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Department of Public Administration and Policy (DPAP) faculty members conducting research on Nonprofit Management focus broadly on organizational behavior of public, nonprofit, and socially entrepreneurial organizations domestically and internationally. Prominent research by faculty and PhD students in this area contributes to the theoretical and empirical understanding of key issues related to nonprofits. These include nonprofit organizational performance, capacity, intra- and inter-sector collaboration, nonprofit relationships with government, advocacy and public engagement activities, startup and early life stage organizational growth and sustainability, equity and diversity, and representation of and services to underrepresented populations in society.

Our complementary research explores how organizational behaviors and other characteristics influence stakeholders’ perceptions of and relations with nonprofits, individuals’ trust in these organizations, and the levels of support they receive in terms of donations, foundation grants, or volunteering. Beyond the walls of AU, SPA faculty lead and engage in large, collaborative research projects at the forefront of the nonprofit research domain, including research funded by the National Science Foundation, the Generosity Commission and Giving USA, Independent Sector, and ASAE Foundation. This funded research is empirical and field-building, including collaborative projects to develop nationally representative and publicly available longitudinal data to fill important gaps in our understanding of the nonprofit sector, identify national trends in the sector, and provide actionable knowledge for nonprofit organizations, their leadership and funders, and public policymakers to strengthen the sector and its impacts on society.

Here are some recent publications by AU faculty and PhD students in this field:

Bauer, Z., AbouAssi, K., & Johnston, J. M. (2022). Governance Arrangements of Cross-Sector Collaboration and Its Effectiveness. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 08997640221100705.

Lewis Faulk, Mirae Kim, Teresa Derrick-Mills, Elizabeth T. Boris, Laura Tomasko, Nora Hakizimana, Tianyu Chen, Minjung Kim, & Layla Nath. (2021). Nonprofit Trends and Impacts 2021: National Findings on Diversity and Representation, Donation Trends from 2015-2020, and Effects of 2020. Urban Institute.

Meier, K. J., Song, M., Davis, J. A., & Amirkhanyan, A. A. (2022). Sector bias and the credibility of performance information: An experimental study of elder care provision. Public Administration Review, 82(1), 69-82.

Wang, R., & AbouAssi, K. (2021, October). The impact of Medicaid expansions on nonprofit hospitals. Nonprofit Policy Forum, 12(3), 465-495.