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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
Nonprofits provide social goods: They deliver needed community services, mobilize groups for social causes, allow individuals to express values and faith, and provide a space for people to generate social innovations. Some nonprofits may continue indefinitely; others intentionally finish operations when its mission is accomplished; yet others may experience diminished capacity to operate that lead them to stop operations temporarily or permanently (e.g., closures). This research aims to uncover the elements and conditions that lead nonprofits to discontinue operations. By challenging the dichotomous paradigm of the life course in nonprofits that assigns organizations to alive vs. dead categories, this research uses the concept of organizational discontinuity to integrate the understanding of the diverse ways in which nonprofits suspend operations. To explain organizational discontinuities, a conceptual framework rooted in organizational theories is presented. Nonprofits under study come from a national subsample of 501(c)(3) charities that reported operations in 2003 and no longer showed evidence of continued activity in 2019. To characterize the types of discontinuities, this research uses organizational autopsies, which is a research method that uses administrative and online secondary data to diagnose the operational status of nonprofits. To further understand organizational discontinuities, this research presents a closer look at two representative phenomena, closures and dissolutions of non-surviving organizations in mergers. Case studies of 36 organizations help to identify the elements associated with organizational discontinuities in nonprofits. Results include a detailed categorization of types of organizational discontinuities and an identification of the internal and external elements associated with closures and mergers in older nonprofits. Conceptually, this research aims to contribute to the discussion of organizational change in nonprofits as an irregular and multicausal process. Data and method advancements include the use of online secondary data as an alternative to breaking with the existing reliance on administrative data in studies of the nonprofit sector. Finally, the results of this research aim to inform practitioners about the capacity-building areas that organizations should strengthen to prevent discontinuity of operations.
ContributorsHernandez Ortiz, Tania Lizzeth (Author) / Hager, Mark A (Thesis advisor) / Lecy, Jesse D (Committee member) / Mook, Laurie (Committee member) / Searing, Elizabeth A M (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
ABSTRACT
Food insecurity is a global concern and is acute in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa as well as pockets in the global North. In the lush green spaces of “God’s Own Country”, the state of Kerala in India, about 379,000 women are engaged in farming in about 75,800 groups. Spearheaded by Kudumbashree, the State Poverty Eradication Mission (SPEM) the women farmers, along with women who co-own other micro-enterprises, totaling approximately 4.5 million members in all, are part of a quiet revolution. Through a powerful statewide network of tens of thousands of well-trained community-based educators, SPEM facilitates non-formal education in farming, other livelihoods, and gender-based oppression. Boosted by this non-formal education and abundant informal learning, the women group farmers have taken matters into their own hands. Rather than wait for their male family members to rescue them from economic hardship, the women farmers learn to grow nutritious food both for family consumption and for sale. In the process, they are creating pathways for the practice of food justice in their families, villages, and the entire state. The study focuses on two women’s farming groups, one from the highly marginalized Adivasi (ancient inhabitants, or tribal population) and one from the general population. The primary research question is: “How do women in collective/group farming initiatives learn to build capacity for food justice?”. The study found the building of a robust set of capacities such as effective leadership, participatory decision-making, and shared power critical to community development, thereby generating income, financial literacy, and a sense of empowerment. The findings also suggest that the women farmers are making steady gains in the arena of women’s agency and empowerment in harmony with their families, aided by 50,000 community educators who focus on building awareness about gender-based oppression and ways to combat it. This study pertains to two concerns in community development: 1) The role of the “invisible” learning dimension in capacity building and 2) food justice. The study is relevant to communities everywhere, including food-insecure pockets both in the global south and the global north.
Keywords: Learning, capacity building, the practice of food justice, women’s empowerment.
ContributorsMAHALINGAM, MAHALAKSHMI R (Author) / Mook, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Knopf, Richard (Thesis advisor) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Larsen, Dale (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Applying the theory of dynamic capabilities, this research explores the procedures and the outcomes of adaptations in disaster relief nonprofit organizations. Using the in-depth interviews and survey data from the managers of disaster relief nonprofit organizations in Arizona, Florida, and New Jersey, this research answers three key questions: 1) How do disaster relief nonprofit organizations apply their dynamic capabilities to make adaptations? 2) What are the impacts of dynamic capabilities, including sensing, learning, integrating, and coordinating capabilities, on the performance of disaster relief nonprofit organizations in service provision, public policy engagement, and community social capital cultivation? 3) Taking the network of Voluntary/Community Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD/COAD) as an example, can the dynamic capabilities of disaster relief nonprofit organizations explain the variation of network engagement and the gained benefits from the network among the VOAD/COAD members? The results show that the procedures of adaptation in disaster relief nonprofit organizations are associated with a rhizomic rather than a linear approach, which is implied by the theory of dynamic capabilities. Strategic connectivity, temporal simultaneity, and directional flexibility are the three critical features of the rhizome model. Additionally, dynamic capabilities significantly influence organizational performance in service provision, public policy engagement, and social capital cultivation, although sensing, learning, integrating, and coordinating capabilities shape performance differently. Moreover, network engagement, as an uncommon practice for disaster relief nonprofit organizations, is also impacted by the dynamic capabilities of disaster relief nonprofit organizations. The result shows that dynamic capabilities, especially learning capability, can promote the acquired benefits of disaster relief nonprofit organizations by bringing them more support in volunteer management and financial opportunities.
The findings not only advance the current discussion about nonprofit engagement in disaster management but also add knowledge on dynamic capabilities in the third sector. The exploration of adaptations in disaster relief nonprofit organizations and the operation of the VOAD/COAD network provides valuable implications to both nonprofit managers and government officials.
ContributorsLi, Peiyao (Author) / Wang, Lili (Thesis advisor) / Mook, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Gerber, Brian (Committee member) / Gall, Melanie (Committee member) / Kapucu, Naim (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
This dissertation explores youth community involvement in a geographically defined urban community in the United States. The research approach was qualitative, naturalistic, and ethnographic, and utilized grounded theory analysis. The study included fifty-six participants. In focus groups and interviews with youth and adults as well as with a group of youth and adults working on events in the community (hereby called the “Active Youth Group” or AYG), the characteristics of the community were discussed. Furthermore, the study inquired about the nature of youth adult-interactions. In this context, the categories “family” and “leadership” emerged. The study highlights the importance of family in the lives of residents of the community. Furthermore, the study contributes to the literature about youth adult-partnerships (Camino, 2000; Camino & Zeldin, 2002a; Jones, 2004; Lofquist, 1989) by exploring the dynamics between youth-led and adult-led community work. It discusses some of the factors that may influence whether the youth or the adults are in charge of various components of a youth development program.
ContributorsPštross, Mikuláš (Author) / Knopf, Richard C. (Thesis advisor) / de la Garza, Sarah Amira (Committee member) / Larsen, Dale (Committee member) / Mook, Laurie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
This study examines the roles and impacts of U.S. foundation grantmaking for women, as well as the influences of the foundations’ institutional characteristics on their grantmaking practices by employing a mixed-methods research design. In the first quantitative phase, this study explores three major research questions: (1) How has foundation grantmaking for women changed in the U.S.? (2) Whether and how foundations’ institutional characteristics are related to their grantmaking activities for women? (3) Whether and how foundation grantmaking for women has influenced women’s status? To address these research questions, I collect and analyze data on the U.S. foundation grants for women during the period between 2005 and 2014 from the Foundation Center and data indicating women’s status at the state level from various sources. The second qualitative phase focuses on examining the second and third research questions further by employing a comparative case study approach. Specifically, I conducted semi-structured interviews with directors or staff of the selected five foundations supporting women’s causes. The results show that foundations supporting women’s causes have focused more on their advocacy role than their charitable role by distributing their grants to programs for women’s rights/studies. Additionally, a foundation is more likely to give grants for women’s rights/studies when the organization is younger, with a higher total giving size, in the Western region, in the state of liberal ideology, or an independent foundation. Furthermore, a state with a larger amount of foundation grants for women (per woman) reveals a higher women’s status. The case study findings indicate that differences exist in how foundations implement their grantmaking decisions for women and how foundations assess their grantmaking impact on women. It also shows some evidence that foundations’ grantmaking decisions and impact assessment strategies for women are affected by the foundations’ institutional characteristics such as women’s leadership. This dissertation sheds light on our understanding of current trends of U.S. foundation grantmaking for women that was less focused and makes both theoretical and practical contributions to the nonprofit sector by suggesting a framework to assess the impact of foundations in society.
ContributorsHan, Hyunrang (Author) / Wang, Lili (Thesis advisor) / Shockley, Gordon E. (Committee member) / Mook, Laurie (Committee member) / Robichau, Robbie W. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022