lecy, J. D. (2022). “Growing Up Nonprofit: Predictors of Early-Stage Nonprofit Formalization.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. [ download ] [ replication files ]

Camarena, L., Feeney, MK, & Lecy, JD. (2021). “Nonprofit Entrepreneurship: Gender Differences in Strategy and Practice.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. [ download ]

Bullock, J., Lecy, J. & Young, M. (2019). “Artificial Discretion as a Tool of Governance: A Framework for Understanding the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Public Administration.” Perspectives on Public Management and Governance. [ download ]

Oelberger, C., Lecy, J. & Yamawaki Shachter, S. (2019). “Going the extra mile: the ‘liabilities of foreignness’ in U.S. foundation international grantmaking to local NGOs” NVSQ, forthcoming. [ download ]

Thornton, J. & Lecy, J. (2019) “Good Enough for Government Work: Nonprofit Corporate Form and Contract Failure in Federal Awards Markets.” Nonprofit Policy Forum, forthcoming. [ download ]

Lecy, J., Ashley, S. & Santamarina, F. (2019). “Do Nonprofit Missions Vary by the Political Ideology of Supporting Communities? Some Preliminary Results.” Public Performance and Management Review. [ download ] [ replication files ]

Varela, A. R., Pratt, M., Harris, J., Lecy, J., Salvo, D., Brownson, R. C., & Hallal, P. C. (2018). Mapping the historical development of physical activity and health research: A structured literature review and citation network analysis. Preventive Medicine, 111, 466-472. [ download ] [ review ]

Skolarus, T. A., Lehmann, T., Tabak, R. G., Harris, J., Lecy, J., & Sales, A. E. (2017). Assessing Citation Networks for Dissemination and Implementation Research Frameworks. Implementation Science, 12(1), 97. [ link ]

Young, D. R., Searing, E. A., & Brewer, C. V. (Eds.). (2016). The Social Enterprise Zoo: A Guide for Perplexed Scholars, Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists, Leaders, Investors, and Policymakers. Edward Elgar Publishing. CH5, CH6, CH7, CH10. [ book review ] [ book review ]

Millar, G. & Lecy, J. (2016). "Disciplinary Divides in Post-Conflict Justice and Peace: Tracking If and How we Share Ideas." Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Vol. 10, Issue 3, pp 302-320. [ download ]

Lecy, J. & Thornton, J. (2016). “What Big Data Can Tell Us about Government Awards to the Nonprofit Sector: Using the FAADS Dataset.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, forthcoming. [ download ] [ FAADS to NCCS crosswalk script ]

Faulk, L., Lecy, J. & McGinnis, J. (2016). "Competitive Advantage in Nonprofit Grant Markets: Implications of Network Embeddedness and Status." International Public Management Journal, forthcoming. [ download ]

Shadish, W. & Lecy, J. (2015). “The Meta-Analytic Big Bang.” Research Synthesis Methods, Vol 6, Issue 3, pp 246-264. [download]

Lecy, J. & Searing, E. (2015). “Anatomy of the Nonprofit Starvation Cycle.” Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 44 no. 3 539-563. [download]

Young, D. & Lecy, J. (2014). “Defining the Universe of Social Enterprise: Competing Metaphors. Voluntas, Vol 25, Issue 5, pp 1307-1332. [download]

Lecy, J., Mergel, I., Schmitz, H.P. (2014).  “Networks in Public Administration: Current Scholarship in Review.”  Public Management Review, Vol 16, Issue 5, pp 643-665. [download]   

Harris, J., Lecy, J., Hipp, A., Brownson, R., & Parra, D. (2013). “Mapping the Development of Research on Physical Activity and the Built Environment.” Preventive Medicine, 57(5):533-540. [download]

Searing, E., Avila, F., & Lecy, J. (2013). “The Impact of Psychological Trauma on Wages in Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Social Science and Medicine, 96, 165-173. [download]

Lecy, J. & D. Van Slyke (2013).  “Nonprofit Sector Growth and Density: Testing Theories of Government Support.”  JPART, Vol 22, Issue 4. [download]

Choi, C., Lecy, J. (2012).  “A Semantic Network Analysis of Economic Policy Regime Changes in North Korea from the Mid 1980s to 2009.”  Governance, Vol 24, Issue 4. [ download ] [ methods ]

Lecy, J., Schmitz, H.P, Swedlund, H. (2012) “NGO and NPO Effectiveness:  A Modern Synthesis.”   VOLUNTAS, Volume 23, Issue 2, Page 434-457. [download] ISTR best paper award for articles published in 2012.

Harris, J., Beatty, K., Lecy, J., J. Cyr, R. Shapiro (2011).  “The Evolution of Health Systems Research: A Citation Network Analysis.”  American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 41(1), 105-111. [download]

Lecy, J. (2010).  “New Approaches to Evaluation: Comparative Impact Assessment.”  Journal of Civil Society and Social Transformation, Vol 5.

Lecy, J., Mitchell, G., Schmitz, H.P. (2010)  “Structuring Global Advocacy: Explaining Organizational Change and the Emergence of Transnational Networks,” book chapter for A. Prakash and M.K. Gugerty (eds.) Rethinking Advocacy Organizations. A Collective Action Perspective.  Cambridge Press. [ download ]

Krishna, A., & Lecy, J. (2008). “The Balance of All Things: Explaining Household Poverty Dynamics in 50 Villages of Gujarat, India.” International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches, 2(2), 160-175. [ download ]

Lecy, J. (2007).  “Aid Effectiveness After the Gujarat Earthquake: A Case Study of Disaster Relief.”  Journal of Development and Social Transformation, Vol 4, 5-12.

Contact

School of Public Affairs [ website ]
College of Public Service and Community Solutions [ website ]
Arizona State University


(Office) 
Suite 517
411 N. Central Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85004-0685

(Mail)
411 N. Central Ave
Mail code: 4020
Phoenix, AZ 85004-0685