Yuan (Daniel) Cheng is currently an Associate Professor, Chair of the Leadership & Management Area and a McKnight Presidential Fellow in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He also serves on the Editorial Board of Nonprofit Management and Leadership and the Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership, and the Board of Minneapolis Parks Foundation. Daniel's research agenda is focused on a range of theoretical and managerial questions lying at the nexus of governance, government-nonprofit relationships, co-production, and the distributional and performance implications of cross-sector collaboration. He is particularly interested in how government agencies, nonprofits, and citizens interact in joint public service provision, and the performance implications of alternative service provision mechanisms. In close collaboration with governmental and community organizations, Dr. Cheng is currently embarking on new research directions to better understand the implementation of evidence-based practices in government, the policy impacts of academic research, and how to design more inclusive public sector grant-making programs. His work has been supported by the Ostrom Research Award, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs Faculty Interactive Research Program, Pew Charitable Trusts, and Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Research Fund.

References: 

Cheng, Y., & Sandfort, J. (2023). Trust, power, and organizational routines: Exploring government's intentional tactics to renew relationships with nonprofits serving historically marginalized communities. Public Administration Review, 83(3), 570-586. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/puar.13596 

Cheng, Y. (2019). Exploring the role of nonprofits in public service provision: Moving from coproduction to cogovernance. Public Administration Review, 79(2), 203-214. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/puar.12970

Cheng, Y. (2019). Nonprofit spending and government provision of public services: Testing theories of government–nonprofit relationships. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 29(2), 238-254. https://academic.oup.com/jpart/article/29/2/238/5095699