The Relationship between Provision of Membership Benefits and Fulfillment of Representational Roles in Nonprofit Advocacy Membership Organizations

This article explores the ways nonprofit advocacy membership organizations can manage their resource dependence on members and fulfill the organizations' representational roles, focusing on the provision of membership benefits. Membership organizations rely on financial or other resources from members and thus are constrained by them. For a nonprofit that aims to primarily speak for members, constraints by members may help to focus organizational attention on members' interests. Contrarily, for a nonprofit that aims to mainly represent broader constituents, members' constraints may hamper an organization's ability to advocate for broader constituents because members do not necessarily share the same policy goals with broader constituents. The provision of membership benefits can be a useful strategy for organizations to fulfill their representational roles and to satisfy and engage members, because people often join an organization to enjoy certain membership benefits. For an empirical analysis, this study collected a large‐scale data set through web and mail surveys of nonprofit advocacy organizations across the United States. The mixed‐mode surveys achieved a 57.5 percent response rate (729 responses). The survey and regression analysis results show that member‐serving nonprofits providing members with opportunities to participate in advocacy work are more likely to represent members' interests directly. Although broader constituency‐serving nonprofits tend to prioritize members' opinions, these organizations are more likely to adhere to the mandates of broader constituents when providing selective material membership benefits. However, when providing purposive membership benefits, these nonprofits are more likely to represent members' opinions.     

Social Movements,Protest and Mainstream Media

This article provides a broad, cross‐disciplinary overview of scholarship which has explored the dynamics between social movements, protests and their coverage by mainstream media across sociology, social movement studies, political science and media and communications. Two general approaches are identified ‘representational’ and ‘relational’ research. ‘Representational’ scholarship is that which has concerned itself with how social movements are portrayed or ‘framed’ in the media, how the media production process facilitates this, and the consequences thereof. ‘Relational’ scholarship concentrates on the asymmetrical ‘relationship’ between social movements, the contestation of media representation and the media strategies of social movements. Within these two broad approaches different perspectives and areas of emphasis are highlighted along with their strengths and weaknesses. The conclusion reflects on current developments in this area of study and offers avenues for future research.     

Reassessing Charity Trusteeship in Britain? Toward Conservatism, Not Change

The growing prominence given to charity trustees' strategy-making roles and responsibilities is encouraging reassessment of the values and purposes of trusteeship in Britain. This occurs against a background of an increasingly professionalized and managerialist charity sector. Trustees are seen, in public policy terms, as a homogeneous and leadership-oriented group, while some charity managers aspire to or are already fulfilling leadership roles. This research note reviews these developments, considering trustees' strategy-making and controlling functions, and the nature of the relations between charity staffs and trustees. It describes the development of a tentative typology by the authors, characterizing trustees' approaches to their roles, as a means of illustrating the heterogeneous rather than homogeneous nature of the overall charity trustee body. The research process, leading toward the typology's development, is outlined and critiqued. Reflections on the value of the typology are given and possible future developments in trusteeship are considered. The authors consider that those trustees willing to remain in role are likely to adopt custodial rather than entrepreneurial approaches to their trusteeship. Such a role is likely to be increasingly at odds with the role sought or adopted by senior managers in some charities, and also with the proactive model of trusteeship that is being encouraged by the regulatory systems for British charities.     

The Joy of Social Work Administration: An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Human Service Administrators’ Positive Perceptions of Their Work

Positive organizational psychology suggests that researchers should focus on the rewarding elements of work life, yet those in the fields of social work and nonprofit administration have not conducted research in line with this admonition. Indeed, the current focus on administrative challenges and problems may be part of the reason there is currently a leadership crisis in human services nonprofits. This article describes an exploratory qualitative study of human service executives’ perceptions of their work, focusing on what brings them joy in their jobs. We found five categories of joyful experiences. Implications for future practice, education, and research are included.     

Explaining Trust in Canadian Charities: The Influence of Public Perceptions of Accountability,Transparency, Familiarity and Institutional Trust

Public trust of nonprofits can augment social benefits of the nonprofit sector by enhancing engagement of the general population in the sector. This study analyzed cross sectional data collected from a random sample of Canadians (n?=?3853) to test the effects of respondents’ perceptions of financial accountability, transparency, and familiarity of charitable nonprofits, along with the effects of trust in key institutions on their general trust in charitable nonprofits. Results show that each factor (except for trust in government institutions) has a significant effect on the level of trust respondents had in charitable nonprofits. The study helps advance our understanding of what contributes to trust in charitable nonprofits among Canadians and offers suggestions on how nonprofits can garner greater trust with the population.

     

Understanding the discipline gap through a cultural lens: implications for the education of African American students

African American students are disciplined at rates that are disproportionately higher than Black students’ statistical representation in public schools. Coined as the discipline gap, racial and ethnic disparities are present in virtually every major school system across the United States. Because African American students seldom share the cultural frameworks of their teachers, the overrepresentation of Black students on measures of school discipline may, in part, be a function of cultural mismatches in the classroom. This article contains a synopsis of what is currently known about the discipline gap, and sets forth suggestions to address the issue. Recommendations focus on the roles of culturally responsive discipline, teacher recruitment and cultural immersion experiences. Irvine’s construct of cultural synchronization serves as the article’s interpretive basis.     

The roles of family,neighborhood, and school contextual factors on social work minority students’ educational aspirations and integration

This study examined the significance of three macro social determinants (i.e., family, neighborhood, and school factors) on the educational aspirations and integration of social work minority undergraduate students using a qualitative study of 40 interviews. Two research questions were raised: (1) how did family, neighborhood, and school contextual factors account for the participants’ postsecondary education in social work, a study that places more emphasis on the attainment of humanitarian goals over future economic outlook? and (2) what roles did family, neighborhood, and school play in shaping these participants’ postsecondary educational aspirations and integration? Overall, educationally resilient participants received strong family support but also encountered social roadblocks, stigmatization, and racial discrimination in the mainstream culture. Ironically, these social challenges also served as the major driving forces that inspired them to pursue their postsecondary education and major in social work. The findings of this study urge the general public and higher educational settings to develop more cultural sensitivity, validate unique contribution, and promote equality of cultural diversity among minority social work students.     

Access to Philanthropic and Commercial Income Among Nonprofit Community Service Organisations

Governments depend on nonprofit, voluntary sector organisations to deliver social and community services, and public funding is the sector’s most important income source. However, in many countries, public funding for social services is becoming more limited, conditional and precarious, and governments are encouraging nonprofits to diversify their funding base, and shift their reliance to income from market activity and private donations. This article is concerned with access to philanthropic and commercial funding among nonprofits, and the factors affecting it. It firstly discusses an emerging policy agenda to promote private funding among nonprofit community service providers. Then, multivariate analysis of survey data from 521 Australian nonprofits shows which organisations access income from client fees, business activities, community fundraising, and philanthropic foundations. By exploring inequalities in the distribution of these main sources of private funding, the article helps identify the types of organisations that face challenges in establishing and sustaining streams of private income, and which are likely to require ongoing public support.     

An interview with bill scales

The mission of a mutual benefit association is so inexorably intertwined with its membership that a change in one cannot succeed without a corresponding change in the other. Two case studies of United Ways' state associations' “remissioning” initiatives give details on the dynamic interplay of mission and membership in mutual benefit associations, a fundamental characteristic that distinguishes them from public benefit nonprofits. To anticipate change, association managers must focus on the shifting demands from their members' stakeholders. They also must clearly understand the nature of their membership and who represent their members when members are organizations, and they must be ready to engage in intra-association politics to effect a change in mission.     

How do public organizations communicate their alliances on Facebook and how does the public react? A longitudinal analysis

Organizations have adopted social media to communicate their alliances to the public, that is, engage in representational networks. Yet a comprehensive examination of what is communicated in representational networks and how public reactions are associated with these networks is relatively scarce. This study builds on the Symbiotic Sustainability Model (SSM) to examine the content of messages passed in representational networks on social media and their related public reactions. Based on a panel analysis of one year of Facebook data generated by 605 public organizations in Taiwan, this study reveals that referencing certain topics such as economic and technological development and employing linguistic features demonstrating efficacy, formality, and empathetic concern in Facebook messages was associated with an increased diversity of alliance ties reported by public organizations. Moreover, the relationship between communicating diverse alliance ties and positive public reactions in the form of likes went both ways. Integrating automated topic modeling, linguistic analysis, and panel analysis, this study provides a process-based and communication-centered view of the mechanisms and disparities underlying organizations’ strategic network management on social media.     

A contingency approach to nonprofit governance

A number of contingency factors may be relevant for effective nonprofit organizations and their boards. Although all boards must fulfill certain critical roles and responsibilities, strategic choices can be made about adopting different governance configurations or patterns. These choices can be meaningfully informed by understanding organizational contingencies such as age, size, structure, and strategy—and, even more important, by external contingencies and environmental dimensions such as degree of stability and complexity. This article extends or layers contingency thinking beyond its traditional focus on an alignment between the external environment and the organization's structure to focus as well on the alignment of the organization's governance configuration with its structure and environment. Structural contingency theory in general, and specifically within nonprofits, is reviewed. Two cases are presented of organizations that used an approach based on contingency theory in an action research process to examine and change their governance configurations. The steps they followed may help other nonprofits adapt their governance structures and practices and fulfill their responsibilities for board assessment and reflection.     

Proactive or Protective? Dimensions of and Advocacy Activities Associated with Reported Policy Change by Nonprofit Organizations

Nonprofit and voluntary associations have a long history of defending the rights of their members, clients, and the public. Despite a burgeoning literature on advocacy by nonprofit organizations, few studies attempt to answer a central question: what factors influence nonprofit success in achieving the changes they aim to affect? Using original data from nearly 400 US nonprofits, we examine the extent to which they were involved in changing public policy, the nature of this engagement, and advocacy activities, organizational characteristics and relationships with others associated with reported policy change. More than three quarters of respondents reported having enacted, stopped, or modified policy. Nonprofits more often reported proactively changing policy when working in partnership and reactively stopping or modifying policy when facing opposition groups. Providing expertise and attending meetings was associated with reported policy change, whereas placing opinion ads was not.     

Which Nonprofit Gets More Government Funding?

Government represents one of the most important funding sources for nonprofit organizations. However, the literature has not yet provided a systematic understanding of nonprofits’ organizational factors that are associated with their receipts of government funding. This study combines interorganizational relationships and organizational institutionalism literature to examine the determinants of nonprofits’ obtainment of government funding. Based on a survey of human service nonprofits in Maryland, this research finds that nonprofits with higher bureaucratic orientation, stronger domain consensus with government, and longer government funding history are more likely to receive government contracts and grants. Nonprofits’ revenue diversification, professionalization, and board co‐optation might have very limited impacts.     

Nonprofit social services in Moscow: Leadership and administrative issues

This article presents the findings of a study of nonprofit human services organizations in Moscow, Russia, in the early stages of development of the nonprofit sector. It addresses the following issues of relevance to social welfare in particular and nonprofits in general. First, what is the legal status of nonprofits? Second, what leadership and governance mechanisms have evolved? Third, how are resources, both financial and human, obtained? And, finally, how can Western consultants be useful in addressing the unique and specific needs of nonprofits in Russia as they bring their expertise into this setting?     

Common Agency in Nonprofit Advocacy Organizations

Most theories of nonprofit organizations and nonprofit leadership recognize the multitude of stakeholders—including board members, donors and volunteers, funders, the media, and policy makers—that organizational leaders must contend with in doing their work. For nonprofits engaged in advocacy, demands from stakeholders may be even more challenging to meet. Although stakeholder theory recognizes the effect of various groups on an organization, it does not explain how leaders manage the preferences of their often‐competing stakeholders while they make choices for the organization. This study develops a common agency framework, evaluating the roles of three groups crucial to nonprofit advocacy organizations: the organization's board of directors, elected officials, and donors/members. The common agency framework is then illustrated with interviews with leaders of nonprofit advocacy organizations in California. Findings suggest that the leaders of these groups have a significant amount of discretion in guiding their organizations’ activities and operations.     

Construction of organizational identity claim and understanding in nonprofits: Evidence from Pakistan's voluntary organizations

There is a substantial research literature on nonprofits identity claim and identity understanding but much less on how these identities are constructed in the first place. This article explores how identity claim and identity understanding are constructed in the nonprofits and reasons for such constructions. Exploratory multiple case study analysis was conducted with two voluntary organizations. The results showed that three factors play a significant role in construction of identity claim; founders, funding, and power of stakeholders. The construction of identity understanding is influenced by the claim and is often in sync until the funding source changes leading to a dissimilar identity understanding. The members, however, showed reluctance to embrace the new identity due to the power of stakeholders and fear of mission drift. The unsynchronized claim and understanding caused confusions among the members as they juggled between adopting the new identity understanding and keeping a dissimilar claim. This confusion hinders the nonprofits growth and they struggle to answer what they want to be in future.     

Human capital inflow in nonprofits: Entry‐level employees’ sector shift

Although recruitment and retention of qualified employees are some of the biggest challenges in the nonprofit sector, nonprofit organizations must maintain human capital inflow due to its significant impacts on organizational success. Through person‐organization value fit, this paper explores the factors that influence labor shifts from the public or for‐profit sector into the nonprofit sector in the South Korean context. Specifically, the effects on the likelihood of employees switching to the nonprofit sector from the perspective of eight job satisfaction measures and three education–job match measures are investigated. Two groups of employees (those whose career started in the for‐profit sector and those starting in the public sector) are compared. Results indicate that there is substantial variation between the two groups. In particular, intrinsic job satisfaction has completely different effects on those working in the for‐profit sector than on those working in the public sector regarding their likelihood of having experienced an intersectoral shift into nonprofits. The more public employees are satisfied with intrinsic job rewards, especially job reputation, the more likely they are to move to nonprofits. These results suggest that when employees in the public sector are satisfied with intrinsic rewards they tend to pursue greater intrinsic satisfaction in the nonprofit sector. This paper also reports that education–job match is only significant for those whose first job was in the for‐profit sector.     

Resource Constraints or Cultural Conformity? Nonprofit Relationships with Businesses

Nonprofit interactions with businesses have become increasingly diverse, but which nonprofits establish relationships, and to what extent do relationships depend on the form or type of tie? Focusing on nonprofit collaboration with businesses and donations from businesses, we test arguments based on sociological institutionalism and resource dependence theory. We find that nonprofits relying on earned income, nonprofits led by individuals with management degrees, and rationalized nonprofits all are more likely to report collaborations with businesses, aligning with expectations from institutional theory. For donative ties between businesses and nonprofits, we find that rationalized nonprofits are more likely to have charitable gifts from businesses. However, nonprofits with earned income are less likely to have business donations, and funding diversity has a salient positive effect. These results reveal important but paradoxical institutional and resource dependence effects. We conclude with a discussion of our divergent findings and set an agenda for additional research on the topic.     

Information and Compassion in Crisis Responses: A Test of Their Effects

We used a national survey of 371 public relations officers in 4-year colleges and universities to examine environmental constraints, style of research, and certain personal characteristics to determine if they differentiate female and male practitioners. First, with regard to constraints, female public relations officers are most likely to occupy what we call the conscience of the organization role, whereas their male counterparts characterize a dominant insider position. Second, no differences in use or style of research were found by gender. Although this is encouraging, it is apparent that there remain environmental constraints—notably administrator expectations—that need to be addressed. Higher education was selected as the context to study in part because it is where we educate future practitioners. With regard to gender-related stereotypical expectations, colleges and universities are not practicing in their public relations offices what they are teaching in their classrooms. Findings are framed and discussed from both individual, liberal-feminist and collective, socialist-feminist perspectives.     

The Investment Returns of Nonprofit Organizations,Part II

We continue our examination of the investment performance of nonprofit charities and foundations. This analysis tests hypotheses about what types of organizations do better. Our motivating intuition is that nonprofits with greater focus on investment performance will secure higher returns. Our hypotheses are tested by regressing the rate of return for each organization on various characteristics. As expected, nonprofits whose primary business is predominantly financial, such as insurance providers and pension or retirement funds, consistently earn higher returns. The data also support our hypotheses that larger nonprofits, older nonprofits, and private foundations will tend to outperform. The evidence is mixed as to whether nonprofits that pay higher executive salaries or spend more on management earn higher returns.