Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly recent issues

Ethnicity, Acculturation, and Volunteering to Organizations: A Comparison of African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Whites

Sundeen, R. A., Garcia, C., Raskoff, S. A. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

This article reports the findings of a study of volunteering to organizations among native-born and immigrant African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Whites in the United States. The authors focus on the questions, do ethnic groups differ in their likelihood of volunteering, and are these differences a function of acculturation? The conceptual framework to explain formal volunteering includes acculturation, personal and social capital, gender, and age. Using logistic regression analysis, the authors find that acculturation explains formal volunteering only partially and differently among the groups and that each native-born and immigrant group has its own unique combination of predictors of volunteering.

Immigrant Volunteering: A Stepping Stone to Integration?

Handy, F., Greenspan, I. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

This article investigates volunteering by immigrants. It examines if and how volunteering experiences can attenuate the effects of relocation for immigrants as they seek to regain social and human capital lost in the migration process. Based on analysis of 754 surveys, 33 focus groups, and 34 in-depth interviews, the authors explore the volunteering experiences of immigrants in ethnic congregations in four Canadian cities. Using a grounded theory approach, they propose a conceptual framework that delineates factors at the individual and organizational levels. Although individual-level factors are useful determinants of volunteer participation, for immigrants organizational factors are also an important part of the picture. These factors influence immigrants’ volunteer participation rates and the intensity of their participation. The benefits of volunteering include the enhancement of social and human capital, which provides a stepping stone for the integration of immigrants into the host society.

Religious Capital and Intergenerational Transmission of Volunteering as Correlates of Civic Engagement

Caputo, R. K. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

Using a subsample of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97), this study (N = 2,471) provides evidence in support of social capital and socialization theories. Intergenerational transmission of civic engagement activities was found to occur through mechanisms such as parental religiosity and voluntarism. Using multinomial logistic regression analysis, correlates of four types of civic engagement were examined: mixed motivation voluntarism (voluntary participation in activist and nonactivist activities, n = 401), exclusively activist (n = 109), exclusive voluntarism (n = 652), and as the referent non—civic minded (no voluntary participation in either activist or nonactivist activities, n = 1,309). Parental voluntarism, socialization, religious participation, education, and presence of children were found to be robust predictors of mixed motivation voluntarism; parental devotion, presence of children, and race/ethnicity, of exclusive activism; and parental religious affiliation and fundamentalism, socialization, and religious participation, self-perceived sense of trustfulness, presence of children, and race/ethnicity of exclusive voluntarism.

The Collaboration Decision in Nonprofit Organizations: Views From the Front Line

Sowa, J. E. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

To understand the impact of collaborative service delivery by nonprofit organizations, scholars must fully understand why those nonprofits enter into service delivery collaborations and what motivates them to collaborate with another organization to deliver their services. Drawing on managers’ retrospective accounts concerning the creation of interagency collaborations and applying multiple theoretical perspectives, this article explores what managers directly involved in collaborations perceive to be the rewards or benefits of those collaborations. This research demonstrates the multiple forces driving the formation of interagency collaborations, in particular the desire to secure benefits attached to service delivery and to secure benefits for the organization as a whole. Understanding why nonprofit managers enter into interagency service delivery collaborations will allow for scholars to better determine the full impact of those collaborations on both services and the nonprofit organizations engaged in the collaborations.

Health, Wealth, and Charitable Estate Planning: A Longitudinal Examination of Testamentary Charitable Giving Plans

James, R. N. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

Anticipated generational wealth transfers hold much potential for nonprofits. However, a weighted cross-sectional analysis of 18,469 respondents in the 2006 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and data from respondents dying between the 2004 and 2006 HRS waves indicated that 88% to 90.5% of donors (>$500/year) more than the age of 50 will die without a charitable bequest. Cross-sectional probit analysis of the 2006 HRS and longitudinal conditional fixed-effects logistic analysis of the 1995-2006 HRS indicated that charitable estate planning was positively associated with age, wealth, education, religious attendance, volunteering, charitable giving, and the absence of children or grandchildren. In all specifications, the absence of children was a dominant predictor of charitable estate planning.

The Stages and Strategies of Advocacy Among Nonprofit Reproductive Health Providers

Nicholson-Crotty, J. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

Research suggests that 501(c)(3) organizations play an active role in governance, shaping both the formulation and implementation of policy through advocacy. Previous work has, however, produced relatively inconsistent findings concerning the causes of and constrains on the advocacy function. In an attempt to reconcile these inconsistencies, this study draws on a theoretical model of strategic decision making in organizations, which suggests that decisions such as advocacy are best conceived of as a two-stage process. This approach produces the expectation that nonprofit organizations considering advocacy first decide whether the potential policy benefits are sufficient to undertake any form of political activity and then choose among the set of political tactics available to them. These hypotheses are tested in an analysis of the advocacy activities of more than 500 nonprofit reproductive health service providers.

Building a Policy Fields Framework to Inform Research on Nonprofit Organizations

Stone, M. M., Sandfort, J. R. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

Although the importance of the public policy environment for strategic action of nonprofit organizations has become increasingly clear, research on nonprofits is often divorced from their policy context. The purpose of this article is to present a theoretically informed framework for analyzing policy environments that can inform nonprofit research. Drawing on insights from political science, organization theory, public management, and nonprofit studies, the authors propose that the framework reflects a policy field that is an identifiable set of elements in a specific environment that directly shapes local public service provision. These elements include the structures created by institutions that deliver public programs and the ways in which state and local actors interact with and shape these structures as they work on public problems. Through a research example, the article presents the policy field framework’s analytic steps.

Who Serves?: Predicting Placement of Management Graduates on Nonprofit, Government, and Business Boards

Tschirhart, M., Reed, K. K., Freeman, S. J., Anker, A. L. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

The authors elaborate on our understanding of the use of the labor market of individuals with MBA and MPA degrees for service on boards. They find that individuals are most likely to have board service in the same sector in which they have paid employment. Being older and having a "do good" orientation are associated with board service in all sectors. MPA degrees are connected to service on government boards, whereas MBAs are connected to service on business boards. Nonprofit boards do not show a preference for degree type. Years since graduate management education predicts nonprofit and government board service but not business board service. Only government boards seem to draw significantly more men than women from the pool of individuals with MBA and MPA degrees. The findings, consistent with resource dependence theory and the expected value of scholastic, social, and cultural capital, offer implications for board recruitment and future research studies.

Book Review: Clinton, Bill (2007). Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf

Wells, R. A. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

Book Review: Foote, D. (2008). Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches With Teach for America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 338 pp., $24.95

Casey-Reed, A. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

Book Review: Adams, C., Bartelt, D., Elesh, D., & Goldstein, I. (with Freely, J., & Schmitt, M.). (2008). Restructuring the Philadelphia Region: Metropolitan Divisions and Inequality. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Pp. 224. $25.95

Xiomara Rodriguez, D. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

Book Review: Lee, M. (2008). Bureaus of Efficiency: Reforming Local Government in the Progressive Era. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press. 292 pages, $30.00

Adam, T. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

Book Review: McCully, G. (2008). Philanthropy Reconsidered: Private Initiatives--Public Good-- Quality of Life. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. 129 pp. $23.95

Jeavons, T. H. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:39:07 PST

The Effects of Descriptive Representation on Nonprofits' Civic Intermediary Roles: A Test of the "Racial Mismatch" Hypothesis in the Social Services Sector

LeRoux, K. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

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.

A Governance-Structure Approach to Voluntary Organizations

Enjolras, B. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

This article develops a governance-structure theoretical understanding of voluntary organizations. Voluntary organizations are seen as governance structures reinforcing the norm of (generalized or balanced) reciprocity, making possible the pooling of resources based on the reciprocity principle. Voluntary organizations’ governance structure presents some specific features in terms of formal ends, ownership, residual claims, decision-making procedures, accountability, checks and balances, control procedures, and embedded incentives facilitating collective action oriented toward public or mutual interest or toward advocacy. Because the voluntary governance structure is also compatible with several types of coordination mechanisms, voluntary organizations are able to operate in complex environments, mobilizing resources from market operations, governmental subsidies, or from reciprocity (volunteering, donations) while pursuing civic and democratic objectives. Their governance structure allows them to mitigate coordination failures and remain comparatively more efficient than other organizational forms. However, voluntary organizations may be subject to governance failures, the result of which could undermine trustworthiness and efficiency.

Determinants of Nonprofit Board Size and Composition: The Case of Spanish Foundations

de Andres-Alonso, P., Azofra-Palenzuela, V., Romero-Merino, M. E. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Recently, many empirical studies have examined the determinants of corporate boards of directors. Using an agency theory framework, the authors explain how nonprofit boards are structured. Although nonprofits cannot disburse profits to their contributors, the role played by their boards of trustees in monitoring and advising managers is analogous to that of corporate boards of directors. Using a sample of Spanish foundations, the authors show that nonprofit board determinants, such as organizational complexity and financing structure, are similar in many ways to those of corporate boards. However, nonprofit age illustrates the different natures of these organizations and their voluntary boards.

Inclusion of Diverse Older Populations in Volunteering: The Importance of Institutional Facilitation

Tang, F., Morrow-Howell, N., Hong, S. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

As older adults volunteer in greater numbers, concerns are being expressed about the exclusion of older adults who have historically been marginalized from volunteering. This study identifies the importance of institutional facilitation of older adults in volunteer programs, especially for those of lower socioeconomic status. A questionnaire assessing the importance of institutional facilitation in volunteering was completed by 374 volunteers aged 60 years and older from a national sample. Institutional facilitation was measured by multidimensional items capturing role flexibility, compensation, recognition, and accommodation. Flexibility—especially, choice of activities and ability to set own schedule— was perceived as most important to volunteers. Low-income and non-White volunteers gave more importance to institutional facilitators of engagement. This study suggests that voluntary organizations can facilitate the inclusion of older adults from diverse backgrounds through increasing flexibility, compensation, and recognition.

An Untapped Resource: Understanding Volunteers Aged 8 to 12

Shannon, C. S. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Research on youth volunteers has overlooked those between the ages of 8 and 12 (younger youth). As a result, little is known about the volunteer activities, motivations, or barriers of youth this age. This study used semi-structured interviews with 73 younger youth from Boys and Girls Clubs in Atlantic Canada and 7 club executive directors to explore the contributions younger youth can make as volunteers and how their experiences differ from older youth volunteers. The findings indicated that younger youth can engage in a wide range of volunteer activities. They participate because they experience volunteering as fun and enjoy the rewards, both tangible and intangible, associated with volunteering. The most significant barriers are related to perceptions others have related to what younger youth can do as volunteers.

Improving Museums' Performance Through Custodial, Sales, and Customer Orientations

Camarero, C., Garrido, M.-J. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Although customer orientation seems to be an adequate marketing approach to achieve the objectives of for-profit organizations, this approach is not enough for cultural organizations that are also involved in a social mission. The current work is focused on the case of museums and arts organizations and analyzes the implications of three alternative strategic orientations (customer, sales, and custodial orientations) to improve social performance (education and conservation) as well as economic performance (income or number of visitors). The empirical analysis of 182 Spanish museums reveals that social performance is highly related to custodial and customer orientation, whereas economic performance depends mainly on a sales orientation.

Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development in Silicon Valley: A Case Study on The Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network

Squazzoni, F. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Social entrepreneurs are playing a pivotal role in promoting intersector initiatives to address economic and social challenges in regions and local communities. This generates social capital to support an initiative-oriented collaboration framework among participants and across sectors. Such intersectoral initiatives are of paramount importance for the capacity of a region/community to set up innovative solutions to socioeconomic problems from the bottom-up, going beyond the limits of markets and government institutions. This is increasingly happening not only in depressed but also in developed regions and communities, such as Silicon Valley. This article reports on the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a nonprofit organization launched in 1992 to promote a series of intersectoral initiatives at the edge of the economy, society, and environment in Silicon Valley.

The Relationship Between Confidence in Charitable Organizations and Volunteering Revisited

Bekkers, R., Bowman, W. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Confidence in charitable organizations (charitable confidence) would seem to be an important prerequisite for philanthropic behavior. Previous research relying on cross-sectional data has suggested that volunteering promotes charitable confidence and vice versa. This research note, using new longitudinal panel data from the Netherlands, contradicts the suggestion generated by previous research. Volunteers indeed have more charitable confidence, but changes in one are not related to changes in the other. The authors identify generalized social trust and altruistic values as omitted variables that produce the previously observed relationship. The practical implication of this finding is that a decline in charitable confidence is unlikely to reduce volunteering. The theoretical implication is that volunteering is symbolic rather than instrumental.

Book Review: Half-Life of a Zealot, by Swannee Hunt Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2006. 344 pp. $29.95

Magat, R. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Book Review: Cherbo, J. M., Stewart, R. A., & Wyszomirski, M. J. (Eds.). (2008). Understanding the Arts and Creative Sector in the United States. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 224 pp., $26.95

Rushton, M. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Book Review: Grams, D., & Farrell, B. (Eds.). (2008). Entering Cultural Communities: Diversity and Change in the Nonprofit Arts. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 297 pp., $20.00

Shockley, G. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Book Review: DeRienzo, H. (2008). The Concept of Community: Lessons From the Bronx. Milan, Italy: IPOC di Pietro Condemi

Eikenberry, A. M. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Book Review: Gazley, B., & Dignam, M. (2008). The decision to volunteer. Washington, DC: American Society of Association Executives & the Center for Association Leadership, 144 pp., $89.95

Macduff, N. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Book Review: Sherr, M. L. (2008). Social Work With Volunteers. Chicago: Lyceum Books

Wernet, S. P. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Book Review: Moore, S.E.H. (2008). Ribbon Culture: Charity, Compassion, and Public Awareness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 190 pp., $74.95

Chambre, S. M. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:43 PDT

Book Review: Pink Ribbons, Inc: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy, by Samantha King. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006. 208 pp., $18.95

Mead, M. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:44 PDT

Book Review: The Routledge Companion to Nonprofit Marketing, edited by Adrian Sargeant and Walter Wymer. New York: Routledge, 2007. 432 pp. $190.00. Reviewed by W. Benoy Joseph

Joseph, W.B. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:44 PDT

Book Review: Levy, R. (2008). Yours for the Asking: An Indispensable Guide to Fundraising and Management. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 210 pp., $29.95. Burton, T. (2008). Naming Rights. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 256 pp., $45.00

Lindahl, W. E. — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:15:44 PDT

Editor's Introduction

Harris, M. E. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

It Ain't Natural: Toward a New (Natural) Resource Conceptualization for Volunteer Management

Brudney, J. L., Meijs, L. C. P. M. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

This article presents a new conceptualization of volunteerism as a natural resource. The authors propose that volunteer energy can be understood as a human-made, renewable resource that can be grown and recycled, and whose continuation and volume of flow can be influenced by human beings positively as well as negatively. Based on this conceptualization, we describe the major features of volunteer energy and suggest that a new regenerative approach is necessary for the field to fully embrace it. We develop the new approach and contrast it with the traditional instrumental approach to volunteer management.

Refusing the Market: A Democratic Discourse for Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations

Eikenberry, A. M. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

This article extends critical and normative theorizing about the assumptions and implications of marketization for nonprofit and voluntary organizations and suggests an alternative discourse. It describes reasons for the increasing marketization of nonprofit and voluntary organizations and what the literature has shown to be problematic about marketization. It argues that one way to resist colonization by the market is for academics and practitioners of voluntary and nonprofit organizations to create and apply a democratic counterdiscourse.

Community Carrying Capacity: A Network Perspective

Paarlberg, L. E., Varda, D. M. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

Scholars have explored the idea of the determinants of the size of the nonprofit sector as a linear relationship between supply of resources and the demand for nonprofit services. This in turn has fueled debate about whether there are too many nonprofits for available resources. In this article, we propose that the scarcity (or abundance) of resources does not inherently determine the limits of a community's nonprofit "carrying capacity". Rather, network exchanges between nonprofits and other organizations may exhibit positive synergistic effects that are associated with diverse outcomes. We therefore propose a model of nonprofit carrying capacity that shifts the discussion to the ability of a community to support network exchanges among independent agents.

Against NGOs?: A Critical Perspective on Nongovernmental Action

Srinivas, N. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

Through a review of two bodies of critical literature, within management studies and development studies respectively, the implications of a critical perspective for our understanding of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is presented.

A Fifth Nonprofit Regime?: Revisiting Social Origins Theory Using Jewish Associational Life as a New State Model

Kabalo, P. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

In their social origins theory, Salamon and Anheier demonstrated the need to consider the historical past of societies in order to trace additional factors that motivate and shape the scope and nature of the third sector. This article elaborates the social origins approach to adjust it to a wider spectrum of states and nations and to additional historical experiences. It sheds light on societies that achieved independence after 1945 and went through a process of decolonization. In these countries, social structures and relations with governing authorities were different from the European and North American patterns that inspired the social origins approach. Taken together, such societies suggest an additional theoretical framework—one that explains the structure and characteristics of the third sector in new states in the light of their distinctive historical experience.

Organizational Social Capital and Nonprofits

Schneider, J. A. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

Social capital has become a popular concept in nonprofit studies but, given confusion over its definition, it is not as widely used as it could be in organizational analysis. In addition, much of the social capital research in nonprofit studies focuses either on the role of nonprofits in fostering civic engagement or on the ways that nonprofits build social capital for individuals associated with the organization. This article has a different focus. It examines the role of organizational social capital in nonprofits.

Gender and the Nonprofit Sector

Themudo, N. S. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

Numerous studies have found women to be more public spirited than men, volunteering more and giving a larger share of their income to nonprofits. Yet in the theoretical literature on the nonprofit sector, the role of women has been largely neglected. This article uses cross-national data to examine the relationship between women's empowerment, voluntary action and the nonprofit sector. I find a strong and positive relationship between women's empowerment, voluntary action, and nonprofit sector strength. These findings suggest a need for a gender theory that offers new insights into the nonprofit sector. If policy makers intensify their efforts to promote women's empowerment, this could not only increase equity but may strengthen the nonprofit sector. This, in a virtuous circle, could further help to promote women's empowerment.

Framing the Field: Civil Society and Related Concepts

Muukkonen, M. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

This article considers how to frame the area of scholarship that deals with concepts such as third sector, nonprofit, voluntary sector, civil society, philanthropy, nongovernmental organizations, social economy, and public benefit organizations. In spite of more than 30 years' history of the field, which we refer to here broadly as civil society studies, there is not one single term that covers the whole sphere. This article focuses on the different concepts and evaluates their content and connotations. It suggests that attempts to use categorizations should be replaced with the Wittgensteinian idea of family resemblance.

Theories About the Role of Theory in Nonprofit and Philanthropic Studies

Donmoyer, R. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

As the nonprofit and philanthropic studies field achieves increased acceptance within colleges and universities, academics within the field must confront a conundrum: Most academics are inclined to develop academic programs that resemble the theory-oriented academic programs in which they were educated; most students who enroll in nonprofit programs, however, are current or future practitioners who are not preparing for—and are unlikely to pursue—academic careers in which theory development is a primary goal. The focus, here, is on two emerging perspectives on the role that theoretical knowledge should play in the nonprofit/philanthropic studies field and the implications of these perspectives for academic program development. One perspective is relatively traditional. The other requires a more radical rethinking of the form and function of theoretical knowledge in applied fields like nonprofit/philanthropic studies and a different approach to university preparation programs than the theory-dissemination approach found in traditional academic programs.

Book Review: Yang, K., & Bergrud, E. (Eds.), Civic Engagement in a Network Society. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2008. 323 pp. $45.95

Vogelsang-Coombs, V. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

Book Review: Gunderman, R. B. (2008). We Make a Life by What We Give. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 216 pp., $24.95. Payton, R. L., & Moody, M. P. (2008). Understanding Philanthropy: Its Meaning and Mission. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 224 pp., $24.95

Drezner, N. D. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

Book Review: Neem, J. N. (2008). Creating a nation of joiners: Democracy and civil society in early national Massachusetts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 259 pp. $49.95 (hardcover)

Lee, M. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

Book Review: The Trusted Leader: Building the Relationships That Make Government Work, edited by Terry Newell, Grant Reeher, and Peter Ronayne. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2008. 349 pp., $48.95. Reviewed by Leda McIntyre Hall

Hall, L. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:25 PDT

Book Review: Light, P. C. (2008). The Search for Social Entrepreneurship. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. 295 pp. $26.95 (paper)

Ronquillo, J. C. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:26 PDT

Book Review: Barber, B. R. (2008). Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole. New York: Norton

Kushner, R. J. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:26 PDT

Book Review: Owens, Michael Leo. (2007). God and Government in the Ghetto: The Politics of Church--State Collaboration in Black America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 304 pp. $22.00 (paperback)

Rausch, J. D. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:18:26 PDT

Thank You Note

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:56 PDT

Delegation of Coordination and Outcomes in Cross-Sector Partnerships: The Case of Service Learning Partnerships

Dorado, S., Giles, D. E., Welch, T. C. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:56 PDT

This article furthers knowledge on cross-sector partnerships. It distinguishes between partnerships that produce predefined outcomes and those that produce co-defined ones. Predefined outcomes are defined by one partner prior to the formation of the partnership and could have been attained easily with alternative partners. Co-defined outcomes are defined by partners in mutual consultation and tailored to the resources and goals of the participants. The article identifies delegation as a factor that crucially defines whether partnerships produce pre- or co-defined outcomes. Delegation occurs when there is a clear-cut division between coordination and participation so that staff members engaged as coordinators are otherwise disengaged from the partnership. Delegated partnerships—those with coordinators engaged only in coordinating duties—are likely to produce predefined outcomes whereas undelegated partnerships are likely to produce co-defined outcomes. The article builds on a grounded theory study of 11 service learning partnerships formed by institutions of higher education and community organizations.

Community Foundation Development and Social Capital

Graddy, E., Wang, L. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:56 PDT

The recent worldwide growth of community foundations presents new opportunities for community-based social change. Realizing that promise requires that community foundations sustain the charitable support of their communities with increasing competition for these resources, and thus an understanding of the connection between community characteristics and charitable giving is necessary. The authors focus here on the potential role of community social capital. This study develops and empirically explores a model that connects social capital and gifts to community foundations, while controlling for community demographics and the community's exposure to charitable organizations. The authors find that per capita gifts to community foundations increase with the level of social trust in the community. In addition, gifts are affected by the number of years that community foundations have existed in the region, population density, homeownership, and the poverty rate. Implications are developed for community foundations and for our understanding of the different dimensions of social capital.

Sociodemographic and Personality Characteristics of Canadian Donors Contributing to International Charity

Rajan, S. S., Pink, G. H., Dow, W. H. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

This study aims to establish a sociodemographic and personality profile of Canadians who donate internationally, fills the gap in the literature with regard to individual-level determinants of international giving, and compares these determinants with those of domestic donors. Women, volunteers, and individuals of non-Canadian origin, with higher income, higher education, higher level of religiosity, higher political awareness and participation, and higher frequency of extended family participation were more likely to contribute internationally. Higher education and a higher level of religiosity seem to influence international giving more than they did domestic giving. In terms of the variations in amount of international donations the important determinants are income, education, level of religiosity, and feeling of financial security. These results suggest that international charities should probably target their efforts at more-educated, higher-income and more-religious individuals. The other target donors are volunteers, women, individuals of non-Canadian origin, and politically aware and socially involved individuals.

Corporate Philanthropy in the Canadian Context: From Damage Control to Improving Society

Foster, M. K., Meinhard, A. G., Berger, I. E., Krpan, P. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

Fourteen in-depth interviews were conducted with decision makers in corporations representing natural resources, finance, retail, technology, food and beverage, and communications to explore the diverse approaches to philanthropy in corporate Canada. The authors focused on gaining insight into the organizational differences among companies that are have integrated corporate philanthropy into their cultures, those where philanthropy is marginal to their main business and those that see philanthropy as a beneficial relationship. They learned that companies that have integrated philanthropy into their operations are quite distinct in both attitudes and behavior from the others. Although companies can change the role of philanthropy within their organization, truly integrating philanthropy into the business of the corporation is not something that can develop and evolve over time; if that vision is not present in the corporate culture from the beginning, it is not likely to develop.

How Tough are Better Business Bureau/Wise Giving Alliance Financial Standards?

Bhattacharya, R., Tinkelman, D. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

The use of financial efficiency ratios to judge charities' performance is controversial. The authors investigate the stringency of one widely used set of standards by examining reported 2001 data for more than 111,000 organizations. The authors suggest the ability of many organizations to comply inhibits protests against the widespread use of these ratios.

The Wise Giving Alliance adopted stricter standards in 2003, and the authors find that more organizations will be able to meet the new standards. As in the past, the great majority of organizations report compliance. The authors note marked differences in the rates of compliance with both the program spending and fund-raising efficiency standards by sector. Also, organizations with larger special events tend to incur relatively larger costs. The authors question the use of the same ratios for all organizations.

The authors note no evidence of widespread expense allocation manipulation around the critical levels of ratios monitored by the Alliance.

Faith-Based Assumptions About Performance: Does Church Affiliation Matter for Service Quality and Access?

Amirkhanyan, A. A., Hyun Joon Kim, , Lambright, K. T. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

To date, the common rhetoric and assumptions on the performance of faith-based organizations (FBOs), ironically, appear to be faith based rather than empirically supported: There is a paucity of research evaluating the effectiveness of FBOs that uses sufficiently rigorous methods and multiple measures of organizational performance. This study seeks to inform the debate on the relative effectiveness of FBOs by comparing religiously affiliated and secular nonprofit nursing homes using two distinct but complementary measures of organizational performance: service quality and access for impoverished clients. Using nationally representative panel data on 11,877 church-affiliated and secular nonprofit nursing homes, this study examines the effect of ownership with several regression models. Overall, the findings fail to confirm the assumption that FBOs perform better than secular nonprofit organizations in the context of the nursing home industry. Isomorphic pressures and commercialization trends within the nursing home industry are discussed to help explain these findings.

Welfare Clients' Volunteering as a Means of Empowerment

Cohen, A. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

The population approaching social services for help is often characterized by poverty, passivity, helplessness, and an external locus of control. This population expects improvement in its situation but develops a dependent relationship with the help agents. The literature shows that volunteer work contributes toward developing empowerment among volunteers, but to date only a relatively small number of welfare clients have been activated as volunteers, serving more as the object of others' volunteer work. This article describes a classic experimental study, checking the connection between welfare clients' volunteering and their individual feeling of empowerment. The main and most significant finding in the study demonstrated that individual feeling of empowerment among clients who engaged in volunteer work was higher than that of clients not engaged in such work. The findings suggest that volunteer work may serve as an effective intervention tool in social work, whose aim is change in welfare clients' feelings of empowerment.

Book Review: Richard Magat Just Another Emperor: The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism, by Michael Edwards. New York: Demos, 2008. 106 pp. $11.95 (paper). Philanthrocapitalism: How the Rich Can Save the World, by Matthew Bishop and Michael Green. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2008. 272 pp. $25.95 (cloth)

Magat, R. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

Book Review: Jocelyn Clare R. Hermoso Hopgood, S. (2006). Keepers of the Flame: Understanding Amnesty International. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 272 pp., $19.95

Hermoso, J. C. R. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

Book Review: Ram A. Cnaan Musick, M. A., & Wilson, J. (2008). Volunteers: A Social Profile. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 663 pp., $39.95

Cnaan, R. A. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

Book Review: Mel Gill 7 Measures of Success: What Remarkable Associations Do That Others Don't, by The Center for Association Leadership. Washington, DC: American Society of Association Executives, 2006. 138 pp., $29.95. Reviewed by Mel Gill

Gill, M. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

Book Review: Richard Bush Hunter, A., & Milofsky, C. (2007). Pragmatic Liberalism: Constructing a Civil Society. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 208 pp., $45.00

Bush, R. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

Book Review: David C. Hammack Brooks, A. C. (2006). Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism. New York: Basic Books

Hammack, D. C. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT

Book Review: Jessica E. Sowa Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, by Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007. 336 pp. $29.95

Sowa, J. E. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:29:57 PDT