Monotonic market change: How contracting/expanding Protestant markets impact the founding of American Protestant international ministries.

Ecological density dependence theory argues that organizational founding rates have an inverted U-shaped relationship with density (the number of organizations already present). This study develops this theory by showing how the "density dependent" curve is moderated by continually expanding/contracting opportunities among religious movement organizations. Using event-history analyses, I investigate how the rate at which transnational American Protestant mission agencies found new ministries internationally is influenced simultaneously by density and continuous expansion/contraction of a country's Protestant market share (i.e., "monotonic market change"). Results show that as Protestant market share increases from continuous years of contraction to expansion, the peak founding rate of the density curve changes non-monotonically while the density at this peak rate increases monotonically. The study concludes by considering how a theory of monotonic market change may contribute to the study of religious as well as secular movement organizations and nonprofits more broadly.

Bridging and Bonding Social Capital by Analyzing the Demographics, User Activities, and Social Network Dynamics of Sexual Assault Centers on Twitter: Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: Social media platforms have gained popularity as communication tools for organizations to engage with clients and the public, disseminate information, and raise awareness about social issues. From a social capital perspective, relationship building is seen as an investment, involving a complex interplay of tangible and intangible resources. Social media-based social capital signifies the diverse social networks that organizations can foster through their engagement on social media platforms. Literature underscores the great significance of further investigation into the scope and nature of social media use, particularly within sectors dedicated to service delivery, such as sexual assault organizations. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to fill a research gap by investigating the use of Twitter by sexual assault support agencies in Canada. It seeks to understand the demographics, user activities, and social network structure within these organizations on Twitter, focusing on building social capital. The research questions explore the demographic profile, geographic distribution, and Twitter activity of these organizations as well as the social network dynamics of bridging and bonding social capital. METHODS: This study used purposive sampling to investigate sexual assault centers in Canada with active Twitter accounts, resulting in the identification of 124 centers. The Twitter handles were collected, yielding 113 unique handles, and their corresponding Twitter IDs were obtained and validated. A total of 294,350 tweets were collected from these centers, covering >93.54% of their Twitter activity. Preprocessing was conducted to prepare the data, and descriptive analysis was used to determine the center demographics and age. Furthermore, geolocation mapping was performed to visualize the center locations. Social network analysis was used to explore the intricate relationships within the network of sexual assault center Twitter accounts, using various metrics to assess the network structure and connectivity dynamics. RESULTS: The results highlight the substantial presence of sexual assault organizations on Twitter, particularly in provinces such as Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, underscoring the importance of tailored engagement strategies considering regional disparities. The analysis of Twitter account creation years shows a peak in 2012, followed by a decline in new account creations in subsequent years. The monthly tweet activity shows November as the most active month, whereas July had the lowest activity. The study also reveals variations in Twitter activity, account creation patterns, and social network dynamics, identifying influential social queens and marginalized entities within the network. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents a comprehensive landscape of the demographics and activities of sexual assault centers in Canada on Twitter. This study suggests that future research should explore the long-term consequences of social media use and examine stakeholder perceptions, providing valuable insights to improve communication practices within the nonprofit human services sector and further the missions of these organizations.

Connections Network: Harnessing the Collective Influence of Grassroots Leaders to Address Health-Related Problems in Hawkins and Hancock County, TN.

In March 2021, grassroots leaders in two counties in northeast Tennessee formed a new network called Connections. Leaders are working to strengthen the capacity of the network and member organizations by promoting partnerships as vital to address effectively rural social determinants of health. Connections provides network members with capacity-building tools and resources, including two funding opportunities, to achieve their missions and sustain impact. Network members are also aligning around common goals to address the socioeconomic conditions affecting health outcomes. Connections will utilize findings from network activities and collaborations to identify synergies that can accelerate improvements in community health and well-being.

Shifting Priorities and Neoliberal Ideologies in Refugee Health Intervention Design in the US.

We discuss the design of a technology-based vaccine education intervention for Somali refugees in the US. Originally conceived of as a culturally and linguistically appropriate project to be co-designed by refugees, funder demands for a "social enterprise" led to future iterations being developed for a "generic" audience. We explore epistemological negotiations and shifting priorities that shaped intervention design, highlighting how nonprofits engage neoliberal ideologies such as "social enterprise" and "design thinking" while attempting to meet community needs. We argue that social enterprises and design thinking can suffuse neoliberal ideologies into nonprofits to the detriment of community-engaged solutions.

Value co-creation and donation in non-profits: a social analysis through the service-dominant logic.

This research explores the value proposition of Brazilian non-profits (NPOs) to society, how donors and NPOs perceive value co-creation, and the elements required for value co-creation to occur in a donation context. This study includes case studies with managers and donors from three distinct non-profit organizations in the same sector. We conducted semi-structured interviews, report analysis, and direct observations. The interviews were recorded and typed up for content analysis using the MAXQDA software. The triangulation approach and multilevel data collection contributed to the research's reliability and validity. NPOs propose value through marketing strategies, primarily by humanizing "sales techniques". Donors perceive value co-creation as a beneficial collaborative result. Value co-creation is a way for non-profit organizations to achieve their missions of assisting patients or families in need. Although there is strong evidence of dialogue and transparency elements in the donor-NPO relationship, other factors, such as the individual's background or empathy, stood out more in this context. Academically, this study contributes to the literature by elucidating the phenomena under multiple actor interaction regimes. Furthermore, most studies on value co-creation focus on customer participation and interaction in private organizational processes (i.e., innovation or feedback), leaving gaps for determining and exploring alternative forms of value co-creation. This gap was filled in this study.

Racialized minorities, trust, and crisis: Muslim-American nonprofits, their leadership and government relations during COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affects already-vulnerable minorities, highlighting the need for strong, trusting relationships between governments and minority nonprofits for everyone's benefit. The current scholarship suggests minority members often lack trust in government. This study contributes to the field by examining trust levels Muslim-American nonprofits have for federal, state, and local government. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of Muslim nonprofit leaders believe that they may be discriminated against in the award of CARES Act funding, but on racial rather than religious ones. Moreover, partisanship affects trust levels. Muslim nonprofits in Republican "red" states show less trust in government compared with those in Democratic "blue" states. This study finds evidence that past relationships with the government strengthen trust. Past awards of government grants correlated positively with higher trust at both federal and local levels.

Part of the solution: A survey of community organisation perspectives on barriers and facilitating actions to Advance Care Planning in British Columbia, Canada.

BACKGROUND: Despite the established benefits of Advance Care Planning (ACP), engagement remains low in British Columbia. Since 2016, a growing number of community-based nonprofits have offered ACP education. To date, no study has focused on the perspectives of nonprofits on ACP in British Columbia. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify barriers and facilitating actions to ACP as perceived by British Columbian nonprofits. DESIGN: A mixed-methods design was used. Data were collected through online surveys and telephone interviews. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Staff and volunteers from British Columbian nonprofits that are providing or interested in providing public education on ACP were recruited for this study. RESULTS: The lack of public awareness of ACP, the emotional difficulty of the conversation, the complicated ACP process, the belief that ACP is synonymous with completing a medical order form, the challenge of introducing ACP in different cultural contexts and the siloed approach to ACP education were rated as the most important barriers to ACP engagement. The most important facilitating actions were developing clear messages, improving ACP literacy, reframing ACP as part of life planning, simplifying ACP documentation and transfer, integrating ACP conversations into clinical practice and better collaboration between the health system and nonprofits. DISCUSSION: This study identifies numerous opportunities to improve ACP engagement in British Columbia from a community lens. To maximize ACP engagement, community-led ACP education should be offered in coordination with the health system. CONCLUSION: Community-led ACP education as well as collaboration and consultation with nonprofits are part of the solution to the low ACP engagement in British Columbia. PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Study participants, including staff and volunteers at nonprofits, are members of the public.

Looking Back on Philanthropy in a Pandemic Foundation Colleagues Share Common Perspectives from Across the Pond.

Over the past year, the pandemic caused havoc globally touching the lives of most people. This included emerging challenges for nonprofits on the front lines of escalating need while at the same time limiting fundraising. Scaling up to meet needs in an extreme resource constrained environment pushed many nonprofits to the brink of insolvency. Many foundations have responded effectively to this circumstance by increasing grant making, reducing red tape, and extending greater flexibility for nonprofits. In doing so, foundations have exercised unusual humility in how they positioned themselves relative to nonprofits in protecting capacity to serve intended beneficiaries. This op-ed explores the relaxing of traditional tensions between foundations and grant seekers in ways that enabled more adequate and timely responses to pressing human needs in the face of the pandemic.

Nonprofit Financial Resilience: Recovery from Natural Disasters.

Nonprofits operate in increasingly complex and turbulent environments. However, few studies have explored nonprofits' resilience during natural disasters. This study uses Hurricane Katrina as a case study to explore whether nonprofits can regain their original financial performance after significant natural disasters and what organizational capacities and abilities influence their ability to bounce back. The results show that recovery is slow, taking between three and five years for half of the nonprofits in the sample. Recovery depends on factors such as organizational size, equity, surplus, and commercial revenue. This study enriches the nonprofit financial health literature and reveals that the factors associated with financial resilience are different from those that predict financial vulnerability.

Job Demands and Resources and Employee Well-Being in the Chinese Nonprofit Sector.

Although the nonprofit sector in China has grown substantially in past decades, its future is threatened by high turnover and burnout. It is thus necessary to investigate the factors that contribute to employee well-being (EWB) among nonprofit employees in China. This study used 233 foundation employees in China to examine the effects of job demands and resources (JD-R) on EWB. Estimates produced by regression analyses indicated that job resources (JR) have a strong effect on EWB (Beta = 0.53), as well as on the three EWB subscales (workplace, psychological, and life well-being). While job demands (JD) had no effects on overall well-being, they were negatively associated with workplace well-being (WWB) (Beta = -0.12). Robustness tests were conducted to further examine how JD and JR dimensions affect EWB and its subscales. Based on the findings, we underscore the importance of JR for EWB among foundation employees in China as well as that of implementing interventions that may alleviate the cost of emotional workload as a JD.

Can Government Intervention Increase Volunteers and Donations? Analyzing the Influence of VISTA With a Matched Design.

The United States has long relied on private organizations to provide public services to poor communities. However, while the federal government's support of the civic sector through grants and contracts is well studied, little research investigates how it subsidizes voluntary organizations through national service programs, such as Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA). In this article, we assess whether nonprofits that receive VISTA members show higher levels of donations and volunteers than matched nonprofits that did not receive VISTA members in the years following the Great Recession. We find that nonprofits that participated in the VISTA program had higher numbers of volunteers 2 years after participation, suggesting that national service was effective at supporting local organizations and building local civic infrastructure during an economic recovery. We also follow VISTA receiving organizations from 2010 to 2016 in a longitudinal design, finding a robust relationship of VISTA service and volunteering. These findings suggest VISTA is a resource for organizations and invite further research on the relationship between national service and anti-poverty work.

Surviving Victimization: How Service and Advocacy Organizations Describe Traumatic Experiences, 1998-2016.

Service and advocacy organizations have long struggled to find the appropriate language to name traumatic experiences when working with vulnerable populations. Organizations have been pressed to adopt either "victim"-based language or "survivor"-based language, with both terms seen as having mutually exclusive meanings. However, despite academic and popular debates, no recent studies have documented trends in language used to describe traumatic experiences, whether of sexual and relationship violence, or of experiences of war, disaster, or major illness. In this research note, we use administrative data from the Internal Revenue Service to analyze how 3,756 service and advocacy organizations use trauma-related language between 1998 and 2016. Descriptive analysis shows that survivor language has been on the rise as victim language declined. Victim remains a common way to name trauma, however, and survivor tends to join, rather than displace, victim terminology. Further analysis also points to gendered use of both terms. Victim and survivor are used together most often in organizations that work with trauma experienced by women and in the field of sexual and relationship violence. We suggest these findings indicate a more complex story of how communities of language users emerge, which aligns with recent sociological treatments of discourse.

Private provision of public goods by environmental groups.

Many environmental nonprofit groups are assumed to provide public goods. While an extensive literature examines why donors join and give to nonprofits, none directly tests whether donations actually provide public goods. We seek such a test by using a common form of environmental organization: watershed groups. We find their increased presence resulted in lower dissolved oxygen deficiency and higher proportions of swimmable and fishable water bodies. Increased donations to and expenditures by the groups also improved water quality. Thus, private groups likely played a role in mitigating environmental problems. Overall, our results indicate private provision of a public good by nonprofit organizations.

Barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based interventions among third sector organisations: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The third sector is becoming a growing provider of public, social, and health services. However, there is little evidence on the effectiveness of third sector organisations (TSOs), and their capacity to implement evidence-based interventions (EBIs). Understanding implementation aspects of service delivery remains an important issue in clinical practice, but is poorly understood in the context of TSOs. This is problematic, since implementation issues are known to be critical for effective intervention outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To identify and synthesise existing research on what barriers and facilitators influence the implementation process of TSOs delivering EBIs. METHODS: This review is reported according to PRISMA guidelines and was pre-registered in PROSPERO. Key databases were searched using relevant terms, experts in the field were contacted, and websites were reviewed. All identified studies were double-screened, and data were extracted independently by two authors. Included studies were synthesised using thematic analysis and were quality appraised. RESULTS: Thirty-one studies were included, most of which were conducted in North America. The thematic synthesis identified resource limitations, in particular staff and finance, to be the most reported barrier to TSOs implementing EBIs. Organisational culture, including factors such as alignment between the mission of the TSO and EBI, and support/prioritisation of the implementation process were the most reported facilitators. These findings generalise across the included studies and are robust to study quality assessment. CONCLUSIONS: While it is often assumed that good outcomes follow when implementing interventions that have been developed and tested according to best practice, little attention has been paid to how EBIs are best transported, contextualised, and implemented by third sector providers. This systematic review found that TSOs faced considerable challenges in implementing EBIs, which were primarily a lack of support and expertise, and unclear/insufficient guidelines on how to adapt EBIs to different populations. To address these challenges, it is important to engage with central stakeholders, such as funders, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, to discuss how these needs can be met. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO: CRD42017073090 .

Navigating Networks: How Nonprofit Network Membership Shapes Response to Resource Scarcity.

Central to the contemporary American welfare state, nonprofits are increasingly squeezed between declining resources and a simultaneous peak in demand for services. Scholars have outlined a number of ways that nonprofits strategically respond to resource scarcity. Why nonprofits select particular strategies, however, is less clear. This article motivates a network membership perspective via a mixed-methods study of one food bank and its associated food pantries, wherein actors navigate competing network demands that are emblematic of those faced by other nonprofits. Food banks source food from three types of networks - a cartel-like network orchestrated by a national coordinating body, a peer-to-peer inter-food bank network, and a bureaucratic network anchored by the USDA - that place overlapping and conflicting constraints on the organizations. In combination, network demands entangle the food banks within a web of tensions that prevent many forms of adaptation while enabling others, a predicament I refer to in this article as network entrapment. How organizations navigate network demands has implications for the vitality of the organizations and the wellbeing of their beneficiaries. My results suggest that entrapment can lead to organizational burden and the adoption of neoliberal-inspired efficiencies, but also innovations that prioritize citizen rights over cost-benefit ratios.

Análise de colaborações entre governo e ONGs e da densidade de ONGs no Brasil / Análisis de colaboraciones entre gobierno y ONGs y de la densidad de ONGs en Brasil / Assessing government-nonprofit collaborations and density of nonprofit organizations in Brazil

Esta pesquisa analisa os efeitos da densidade de organizações sem fins lucrativos (ONGs) e da colaboração entre governo e ONGs no desenvolvimento humano e na desigualdade de renda no Brasil. Estudos de governança afirmam que a colaboração do governo com ONGs leva a melhores resultados sociais. Esta pesquisa testa essa hipótese em 5.562 municípios brasileiros usando modelos lineares e espaciais. Análises espaciais permitem a identificação de efeitos específicos ocorrendo em diferentes regiões. A taxa de convênios entre o governo federal e ONGs em cada município brasileiro está associada a uma diminuição da desigualdade de renda, porém está também associada a uma significativa queda do nível de desenvolvimento humano. A densidade de ONGs de diferentes áreas de atividade apresenta diversas relações com desenvolvimento humano e desigualdade. Esses resultados permitem uma análise mais realista de arranjos de governança, considerando seus impactos nas comunidades e as realidades locais.

Esta investigación analiza los efectos de la densidad de organizaciones sin fines de lucro (ONGs) y de la colaboración entre gobierno y ONGs en el desarrollo humano y desigualdad de renta en Brasil. Estudios de gobernanza afirman que la colaboración del gobierno con ONGs resulta en mejores resultados sociales. La investigación prueba esa hipótesis en 5.562 municipios brasileños utilizando modelos de regresión lineales y espaciales. Los análisis espaciales permiten la identificación de efectos específicos en distintas regiones. La tasa de acuerdos entre el gobierno federal y las ONGs en cada ciudad brasileña se asocia con la disminución de la desigualdad de ingresos, pero también se asocia significativamente con un menor nivel de desarrollo humano. La densidad de ONG de diferentes campos de actividad tiene diferentes relaciones con el desarrollo humano y la desigualdad. Esos resultados permiten un análisis más realista de acuerdos de gobernanza, considerando sus impactos en las comunidades y las realidades locales.

This research analyzes the effects of the density of nonprofit organizations and government-nonprofit collaboration on human development and income inequality in Brazil. Governance studies assume that government-nonprofit collaboration leads to improved societal outcomes. This research tests this hypothesis in 5,562 Brazilian municipalities using ordinary least squares regressions and spatial models. Spatial analysis enables the identification of specific effects occurring across different regions. The rate of contracts between the federal government and nonprofits in each Brazilian municipality is associated with the decrease of income inequality, but it is also significantly associated with a lower level of human development. The density of nonprofits from different fields of activity presents diverse relations with human development and inequality. These results enable a more realistic analysis of governance arrangements, considering their impact over communities and the local realities.

Employees' Job Satisfaction: A Test of the Job Characteristics Model Among Social Work Practitioners.

The present article describes an investigation of the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) by Hackman and Oldham (1976) for the prediction of job satisfaction of employees in social work areas. While there is considerable evidence for the JCM with respect to profit-oriented organizations, it was tested whether it can also be applied to the non-profit sector. The present study surveyed 734 holders of jobs in social work in Germany in order to assess their job satisfaction and the core variables of the JCM (i.e., the five job characteristics and the three psychological states). Regression and mediation analyses were used to examine the relations between these variables. The results showed that the expected relations were remarkably in accordance with the findings from the for-profit sector. All model variables correlated positively with job satisfaction, with the psychological states showing higher coefficients than the job characteristics. In addition, the influence of job characteristics on job satisfaction was significantly mediated through the psychological states. These findings were supported by a replication study. Implications of the JCM for practice, in particular for assessment and interventions in social work organizations, are discussed.

Challenges in Implementing Evidence-Based Practices and Programs in Nonprofit Human Service Organizations.

Evidence-based practice (EBP) is an important, yet under-utilized strategy to improve social work practice. Nonprofit human service organizations (NPHSOs) are a common social work practice setting through which efforts to promote EBP ought to be better understood. NPHSOs experience capacity limitations, lack of access to research evidence, and funding difficulties which makes adopting, implementing, and sustaining EBP challenging, if not untenable. These challenges are more acute for NPHSOs in practice fields for which little top tier intervention research evidence, dissemination platforms, and funding programs exist. Recommendations for overcoming these challenges are discussed.