Mary Kay Gugerty is the Nancy Bell Evans Professor of Nonprofit Management and the Faculty Director of the Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits & Philanthropy at the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Washington. Her research examines evaluation and impact measurement in the social sector; advocacy, accountability and voluntary regulation programs among nonprofit and NGOs; and community-based organizations and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa. Gugerty also serves as the Principal Investigator for the International Program in Public Health Leadership.

Gugerty is the co-author of The Goldilocks Challenge: Right-Sized Evaluation and Monitoring for Social Sector Organizations (Oxford 2018), and co-editor Voluntary Regulation of Nonprofit and Nongovernmental Organizations: An Accountability Club Framework (Cambridge 2010) and Advocacy Organizations and Collective Action (Cambridge, 2010). Gugerty’s research on nonprofits and NGOs has been published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Regulation and Governance, Public Administration and Development, and Policy Sciences, among others.

Gugerty’s research also explores issues in rural development and community development institutions in Africa. Current work examines the impact of women’s participation in agricultural self-help groups on household decision-making and agricultural production. Earlier work examines the impact of NGO funding on indigenous self-help groups, ethnic diversity and collective action, and commitment mechanisms and collective savings. This research has been published in American Journal of Political Science, Economic Development and Cultural Change, and the Journal of Public Economics, among others.