CAUSEWORK RESEARCH INITIATIVE · FOUNDING COHORT

The CauseWork Mission Infrastructure Study

A year-long, multi-mission study of how laws, regulations, funding requirements and institutional decisions affect the resources nonprofits can direct toward mission.

Complete the study. Earn CauseWorkHub for life.Twenty selected nonprofits that satisfy the full research and participation protocol will earn a perpetual CauseWorkHub license for their legal organization.

WHY THIS STUDY EXISTS

Public policy measures compliance. Nonprofits live its operational consequences.

Federal and state requirements are commonly evaluated by what they require, prohibit or disclose. Far less is known about what implementation actually demands from the nonprofit organizations responsible for carrying them out—or how that demand affects the mission those organizations exist to serve.

The missing evidence

How many staff and volunteer hours does a requirement consume? What professional, technology, training, reporting and recurring costs follow? Which mission activities are delayed, reduced or displaced? The sector needs credible answers grounded in real nonprofit operations.

The mission connection

The study will connect legal and administrative obligations to resource allocation, organizational decisions, service activity, mission goals and reported outcomes. Compliance burden and mission impact will be examined together—not as unrelated subjects.

The public value

Findings are intended to help nonprofit leaders, boards, funders, lawmakers, regulators, auditors and policy stakeholders understand both the value and the operational consequences of requirements affecting the sector.

The role of CauseWorkHub

CauseWorkHub provides the controlled research environment needed to document work, responsibility, approvals, requirements, evidence and outcomes across participating organizations. The product supports the study; the study serves the nonprofit sector.

Nonprofits should not be asked to prove mission impact while the time and resources consumed by public requirements remain largely unmeasured.

RESEARCH PRIVACY BOUNDARY

No PHI. No PII. No sensitive operational content.

Participation does not require an organization to disclose the people, records or confidential details behind its work. The study examines requirements, time, resources, processes and aggregate mission measures—not private nonprofit data.

No client, patient, participant or beneficiary identities
No donor, employee, volunteer or board-member identities
No case notes, medical information, service records or protected health information
No personally identifiable information, Social Security numbers or identity documents
No financial-account, payment-card, payroll or banking information
No private documents, messages, form responses, personnel files or uploaded records

What the study may use: aggregated or de-identified measures such as staff time, implementation steps, recurring administrative effort, categories of professional expense, applicable requirements, workflow milestones and organization-defined mission indicators. CauseWork will not need access to the underlying PHI, PII or sensitive records used by the nonprofit in its own Hub.

PRIMARY RESEARCH QUESTION

How do public requirements affect nonprofit capacity—and what does that mean for mission?

The study will measure the implementation, recurring and opportunity costs of applicable federal and state requirements; examine how those costs influence resource allocation and mission activity; and test whether stronger operational evidence can improve accountability, policy understanding and nonprofit decision-making.

Requirements→Resources→Decisions→Mission work→Evidence→Outcomes→Policy learning

STUDY TRACK 01

Legal and regulatory burden

Implementation, recurring, professional, technology, documentation and opportunity costs created by applicable federal and state requirements.

STUDY TRACK 02

Resource allocation

How leadership assigns people, funding, time and administrative capacity in response to legal, grant, audit and reporting obligations.

STUDY TRACK 03

Mission impact

How those resource decisions affect organization-defined mission goals, services, activities, reach, timeliness and outcomes.

STUDY TRACK 04

Evidence and accountability

Whether connected records of requirements, decisions, approvals, work and outcomes produce clearer evidence for organizations and public stakeholders.

Research protocol

Baseline assessment → legal and funding environment profile → implementation plan → 30-, 60- and 90-day reviews → quarterly multi-role evaluations → regulatory-time, resource-allocation and mission-impact reporting → final organizational assessment.

Research boundary: reporting is aggregated or de-identified. CauseWork does not need access to the underlying people, records or sensitive content managed inside the participating nonprofit’s Hub.

FOUNDING RESEARCH PARTNER

Minimum qualification

Annual operating budget above $1 million
At least one publicly available Form 990
At least three active board members
Executive leader plus three additional staff or regular volunteers
At least five real CauseWorkHub users across multiple roles
Implementation within 60 days
Meaningful use of all applicable workspaces
Structured testing of the remaining system
Baseline, milestone, quarterly and final study reporting
Federal and state regulatory-time tracking
Resource-allocation and mission-impact reporting

Earned award

Organizations completing the protocol in good faith receive a lifetime license for one production Hub, unlimited users and unlimited use.

CauseWork will select for mission, geographic, operating-model and community diversity. Meeting minimums does not guarantee selection.

1. Organization

Legal organization nameDBA or public name optionalEINOrganization websiteHeadquarters statePrimary service areaPrimary missionIf Other, describe the mission optional

2. Qualification

Current annual operating budgetActive board membersStaff/regular volunteers in addition to executive leaderPlanned CauseWorkHub usersMost recent Form 990 tax yearPublic Form 990 linkRoles that will actively participate

3. Whole-system useWhich real operations will move into CauseWorkHub?Implementation capacity and 60-day planHow will multiple roles participate in testing and feedback?What would successful adoption change for the organization?

4. Study baselineStates where the organization operatesReceives government funding?What software, spreadsheets and manual systems support operations today?What resource-allocation questions should leadership be able to answer?Which federal, state, local, grant or contractual requirements create the greatest time or cost?How does the organization currently define and measure mission results?

5. Responsible contacts

Primary program contactContact emailContact phoneExecutive sponsorTechnical or implementation contact

6. CommitmentsI am authorized to submit this application for the organization, and the information provided is accurate.The organization agrees, if selected, to implement CauseWorkHub, involve at least five users across multiple roles, use all applicable workspaces, complete structured evaluation of the remaining system, and participate in baseline, milestone, quarterly and final research reporting—including resource-allocation, regulatory-time and mission-impact study activities.I understand that this application and study must not contain client, donor, employee, medical, case, financial-account or other sensitive operational information.

Platform

Intelligence

Research

Trust