To Lobby or Not to Lobby? Examining the Determinants of Nonprofit Organizations Taking the IRS 501(h) Election

While public policy scholars are gaining a better understanding of the nonprofit sector's impact on the policy process, the sector's role in lobbying efforts has only been studied in a limited manner. Currently, nonprofit organizations' lobbying activities and expenditures are limited by federal regulations, which are often misunderstood by nonprofit leaders. This article uses 2003 IRS Form 990 data for all nonprofit organizations in the United States to examine the organizational determinants of 501(c)3 nonprofits taking the Internal Revenue Service's 501(h) election and whether organizations use h‐election in a manner consistent with patterns of strategic behavior. Results show that nonprofit organizations that are reliant on direct public support are more likely to take the h‐election, while those reliant on government grants are less likely to take the h‐election. Examining lobbying expenditures, we find nonprofits associate with 501(h) election in a pattern consistent with strategic behavior. The findings suggest that nonprofit organizations with certain revenue streams and in specific subsectors respond differently to this election decision, and that organizations may respond strategically to mechanisms regulating their political activity.     

The Double‐Edged Sword of Public‐Resource Dependence: The Impact of Public Resources on Autonomy and Legitimacy in Korean Cultural Nonprofit Organizations

As governments and nonprofit organizations build close partnerships for the provision of public services, they become interdependent in many ways. In particular, nonprofits' public‐resource dependence has significant implications for their behavior and decisions. By examining Korean cultural nonprofit organizations (CNPOs), this article posits a theoretical framework for the impact of public‐resource dependence on nonprofits' organizational autonomy and legitimacy. The empirical results of national survey data of Korean cultural nonprofits suggest that public‐resource dependence has a dual effect, reducing managerial autonomy while enhancing institutional legitimacy. Korean CNPOs seem to be constrained by public funding granted by both local governments and the central government, particularly in goal setting, resource allocations, and program choices. However, public funding also helps nonprofits earn institutional legitimacy through its reputation and recognition effects.     

Efficient Nonprofits?

This article looks at efficiency as it relates to nonprofit activities. I argue that average return-on-investment measures are inadequate for nonprofit organizations, and that nonprofits should seek instead to measure marginal returns to investments in nonprogram areas, such as administration and fundraising. Using a national sample of approximately two hundred fifty thousand nonprofits from 2002, I find that some types of organizations spend their nonprogram funds efficiently, while other types do not. These findings have implications for nonprofit management.     

Election Administration Reform and State Choice: Voter Identification Requirements and HAVA

This research examines factors that have influenced state choices about methods of voter identification practices in the current environment of election administration reform. State voter identification practices have been an active area of state policy action since 2000. Rival explanations for state adoption of voter identification requirements are analyzed for three national election cycles following the 2000 presidential election. State voter identification practices are classified according to levels of relative stringency and in terms of variation from federal requirements for voter identification under the Help America Vote Act of 2002. State decisions to adopt more stringent forms of voter identification are significantly influenced by intrastate factors including Republican Party control of state government, traditionalist state political culture, and greater levels of racial/ethnic diversity. Federal review of election practices under the Voting Rights Act is positively associated with more moderate approaches to voter identification but is not significant over this time period.     

Strategies of Policy Advocacy Organizations and Their Theoretical Affinities: Evidence from Q‐Methodology

Policy advocacy is an increasingly important function for many nonprofit organizations, yet their advocacy activities have largely escaped theoretical grounding. The literature on nonprofits has described how they engage in policy advocacy, without linking them to theories of policy change. The policy studies literature, on the other hand, has explained how various forms of influence result in policy change, but has largely ignored organizational perspectives on those processes. These two literatures remain largely disconnected. Drawing upon interviews with a purposive sample of policy advocacy directors at 31 nonprofit organizations, this study applies Q‐methodology to identify and describe six distinct policy advocacy strategies employed by the organizations, and their resonant theoretical views of policy processes. These findings suggest strategic approaches for nonprofits seeking to influence policy processes. They also enhance the academic literature on policy processes by adding the advocates’ views and expectations. Implications for further research are also identified.     

Bringing Organizations Back In: Multilevel Feedback Effects on Individual Civic Inclusion

Policy feedback scholarship has focused on how laws and their implementation affect either organizations (e.g., their resources, priorities, political opportunities, or incentive structures) or individuals (e.g., their civic skills and resources or their psychological orientations toward the state). However, in practice the distinction between organizations and individuals is not clear‐cut: Organizations interpret policy for individuals, and individuals experience policy through organizations. Thus, scholars have argued for a multi‐level model of feedback effects illuminating how policies operating at the organizational level reverberate at the individual level. In this theory‐building article, we push this insight by examining how public policy influences nonprofit organizations’ role in the civic life of beneficiaries. We identify five roles that nonprofit organizations play. For each role, we draw on existing research to identify policy mechanisms that either enlarge or diminish nonprofits’ capacity to facilitate individual incorporation and engagement. From these examples, we derive cross‐cutting hypotheses concerning how different categories of citizens may need policy to operate differently to enhance their civic influence; whether policy that is “delivered” through nonprofits may dampen citizens’ relationship with the state; and how the civic boost provided by policy may be influenced by the degree of latitude conferred on recipient organizations.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Nonprofit Fundraising

In this article, I apply and discuss two alterative approaches for evaluating nonprofit fundraising practices. First, I introduce simple financial ratios, using a sample of New York state social welfare nonprofits. Then, I construct Adjusted Performance Measures, which attempt to neutralize the uncontrollable outside forces that nonprofits face in their fundraising. I compare the two types of measures statistically, and examine their respective strengths and weaknesses.     

Policy Analysis for What? The Effectiveness of Nonpartisan Policy Research Organizations

For the past several decades, scholars have studied the role of policy research in decision making. Depending how "use" is measured, the results have indicated only modest or indirect impacts. This study takes another direction to studying knowledge utilization, comparing the influence of nonpartisan policy research organizations in 19 states on their principal clients: state legislators. Nonpartisan research agencies represent a particularly rigorous test since the literature on knowledge utilization questions whether nonpartisan policy analysis organizations (NPROs) can remain neutral and contribute meaningfully to policymaking. Further, this analysis is comparative across states, studies institutions rather than specific reports or policy domains, and examines multiple types of "use." Using the results of surveys of both agencies and legislators, the results indicate a strong association between the size and type of policy research organizations and legislators' assessments of use, even controlling for political and ideological factors. This suggests that policy analysis organizations—even those in a highly politicized environment—have a significant impact on policymaking, mainly by providing information and analysis to decision makers but also in influencing public policy outcomes.     

Income Inequality and Voter Fractionalisation: An Empirical Study of 16 Multi-Party European Democracies

This article empirically investigates relationships between voter fractionalisation and economic inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient of income inequality and a new index of fractionalisation developed for this study. Our main findings are as follows. States with high income inequality have less voter fractionalisation. States with higher GDP per capita have more voter fractionalisation. States with high election thresholds for parliamentary representation have less voter fractionalisation. Eastern European states and states with high unemployment rates have more voter fractionalisation. States with greater ethnic fractionalisation have less voter fractionalisation. Fractionalisation has been greater in recent decades (2000s and 1990s) than earlier decades (1980s).     

奉天省第一届国会议员选举析论

民初国会议员的选举是国家权力机关的选举,是真正具有资产阶级民主制度意义的选举,因此,它具有开创性的意义。从奉天省的选举来看,虽然有各种问题存在,但基本上是按照法定程序进行的。在选举过程中出现的问题,被揭示出来后,有的经过协调,重新举行选举,有的进入诉讼程序,具备了一定的公开性。通过国会议员选举这个平台,各个政党进行了多种多样的竞选活动,使民初政坛首次出现了多样的政治声音。从奉天省第一届国会议员选举的实际过程来看,基本上体现了现代选举制度的法制化、公开化、规范化原则。但我们也看到,这次选举中所表现出来的选民占人口比例过低、选民漏登记、选举管理疏漏、竞选失范等等问题,都说明中国的选举制度还仅仅是一个开始,还有很长的路要走。     

Does Reported Policy Activity Reduce Contributions to Nonprofit Service Providers?

There is a growing recognition that charitable organizations are important actors in the policy process, but research has not, to date, systematically investigated whether reporting policy activity influences private giving to such organizations. This article develops the argument that reported lobbying should be positively related to donations because organizations seeking policy change consider such activities to be vital to their clients and missions and communicate that belief to potential donors. This article tests for the relationship between reported lobbying activities and private giving in analyses of 501(c)(3) organizations that filed Internal Revenue Service form 990 s in fiscal years 2000 and 2001. The results suggest that organizations that report policy activity receive more donations in the following fiscal year, with some variation across service type. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for the policy process and scholars of nonprofit organizations.     

Public participation geographic information systems across borders

Geographic information systems (GIS) technology is increasingly being used by nongovernmental organizations, grassroots organizations and other activist groups involved in transforming social, economic and environmental policy in multiple countries. The use of GIS represents a response to the fact that environmental problems are multidimensional and refuse to acknowledge political borders. It also represents a growing awareness that, for activism to compete in an era of globalization, it must utilize tools that scale from a local to a multinational level .
A research field called public participation GIS (PPGIS) has emerged to investigate the use and value of GIS by marginalized peoples and communities engaged in social change. It has yet to formally examine cross‐border and multinational applications. This paper makes a substantial contribution to moving the PPGIS research agenda forward to pace existing nonprofit activities. The paper considers the critical aspects of PPGIS being used across borders and in scaling up nonprofit organizations. The paper briefly reviews the PPGIS literature on issues of resources and data access and the role of GIS expertise. It then analyzes the use of PPGIS across borders as a function of building organizational capacity. Theory is reinforced with examples of nonprofits currently using GIS in multiple countries. A transnational PPGIS is framed, which can serve as a base for further investigation and discussion .     

Out from the (Green) shadow? Neoliberal hegemony through the market logic of shared urban environmental governance

Recent work in critical geography describes the neoliberalization of urban social service provision through a transition from state provision to civil sector delivery. The concept of a ‘shadow state’ is deployed by some social theorists to describe this process by which nonprofits with government contracts increasingly adopt a state-oriented agenda for the execution of social entitlement programs. Possible linkages between the neoliberalization of urban environmental service provision and a shadow state are lacking by comparison. I, therefore, use qualitative data concerning three organizations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to demonstrate that civil sector groups are stepping up as local government diminishes its markets for municipal environmental labor. However, the diverse compositions of these shared governances potentially complicate the efficacy of a shadow state thesis for describing environmental provision in inner-city Milwaukee. Instead, I argue that a Gramscian interpretation of shared governance better accounts for the neoliberalization of environmental service provision as government agencies and civil sector groups relate to one another through hegemonic market logic. I argue that this provides a more nuanced picture of how governance concerning the urban environment is constructed by the government, market, and civil sectors to further shape human social reproduction.     

Spaces of hidden labor: migrant women and work in nonprofit organizations

Laboring in low-paid jobs with poor conditions, migrant women are some of the most vulnerable workers in the US labor market. These women often carry a disproportionate burden at home, expected to care for children and elderly relatives and maintain a stable and loving family. Given the weight of work and family obligations, migrant women workers often turn to community-based organizations for assistance with securing work, negotiating an abusive workplace situation, and making ends meet on low wages. Increasingly, organizations are recognizing the social reproduction concerns of migrant women. In crafting responses to this reality, much work is undertaken by staff members, clients, and volunteers that is hidden from the organizations' funders, from the clients' employers, and from official statistics. The objective of this article is to reveal how and why nonprofit organizations can act as a space for the hidden labor of social reproduction, as well as for economic development experiments that account for the needs of social reproduction. Hidden labor is conceptualized as filling gaps in the social safety net created by a neoliberalizing society. In addition, it is the argument of this article that social reproduction is being reframed as a collective endeavor within organizations, where the ethic of care is potentially transforming an insidious political-economic context into a source of strength and resiliency for migrant women. Based on semi-structured interviews and participant observation in an organization in Chicago, this article provides a review of hidden labor within the space of nonprofit organizations.     

Spatial dimensions of Arab American voter mobilization after September 11

We examine the sources of variability in Arab American voter registration in the months following September 11, 2001. Several comparisons suggest that the policy aftermath of 9/11 has acted as an accelerant to Arab American political incorporation. Specifically, we evaluate raised incidences of Arab American voter registration across locations relative to two populations: the Arab American population that registered to vote prior to 9/11, and the non-Arab American population that registered after 9/11. New Arab American voters, while dispersed, are not randomly distributed across space. The period between September 11, 2001, and the 2004 presidential election witnessed considerable change in the geographic distribution of the Arab American electorate, as well as its partisan and demographic composition.     

发达国家的非营利组织能力建设

在发达国家,非营利组织能力建设是一项广为接受的活动,它主要是指在各种支持组织的帮助下非营利组织提升组织能力的活动,而兴起根源在于福利国家变革背景下非营利组织的发展困境、市场化的负面影响、＂志愿失灵＂与治理危机以及新自由主义话语的兴起等综合作用的结果。发达国家的非营利组织能力建设活动取得了一定的积极成效,但也面临着一些问题。在我国,社会组织能力建设要与制度建设的实践相结合。     

Policy Instrument Choices for Growth Management and Land Use Regulation

What factors account for local government land use practices and their choices among specific growth management policy instruments? We apply the political market framework to examine how land use policy choices in Florida are shaped by institutional features of county governments and the demands of organizations and interests in a community. Local policy decisions reflect a balance of the conflicting interests and responses to economic and political pressures. The results demonstrate that county government structure and election rules play critical roles in the adoption of urban service boundaries, incentive zoning, and transfer of development rights programs. We report evidence consistent with the argument that these “second‐generation” growth management policies are motivated by exclusionary goals.     

Shopping or Specialization? Venue Targeting among Nonprofits Engaged in Advocacy

Studies of venue shopping have typically analyzed the case of an individual advocacy group or issue campaign rather than comparing venue strategies across multiple groups. Moreover, this literature focuses on interest groups and advocacy coalitions whose principal mandate is to influence public policy. Using original data, we test theories of venue selection among nonprofit organizations that report engaging in policy processes but the majority of which do not self‐identify as an advocacy group. Our analyses explore the “where” of nonprofit advocacy across three different venue types: branch (executive, legislative), domain (bureaucracy, elected officials), and level of government (local, state, federal). Like interest groups, we find that nonprofits shop among both executive and legislative branches and among elected and bureaucratic domains; however, they tend to specialize in one level of government. Geographic scope and revenue source predicted venue targeting, but most other organizational characteristics including age, capacity, and structure did not.     

Who Should Run Elections in the United States?

Much has been said since the 2000 presidential election regarding the administration of elections in the United States, particularly about how election administrators are selected and to whom they are responsive. Unfortunately, there has been little research on the different administrative structures that are possible and the preferences of Americans regarding these different administrative options. In this article we present the results from a national survey of American adults in which we asked them their preference for whether elections should be run by partisan or nonpartisan officials, whether the officials should be elected or appointed, and whether the administration of elections should be by a single unitary executive or by an election board. In addition to eliciting the basic preferences of Americans about these administrative choices, we also undertake a deeper analysis of these data to determine the underlying patterns in support for the different administrative options.     

Electoral politics in the Australian Journal of Political Science: A review

Australia’s constant experimentation with electoral system design, and its effects on voter behaviour, have been consistent themes in the Australian Journal of Political Science and its predecessor, Politics, for half a century. This article examines this research in the context of three areas: electoral institutions; election campaigns; and voter behaviour. Three distinct stages in the research are identified, starting with basic fact-gathering, then progressing to the application of rigorous methods and evidence to real-world questions. In the third stage, scholarly attention has been devoted to placing Australia within a comparative framework. An underlying theme in the research is Australian exceptionalism in electoral politics.