Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons^™

Burning Out: A Narrative Exploration Of The Adaptive Challenge And Scaffolds Built Toward Sustenance Among Immigrant Rights Activists In San Diego County, Anna C. Runion

Dissertations

Activist burnout has been identified as one of the greatest threats to social movement sustainability, and the lived experience of paid immigrant rights activists remains undertheorized. This narrative inquiry explored activist burnout among 10 San Diego County immigrant rights activists, revealing how this community understands burnout, what factors contribute to its production, and how activists sustain themselves within it. Using Clandinin and Connelly’s (2000) narrative inquiry methodology, the researcher conducted in-depth individual interviews with ten activists representing a range of intersectional identities and roles. Narrative profiles were analyzed through holistic narrative reading, narrative reporting, structural and emergent coding, and cross-narrative …

Do International Alumni Give Differently? A Study On The Alumni Philanthropic Perspective Of Trust And Key Relational Factors Affecting Attitude Towards Giving, John Held

Dissertations

Philanthropy plays a key role in the funding of institutions of higher education. Previous research has focused on domestic populations, exploring the antecedents and elements of philanthropy in higher education. The literature has yet to examine differences in these elements between domestic and international, or distance extremes, amongst alumni populations. This study investigates the perceptions and motivating factors influencing alumni who experience significant geographic separation from their Higher Education Institution (HEI) and their philanthropic support for their alma mater. The conceptual model includes factors at the organization-to-organization, person-to-organization, and person-to-person levels and their moderating effects on the relationship between trust …

Generations At Work: Examining Differences In The Nonprofit Sector, Cory J. Bergeron

Dissertations

This non-experimental quantitative dissertation examined generational differences among non-management employees in the United States nonprofit sector, where multiple generational cohorts work side by side. The problem addressed is that nonprofit leaders’ limited understanding of how distinct generational experiences shape employees’ work-related attitudes and preferences can contribute to conflict, reduced engagement, and costly turnover in already resource-constrained organizations. Grounded in Mannheim’s generational theory and Becker’s human capital theory, the study conceptualized generational cohorts as groups whose shared formative experiences influence what they value in their work context and how those values translate into human capital that affects organizational outcomes.

Using a …

Examining Nonprofit Social Service Sector Burnout And Turnover: Trait Mindfulness As A Moderator Of Work-Life Balance And Compassion Fatigue, Melissa L. Brown

Dissertations

Nonprofit burnout and turnover surpass all national industries, specifically in the social services subsector. In contrast to their for-profit counterparts, nonprofit turnover rates remain on the rise. While literature indicates that one of the primary drivers of nonprofit turnover is burnout, more granular research proposes that nonprofit social service employees encounter a distinct form of burnout generated by the exposure to secondary traumatic distress known as compassion fatigue. This study investigated the antecedents of this phenomenon by examining trait mindfulness as a moderator of work-life balance and compassion fatigue among nonprofit social service providers. To sustain a workforce that provides …

Exploring Contributions Of Partnerships Between Employers And Disability Organizations On Recruitment, Hiring, Training, Retention, And Accommodation Of Individuals With Disabilities In Mississippi, Peter Oluwadare Kalejaiye

Dissertations

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 provides equal employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities (IWDs) by prohibiting discrimination in employment. However, one out of four IWDs face discrimination in employment in the United States (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). Additionally, despite establishing the Office of Disability Employment Policy and enacting the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to help integrate IWDs into the workforce, IWDs face barriers to equal and equitable employment (NASEM, 2017). Previous studies recommend partnerships between employers and disability organizations (DOs) to provide employment opportunities and benefits for IWDs through recruitment, hiring, training, retention, and …

Leadership Practices For High-Performing Teams: Insights From Senior Military General Officers And Flag Officers, Kimberly Mitchell

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify and describe how senior military general officers and flag officers (GOFOs) used the three competencies of high-performance teams (HPTs; clarity, connection, and communication) to achieve objectives in their organizations. The second purpose of this study was to determine the degree of importance that senior military GOFOs perceived the three high-performance team effect (HPTE) core competencies impacted their leadership for creating HPTs.

Methodology: This mixed methods study identified and described nine senior military officers’ perceptions of strategies to lead HPTs while focusing on the three core competencies: clarity, connection, and …

Becoming A Leader “On The Job”: An Exploratory Study Examining How Internal Interim Leaders Build Their Leadership Capacity While Nonprofit Executive Directors Are On Sabbatical, Michelle Schneider

Dissertations

Nonprofit organizations have long underinvested in leadership development, potentially hindering their ability to fulfill their missions effectively. This study examined the use of nonprofit organization sabbaticals that give executive directors time away while building the leadership capabilities of the interim leader. This research explored the on-the-job leadership development of six individuals who served as interim leaders in southern California nonprofit organizations during their executive directors' participation in a 3-month, foundation-funded sabbatical program.

In this study, data were collected through in-depth interviews with interim leaders. A formative influences timeline technique was employed to center the participant's voice rather than the interviewer's …

Differences Are Not Deficits: Women Introverting While Black Through The Ascent To Executive Leadership In Higher Education, Jeri A. Bingham

Dissertations

Diversity of personality type in the workplace can lead to improved morale and productivity when organizations acknowledge and support the attributes and differences of employee behaviors and characteristics. Black women executives identifying as introverted who lead with their authentic personas and intersected marginalized identities, benefit employers, employees, students, and the institution’s brand and bottom line. Introversion and extroversion, ways to describe diversity of personality type, and each having different connotations in office culture, are relevant to this exploration as literature suggests that the population of both personality types is almost evenly distributed. The implications of judgement and the association to …

Measuring Inclusive Leadership In Nonprofit Performing Arts Organizations, Thomas Abruzzo

Dissertations

Inclusive leadership is undoubtedly a practice to strive for, and few would argue against the value of leading inclusively. Yet, empirically, little is known about what constitutes effective inclusive leadership, especially in the context of nonprofit performing arts organizations. This sector is a particularly apt place to study and practice inclusive leadership because, in addition to the many benefits it provides, the nonprofit arts sector has problematic roots in terms of privileging a dominant social class by prioritizing certain art forms over others. For example, the popularity of the nonprofit form in the arts sector, when compared to for-profit or …

Nonprofit Leader Experiences In Sector-Bending After Lean Six Sigma Training: Tension, Concepts, And Changed Behaviors, Beverly Codallos

Dissertations

Government, business, and nonprofit represent three distinct types of organizations governed by different legal frameworks designed to facilitate collective action (DiMaggio & Anheier, 1990). The emergence of hybrid forms and increasing isomorphic pressures in the nonprofit sector (Bromley & Meyer, 2017; McCambridge, 2014) have challenged the traditional separation of organizational forms. This study explored the phenomenon popularized as sector-bending, “a wide variety of approaches, activities, and relationships that are blurring the distinctions between nonprofit and for-profit organizations, either because they are behaving more similarly, operating in the same realms, or both” (Dees & Anderson, 2003, pg. 16). This qualitative study …

Open Strategy For Social Impact: An Action Research Study Of A Multistakeholder Open Strategy Planning Process, Jo Pang

Dissertations

As social and environmental challenges become increasingly dire, organizations are focusing on creating positive social impacts beyond generating profits. Traditional strategic planning tools were originally created for the purposes of profit maximization and are not sufficient for organizations with the aim of addressing complex social issues. Open strategy offers a promising alternative by increasing multistakeholder involvement in the formulation of organizational strategy. Existing research has supported the idea that multistakeholder collaboration is an effective means for creating positive social impact since societal challenges are too complex for any one organization to sufficiently address. Despite these promises, there are risks and …

Advocacy On Facebook: A Content Analysis Of How Small Los Angeles- Based Npos Use Social Media To Engage Audiences, Wen Chen Denq

Dissertations

This dissertation examined the Facebook activities of seven small nonprofits in Los Angeles to understand their social media use and audience responses. Prior research has distinguished three broader engagement strategies used by Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs), including information provision (awareness-raising), action-related messaging (mobilizing), and community-building efforts (organizing). These strategies can play essential roles in drawing in audiences, but also in moving individual supporters toward greater levels of engagement by increasing donations or becoming more engaged champions for the cause. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of organizational Facebook messages and audience responses was conducted over 3 months. The NPOs included in this …

Utilizing New Technologies To Measure Therapy Effectiveness For Mental And Physical Health, Jonathan Ossie

Dissertations

Mental health is quickly becoming a major policy concern, with recent data reporting increasing and disproportionately worse mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, increased substance abuse, and elevated suicidal ideation. One specific population that is especially high risk for these issues is the military community because military conflict, deployment stressors, and combat exposure contribute to the risk of mental health problems.

Although several pharmacological approaches have been employed to combat this epidemic, their efficacy is mixed at best, which has led to novel nonpharmacological approaches. One such approach is Operation Surf, a nonprofit that provides nature-based programs advocating the restorative …

Safeguarding From Scrutiny: Toward A Critical Consciousness Of Organizational Culture In Humanitarian Ngos, Andrew Henck

Dissertations

Humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (HNGOs) face a moment of reckoning brought on by decades of operational complexity and conceptual tensions between self-espoused values and external pressures as social change movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter demand organizational accountability. Humanitarian aid is being questioned systematically as most HNGOs continue reconciling with their colonialist origin stories from the Global North. Alongside a shrinking British foreign aid budget, and mounting pressures for proving value for money, HNGOs face a record number of natural disasters, energy crises, armed conflicts, and other major emergencies to respond to across the globe.

As the British aid sector …

By Chameleonic Means; "Trust Based" Philanthropic Relationships, "The Business Of Yes," As Experienced By Black Fundraisers, Novien Yarber

Dissertations

In the wake of society’s reinvigorated consciousness around structural and systemic racism, conversations centering justice, equity, inclusion, access, and cultural diversification are going far beyond political discourse. Contemporary fundraising practices are also challenging antiquated hegemonic ways of philanthropy and are critically examining the practice from within. Among many things, this entails diversifying the historically White-female dominated fundraising workforce. In this, fundraising literature has paid minimal attention to intercultural/cross-racial dynamics as implications of diversification of the fundraiser workforce. Although some research may center fundraisers themselves (relative to their ethical and/or professional standards), this dissertation expands this field of study by offering …

A Bright Idea: Assessing Stakeholder Impact Of Social Sustainability Strategies, Sara Theis

Dissertations

The performing arts industry is experiencing an awakening in terms of the need to integrate inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) into their practices. This is the result of calls for change in the industry from members of historically marginalized communities. The challenge is that in order for social sustainability strategies like IDEA to be effective, they need to integrate them into the organization’s culture (Serafeim, 2020). IDEA cannot be a checklist. Using stakeholder theory and resource-based view as theoretical foundations, this qualitative case study examines one exemplary organization that has differentiated on social sustainability for decades. In 27 open …

The Ripple Of Influence: The New Roi For Nonprofit Human Service Ceos, Lucinda Perry Jones

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe how exemplary nonprofit human service CEOs lead their organizations through the lens of Grenny et al.’s (2013) six sources of influence.

Methodology: This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of 15 nonprofit human service CEOs and how they lead as influencers. Study participants were CEOs of basic needs organizations drawn from the Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders^® award recipients from 2015-2020. The researcher collected qualitative data by utilizing an interview protocol and examining organizational artifacts.

Findings: Analysis of the qualitative data from 15 nonprofit human service CEOs yielded 14 …

How Exemplary Black Women Leaders Use Influence To Achieve Extraordinary Results, Catrena Elliott

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe how exemplary Black women business leaders (BWBL) influence employees through personal motivation, personal ability, social motivation, social ability, structural motivation, and structural ability.

Methodology: This phenomenological study research design identified and explored how 10 exemplary BWBL who have achieved extraordinary results influence employees through personal motivation, social motivation, structural motivation, personal ability, social ability, and structural ability. Participants were selected from exemplary BWBL in Southern California and Northern California who fulfilled the study’s requirements. Interviews, observations, and artifacts were used to gather data. To identify study findings, data …

Brand And Culture Fusion: How Marketing Directors Lead Brand And Culture Alignment At Private Non-Profit Higher Education Institutions, Erin Hales

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify and describe, through the lens of activity theory (AT), the challenges and best practices of marketing directors at private, non-profit higher education institutions on how they lead brand and culture alignment.

Methodology: This phenomenological study collected, analyzed, and triangulated data through 15 semi-structured interviews and the collection of artifacts. Data was then coded into themes, frequencies were calculated, and data was organized into the four categories of AT: tools, rules, community, and division of labor.

Findings: Examination of the data found that marketing directors experienced six challenges representing all four …

How Can Design Thinking Transform Diversity Initiatives For Architectural Trade Organizations In The United States?, Leroy Stewart

Dissertations

This study intended to assess design thinking as a variable regarding its utilization as a tool to increase the number of African American architects in the United States. The research was grounded in the speech given by Whitney Young to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1968, and the initial partnership between the AIA and the National Organization of Minority of Architects (NOMA) in 2001 to increase the number of African American architects to 15,000 by 2030. Through the qualitative methodology, via descriptive phenomenological analysis (DPA), fourteen participants, all of whom were African American licensed architects, were interviewed to …

A Model For Evaluating Charitable Contributions In Nonprofit Organizations In Kalamazoo County, Michigan, Kristen Smith

Dissertations

Reported data suggest there has been an increase in charitable giving and the number of charitable organizations in communities nationwide over the last 20 years. It is widely believed that growth in nonprofit organizations would be a valuable asset for a community, but limited research evaluates the return on investment in these organizations. To ensure these organizations are good stewards of resources, various forms of accountability have been established, including websites like “Charity Navigator™,” which provide rankings and scores to charities nationwide. Data repositories like these make it possible to investigate variations in these organizations' funding, growth, and impact. This …

Grassroots Talent Development At La Maestra: Understanding The Perceptions Of Leaders And Staff, Gorn Huvanandana

Dissertations

This dissertation explored the leadership and staff perceptions of talent management (TM) in the San Diego-based community health center La Maestra. The organization initiated a scheme called Grassroots Talent Development (GTD) that focuses on developing its internal talents from the ground up, including using mentorship, on-the-job training, problem-solving techniques, and mission attachment reinforcement. The distinctive use of a holistic wellness model, Circle of Care (CoC), stemming from its core mission to serve underserved populations, has not only driven how the organization functions but also how it attracts, develops, and retains a diverse pool of talents. La Maestra innovated programs for …

Does Winning Matter? An Examination Of The Impact Of Success On Former Student-Athlete Philanthropic Giving, Zach Harris

Dissertations

Intercollegiate athletic departments (ICAs) rely on philanthropic giving to remain relevant in the “arms race” that is college athletics. Donations provide the necessary resources (scholarships, upgraded facilities, etc.) to compete with rival programs for prospective student-athletes and fans. Previous research in ICA philanthropy has found that team success is one of the key factors driving donations to athletic programs. However, much of the research in this field has centered on athletic giving on a macro-level, focusing on the overall alumni population of an institution. While this research is important for colleges and universities, it misses on measuring the impact that …

Community Foundations As Community Leaders, Colton Strawser

Dissertations

Community foundations claim to play an integral role in fostering philanthropy at a community level all across the United States. Community foundations have three distinct operational roles, including asset building, grantmaking, and community leadership. While asset building and grantmaking have methods available to quantify and measure their impact, community leadership has remained an elusive concept for community foundations for many years.

This study investigates the idea of community leadership in the context of 81 community foundations based in California. The first part develops a conceptual framework of community leadership based on existing studies and practical guidelines, including the use of …

Dames Paving Pathways To Directorships. A Study About Female Leaders In Art Museums In The United States, Mechele Manno

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine and describe the career pathways of female art museum directors in the United States

Methodology: This phenomenological study described lived experiences of eight female art museum directors with over five years of directorship experience from museums with operating budgets over $10 million and in states that receive the highest private funding: CA, DC, IL, MA, NY, OH, PA, and TX. Data collection consisted of in-depth interviews using a scripted interview guide in research categories: a) motivation; b) career advancement; c) barriers; and d) support.

Findings: All major findings were …

Exploring How Philippine American Nonprofit Leaders Build Trust With Their Staff And Volunteers, Dominic Fernando Laureano

Dissertations

Purpose: Although a considerable amount of literature exists regarding leadership and trust, little research focuses on Philippine American nonprofit organizations and their leadership. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how Philippine American nonprofit leaders build trust with staff and volunteers using the five domains of competency, consistency, concern, candor, and connection.

Methodology: This phenomenological qualitative study collected data via semi-structured interviews, participant observations, and review of artifacts. The study sample was comprised of 10 Philippine American nonprofit leaders from Southern California. Weisman’s Trust Model served at the theoretical framework of the study and guided data collection and …

The Importance Of Leadership Motivational Activities In Encouraging International Students To Return To Their Tier 1 Universities, Eric Hall

Dissertations

Abstract

The problem is international students are not returning to their undergraduate Tier 1 institutions during a period when quality student enrollment is essential, and there is scant research on academic advising strategies that can be used to combat international student attrition at these universities (O’Keefe, 2013). Studies have often lumped all international students together and made efforts to attract more international students, but the reasons why international students chose research universities, and returned, were not being investigated in this manner (Hegarty, 2014).

The purpose of this proposed study was to gain an understanding of the decision-making and reasoning processes …

Making The Invisible Visible: Capturing The Multidimensional Value Of Volunteerism To Nonprofit Organizations, Sue Carter Kahl

Dissertations

Volunteers represent an important part of the nonprofit labor pool, and their contributions are diverse and significant. Yet, the assessment of the value that they bring to nonprofit organizations often is reduced to a few numbers and understood to be an economic decision based on their absence of wages. This value is traditionally reported as volunteer numbers, hours, and an hourly financial value assigned to volunteer time. These data are important tools for articulating volunteer contributions. However, the emphasis on numbers and economic value sometimes obscures important dimensions of service. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to reveal more …

Exploring, Examining, And Explaining How Participatory Governance Adds Value To Saudi Foundations’ Philanthropic Strategy, Afnan E. Koshak

Dissertations

Foundations’ flexibility, given their independence from fundraising imperatives, competition forces, and accountability pressures, enables them to invest in long-term, high-risk, multi-level experiments to deal with the increasingly complex societal problems. This flexibility, coupled with the growing role philanthropy plays in promoting social welfare across the world, is arguably what makes studies that focus on foundations’ philanthropic approaches of utmost importance.

There is a mounting interest among scholars in the governance of foundations, the systems and processes concerned with ensuring the overall strategic direction of organizations. Influenced by agency and stewardship theories, an increasing number of studies address such topics as …

Legal Accountability And Nonprofit Governance: An Exploratory Quantitative Study Of Board Member And Executive Knowledge Of Fiduciary Duties, Crystal Trull

Dissertations

United States nonprofits are governed by boards of directors who have legal responsibilities based on the fiduciary duties of care, loyalty, and obedience. Boards, along with the chief executive, are held responsible to fulfill these standards which are designed to hold nonprofits legally accountable to carry out their tax exempt purpose by using organizational resources for the intended purpose, avoid conflict of interest, and ensure compliance. However, despite this weighty responsibility and the voluntary nature of nonprofits, no standardized process exists to educate nonprofit leaders about their legal responsibilities.

While governance is a key area of nonprofit research, there is …