Abstract
The ethos of the nonprofit and philanthropic studies research community is generative and highly relational. When we lose members of our community, it is a shared loss and an opportunity to reflect on legacy, both scholarly and personal. Earlier this year, the nonprofit research community lost one of our most distinguished scholars and dedicated leaders, Jeffrey L. Brudney. We feel this loss profoundly, as we had the privilege to work closely and with tremendous support and friendship with the previous NVSQ editorial team (Femida Handy, Jeff Brudney, and Lucas Meijs).
As NVSQ prepared to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, we have been reflecting on the rich relationships and leadership that have shaped our field, its contributions to knowledge and its character and values. As part of this process, all previous NVSQ Editors have been collaborating on an introductory piece about our views on the field and changes over time through the lens of our editorial tenures. The first step in this collaboration was to ask each editorial team to address a series of questions. As we considered how best to remember Jeff and celebrate his legacy, we are so fortunate to have something precious from Jeff, Femida and Lucas – their insights on our field and related advice. Written collectively, you will undoubtedly recognize Jeff’s warm and playful nature, as their response is framed through music. Jeff played a particularly instrumental role in putting this piece together and, like his life’s work, it offers music to our ears, hearts, and intellect.
In publishing this reflection, we remember and honor Jeffrey L. Brudney. And in doing so, we honor others who have shaped our field and will shape our community in the years ahead. We thank Femida and Lucas, in particular, for their generosity in sharing this reflection.
Rock on, dear friends!
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We caution the fair reader that some of the lyrics may have been intended by the musicians as ironic or even cynical (see The Clash, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, et alia).
1. How did you come to be selected as editor or editorial team? [ARNOVA’s process became more formalized over time, and it is useful to understand the specifics of this from the Editors’ perspectives.] If you were a team, how did your team come together?
Our Editorial team (Handy, Brudney, and Meijs) took a cue from The Beatles’ Come Together: “He say, ‘I know you, you know me . . . One thing I can tell you is you got to be free’ . . . He says, ‘one and one and one is three,’ . . . Come together, right now, over me.”
In addition, we knew that we worked well together. As Jack Johnson expresses it, “I’ll tell you one thing: It’s always better when we’re together.”
We did have a vision for the journal – but little could we have foreseen “all obstacles in my way” as Johnny Nash wrote, and Jimmy Cliff covered so beautifully: “I can see clearly now the rain is gone . . . It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) sun-shining day.”
2. When you became Editors, what did you want to achieve; what were your priorities; where did you think NVSQ needed to go?
We proposed to become Editors-in-Chief of NVSQ because we had big dreams for the journal. Following Led Zepplin, we sought to elevate the journal on a Stairway to Heaven. Earlier Ol’ Blue Eyes Himself, Frank Sinatra, had similarly encouraged us to embrace lofty aspirations for NVSQ, crooning, “Fly me to the moon . . . Let me play among the stars . . . Let me see what spring is like . . .On a-Jupiter and Mars.”
Taking on the editorship of the premier journal in the field, our overall vison was to grow the field.
We were schooled by the Los Angeles proto-punk rock group The Seeds – one of the most frequently cited pre-punk rock influences on the music scene since the 1970s. We disagreed with their insistence stated so thoughtfully in a 1966 recording, though, that we could be “Pushin’ Too Hard” to elevate NVSQ to the number 1 journal on the charts.
In our efforts to grow the field and elevate NVSQ, we preferred The Doors mantra, to “Break on through to the other side.” And not so very tactfully sometimes, as Frank Sinatra put it, “I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway, and more, much, much more, I did it, I did it my way.”
Taking on a second term as Editors-in-Chief of NVSQ convinced us to continue to forge our way forward, we came back, in the words of Helen Reddy in I am Woman: “More determined to achieve my final goal, And I come back even stronger, Not a novice any longer ‘cause you’ve deepened the conviction in my soul.”
3. What about disciplinary diversity? The case is often made that the field has become more concentrated as public management/administration: did you see evidence of that in the submissions?
As Editors-in-Chief of NVSQ we sought to build the field. One of our most creative and helpful and successful ventures in this arena was to work with the journals Nonprofit Management and Leadership and Voluntas – which at the time we became Editors of NVSQ were not yet recognized in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and, thus, did not have an “Impact Factor” (IF) – to gain this important designation. The IF is crucial to raise the status of the journal – and the field. Although some may wonder about leading one journal while working to help others, for us building community entailed reaching out beyond the volumes, issues, and pages of NVSQ. Taking a cue from the King himself, Elvis Presley, we recognized that it was time for everybody to rock, “Let’s rock, everybody, let’s rock,” so that all the Editors “in the whole cell block were dancing to the Jailhouse Rock!”
An “Elvis” from a later generation of artists, our muse Elvis Costello, raised the right rhetorical question: “What’s so funny ‘bout peace, love and understanding? What’s so funny ‘bout peace, love and understanding?”
4. How would you describe the state and evolution of the ‘field’ of ‘nonprofit studies’ (broadly defined) during your term; were there any significant changes? What about the context of nonprofit studies relative to this? How did these dynamics affect NVSQ, or how were they reflected in NVSQ?
The contributions to the journal grew more diverse with respect to topics, methodologies, nations, authors, et cetera. Sly & the Family Stone got it right, “Different strokes for different folks.”
5. How, if at all, did you ‘steer’ / influence the direction of the journal during your term? Please note your disciplinary background (or other characteristics or values) and if this had any influence over your work as Editor. Any relevant comments on your editorial board are welcome.
“Steering” or directing the flow of submissions to the journal is difficult. When the readership of NVSQ showed interest in a particular topic, we authorized special issues to embrace it. We had learned from The Creedence Clearwater Revival Band – proud graduates of El Cerrito (California) High School (as is one of the Editors-in-Chief) – that the future lies Up Around the Bend, subject to the general predilections, proclivities, and preferences (alliteration intended in memory of a beloved mentor) of the readership: “Come on, the risin’ wind. . . We’re goin’ up around the bend . . .You can ponder perpetual motion . . . Fix your mind on a crystal day . . . Always time for a good conversation . . . There’s an era for what you say.”
We loved our Editorial Board. They are the backbone of much of the journal. However, given the stature of serving on the NVSQ Editorial Board, a few members might be tempted to be less active than others. For these few cases, noted economist – and celebrated guitarist – Edgar Winter (and his Group) admonished, “Come on and take a free ride . . . Free ride . . . Come on and take it by my side . . . Come on and take a free ride! . . . All over the country, I’m seeing the same . . . Nobody’s winning, at this type of game . . . We gotta do better, it’s time to begin . . . You know all the answers . . . Must come from within.”
An answer to many problems of the commons? Worth considering.
6. What were the main challenges, achievements and joys during your term?
Identifying and securing peer reviewers for manuscripts submitted to NVSQ can be a challenge.
When it comes to seeking and encouraging prospective peer reviewers, as Editors-in-Chief we were not reluctant to heed the call of The Temptations, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg.
The renowned American musical duo Simon and Garfunkel had warned us about The Sound of Silence, originally The Sounds of Silence, from prospective or tardy peer reviewers. On the other side of The Sound(s) of Silence are the authors, who – like many artists and musical groups – cover the song that implores Please Mr. Postman: “Mister Postman look and see (Oh, yeah) Is there a letter in your bag for me? (Please, please, Mister Postman) I been waiting a long, long time.”
Perhaps the worst part of serving as Editors-in-Chief of a leading journal is that, paradoxically, “success” may be measured by “failure,” i.e., a high rate of rejecting manuscripts can signal a highly selective rate of acceptance of excellent research. As Elvis Presley reminded us in his song Do the Vega to be careful, “Though you risk your reputation, you’ll increase your circulation.”
Sharing bad news is difficult and enervating for the Editors, and receiving it takes a toll on prospective authors as well. No less a personage than Elvis recognized that sometimes the best (only) recourse for a manuscript is to, “Return to sender, address unknown . . . No such number, no such zone.” Regrettably, the manuscript cannot find a home in NVSQ.
By contrast, one of the most gratifying aspects of serving as Editors-in-Chief is working with authors and peer reviewers to render manuscripts better than anyone could have anticipated through rounds of the peer review process. As in so many areas, The Beatles offered sage advice. To produce synergies and high-quality NVSQ articles, we accepted guidance from the philosophy embraced in their hit, I Want to Hold Your Hand. And, to help authors make revisions we counseled, “Hey Jude, don’t make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better. Remember to let her into your heart. Then you can start to make it better.”
Perhaps the best part of the peer review process is seeing a manuscript come to fruition after many attempts at “revise and resubmit.” Sometimes the peer review reports can lead authors’ to the lament expressed so plaintively by the great Janis Joplin in Down on Me: “Down on me, down on me, Looks like everybody in this whole round world, They’re down on me.” As Editors-in-Chief we took pride in helping authors work with the peer reviewers, so that they could experience – in the uplifting words of Irene Cara in Flashdance – the joy and triumph of earning publication in NVSQ: “What a feeling, Bein’s believin’, I can have it all, Now I’m dancing for my life.”
As much as we admire the pioneering work of Joan Jett, with or without her Blackhearts, we have come to disagree with her in one respect. While Joan Jett professed in Bad Reputation, “I don’t give a damn ‘bout my bad reputation . . . Oh no, not me, oh no, not me,” we foresaw a different trajectory, to raise the prominence and stature of NVSQ. Of course, the reputation of NVSQ was not “bad,” and Joan Jett was advocating individuality over posturing: We sought to increase the place and recognition of NVSQ as a leader in the field.
As Editors-in-Chief we sought impact for NVSQ. Eloquently stated by The Who in their ground-breaking (but not first) rock opera Tommy, we wanted contributions from which the readership would “get opinions” and “get the story:”
“Listening to you I get the music . . . Gazing at you I get the heat . . . Following you I climb the mountain . . .I get excitement at your feet . . . Right behind you I see the millions . . . On you I see the glory . . . From you I get opinions . . . From you I get the story.”
Chuck Berry put it more succinctly in his classic School Days. After a hard day at school – for teachers (professors) or students – nothing beats accessing the NVSQ jukebox (repository) of hit articles to “Drop the coin right into the slot . . . You gotta’ hear something that’s really hot.”
7. How did you manage the job of Editor with your other commitments? How did your institution support your work? Do you have any advice/wisdom for aspiring editors (or authors or reviewers)?
Given the seemingly endless stream of submissions, re-submissions, inquiries, correspondence, decisions, and other responsibilities requiring attention, we advise future Editors of NVSQ to commit – in the adage of the Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) – to Takin’ Care of Business: “You get up every morning from your alarm clock’s warning . . . Take the 8:15 into the city . . . And I’ll be taking care of business (every day) . . . Taking care of business (every way) . . . I’ve been taking care of business (it’s all mine) . . .Taking care of business and working overtime, work out.”
We did not take the lyrics too seriously, though, as BTO apparently intended the adage and song as an homage not simply to work . . . but to work you love. As Leonard Cohen rhapsodized, for us it was, “I wrote for love. Then I wrote for money. With someone like me it’s the same thing.”
And we loved our job as Editors-in-Chief of NVSQ.
Nevertheless, the Editorship of NVSQ does require a single-mindedness of purpose and dedication that tends to drive out other goals and priorities that the holders might otherwise have. The Editorship is unquestionably worth it, in our estimation. We did not want to arrive at a juncture later where we might have been torn, along with David Bowie, to question, “It could have been me . . . Oh yeah, it could have been me . . . Why didn’t I say? Why didn’t I say? . . . No, no, no.” (from the memorably titled Queen Bitch).
8. Where would you like to see NVSQ go over the next 10, 20, 50 years?
We learned from the punk-rockers The Clash that Career Opportunities are not necessarily a cynical notion. Indeed, we welcomed opportunities for the journal that might not be immediately apparent or seemingly blocked: “Career opportunities, the ones that never knock . . . Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock . . . Career opportunity, the ones that never knock . . . Oi! Oi! Oi!”
We are devoted to seeking new options for contributors and for the field, such as increasing quality outlets, public access, diverse perspectives, et cetera. As NVSQ faces new challenges and rises with its opportunities we remind all editors going forward that the editorship of NVSQ is a work of love, and as the Supremes remind us, “. . . you can’t hurry love . . . No, you just have to wait. . . You gotta’ trust, give it time. . .”
9. Anything else you want to add about your term or the evolution of NVSQ, of anything else we should include in the introduction?
Serving as Editors-in-Chief of NVSQ provides a wonderful opportunity to build and embrace community. Meeting so many people – as authors, peer reviewers, editorial board members, readers, etc. – is a privilege for which we are most grateful.
Even though David Bowie titled the song Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide to end the epic saga of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and Spiders from Mars, as Editors-in-Chief of NVSQ we interpreted his paean as a call and challenge to build a community of nonprofit students, scholars, practitioners, and thinkers. Remember, Bowie counsels, “Oh no, love, you’re not alone, . . . You’re watching yourself, but you’re too unfair, . . . You got your head all tangled up, but if I could only make you care, . . . Oh no, love, you’re not alone, . . . No matter what or who you’ve been, . . . No matter when or where you’ve seen, . . . Gimme your hands, ‘cause you’re wonderful, . . . Gimme your hands, ‘cause you’re wonderful, . . .Oh, gimme your hands.”
In closing, the three of us again express our profound gratitude to have served as Editors-in-Chief of NVSQ. With deepest humility, we wish to acknowledge and emulate the example of the legendary John Lennon, who at the conclusion of the Beatles last performance, the famous “Rooftop Concert” atop the Apple Building in London on January 30, 1969, offered, “I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we’ve passed the audition.”