Testing a Two-Stage Grant Allocation Process: The Case of the United Way
基于交易成本经济学，研究联合之路地方系统的两阶段拨款分配过程，发现第一阶段筛选基于合法性、使命和财务绩效，第二阶段通过更大份额激励高合法性受助者留用，且系统规模影响绩效评估的使用。
Drawing upon transaction costs economics, we examine the determinants of the two-stage allocation process within the local United Way (UW) system. We use a unique multiyear data set that captures local UW allocations to nonprofit grantees at four points in time (2000, 2004, 2008, and 2010). We find that the first stage is screening, in which organizations’ legitimacy, mission, and financial performance are preliminary determinants of partnership in the UW system. In the second stage, UWs incentivize existing grantees with high legitimacy to stay in the system through larger allocation share. These determinants are stable over time. However, size of these effects varies across size of UW system; this finding suggests that transaction costs influence the likelihood of using performance measures to evaluate grantees in the first stage of the allocation process.