Dijkzeul,Dennis and Dirk Solomons (eds), “International Organizations Revisited: Agency and Pathology in a Multipolar World”

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Rose Lindsey,John Mohan,Elizabeth Metcalfe,Sarah Bulloch: Continuity and Change in Voluntary Action: Patterns,Trends and Understandings

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

Study Abroad,Global Citizenship,and the Study of Nongovernmental Organizations

Nonprofit education and management programs often recognize the efficacy of including experiential learning opportunities such as study abroad in their curricula. In addition, higher education institutions increasingly prioritize global citizenship as a learning outcome. However, challenges abound for educators who want to evaluate study abroad courses that expect students to acquire or deepen their levels of global citizenship. This study seeks to evaluate the impact of a short-course study abroad program on students’ global citizenship orientation. Our qualitative findings suggest that students indeed grapple with the notion of global citizenship in various ways while immersed in such a course. They can also express conflicting views, further confounding scholarly understanding of how to best measure global citizenship. We discuss implications for students expressing more of an observational role than an inclination to act on global issues.     

Crisis on the Border: Specialized Capacity Building in Nonprofit Immigration Organizations

Traditional views of the nonprofit–government relationships suggest that while government may depend on nonprofit organizations to provide human services, nonprofits must also conform to government standards, monitoring, and regulation. In this paper, we argue that through specialized investments in capacity building, nonprofit providers can become irreplaceable to government funders. By developing a comparison case study of two organizations serving unaccompanied minor children who cross the U.S.–Mexico Border, we provide evidence of specialized capacity investments in a complex policy environment and discuss the implications of capacity building for both government and nonprofits.     

Can Institutional Support Improve Volunteer Quality? An Analysis of Online Volunteer Mentors

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Volunteer management practices have been shown to have positive effects on employees in terms of skill development, job...     

Judith McMorland,Ljiljana Eraković, Stepping Through Transitions: Management,Leadership & Governance in Not-for-Profit Organisations

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

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.