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Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
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The Effects of Descriptive Representation on Nonprofits’ Civic Intermediary Roles

A Test of the "Racial Mismatch" Hypothesis in the Social Services Sector

Kelly LeRoux

University of Kansas

Social service organizations often act as civic intermediaries for their clients by facilitating their interactions with governing systems and political processes and institutions. Theories of descriptive representation and representative bureaucracy suggest that organizations will act in ways that advance the political interests of their clients when organizational leadership is racially reflective of the clientele served. Yet little is known about the effects of racial representation on nonprofit organizational activities. To what extent can these theories explain nonprofit organizational efforts to advance the political interests of their clients? This article examines this question using data from a sample of nonprofit service agencies in Michigan. Multivariate regression is used to examine the effects of racial representation on four civic intermediary roles performed by nonprofits: political representation, education, mobilization, and assimilation. Findings suggest that nonprofits engage in these activities at higher rates when agency leadership is more racially reflective of the clientele served.

Key Words: civic engagement • political representation • representative bureaucracy • race • social service organizations

This version was published on October 1, 2009

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 5, 741-760 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0899764008318710
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