Prior research has suggested three explanations why levels of voluntary engagement rise and fall over time within societies. A social structural explanation considers individual resources crucial for engagement and argues that a redistribution of those resources may bring about changes in engagement. A cohort-based explanation considers socialisation and experiences in formative years as crucial for the uptake of engagement. Finally, a period-based explanation considers extraordinary events, external shocks, and crises to be crucial for engagement. So far, these explanations have mainly been tested separately and little is known about the relative strength of each of the proposed factors. Using data from a large German household panel survey that assessed engagement almost annually across four decades, we found that most social structural factors (e.g., education, employment, income) maintained their predictive effects for engagement, irrespective of cohort or period. The only notable exception was that the gender gap observed has narrowed substantially across periods and cohorts. Moreover, cohort effects were rendered almost negligible once we factored in periods. Taken together, our results suggest that individual characteristics and extraordinary events are the main factors influencing voluntary engagement rather than shared societal experiences of cohorts.

The accountability of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) has come under closer public and academic scrutiny. Critics call for a more comprehensive approach to accountability—one that addresses a wider set of stakeholders, and beneficiaries in particular. There is an increase in empirical evidence suggesting that comprehensive accountability has positive implications for the organizational performance. This article develops a framework for comprehensive INGO accountability and tests its implications on program effectiveness. The framework describes three accountability meta-logics: the resource logic, outcome assessment logic, and discursive logic. Applying partial least squares structural equation modeling, the impact of these meta-logics on perceived program effectiveness as well as their drivers is tested. The analysis is based on a unique data set from an international survey among 201 INGO leaders from 21 countries. The findings suggest that comprehensive accountability indeed strengthens the perceived program effectiveness. The study emphasizes the managerial argument that implementing comprehensive accountability, not only is the “right thing” to do, but also has the strategic advantage of strengthening perceived mission achievement.

Numerous past studies explore factors that drive prosocial behaviors. Most studies focus on individual and organizational factors; there is less research exploring cross-national variations in prosocial behaviors. This study addresses this gap and analyzes cross-national variations in prosocial behaviors utilizing a 117-country dataset from the Charities Aid Foundation World Giving Index to estimate Tobit models explaining cross-national variations in donating money, volunteering time, and helping a stranger. We find evidence that economic, political, and to a lesser extent, cultural theories play a role in explaining cross-national variations in prosocial behaviors.

Limited space to engage in advocacy is one manifestation of a restrictive civic environment. In environments where civil society organizations (CSOs) are keen to maintain a low profile, non-confrontational advocacy mechanisms are often preferred. Based on a case study on the adoption of an Egyptian law that criminalizes denial of inheritance to women, this paper investigates how CSOs engage in advocacy in restrictive settings. The aforementioned law was put forth by a coalition of CSOs in Egypt and led by an international NGO. Using an original analytical framework, I argue that the coalition’s ability to navigate the restrictive environment in Egypt can be explained by a confluence of factors, including that the issue did not conflict with beliefs of powerful decision-makers, that the CSOs were perceived as legitimate and had good network reach, and that the CSOs used insider tactics and non-controversial framing to mobilize support of influential government actors.

Although the brand equity concept has been validated in the nonprofit organization (NPO) context, little is known about its applicability to religion-affiliated NPOs, especially those in East Asia. Religion-affiliated NPOs’ unique characteristics and objectives require a bespoke brand equity analytical tool. In response, this study develops and validates a brand equity questionnaire for religion-affiliated NPOs. The questionnaire items are adapted from previous studies of for-profit and nonprofit organizations. By controlling gender and participation status, the questionnaire is consistent and reliable when tested with a stratified sample of noninvolved female respondents in Taiwan (N = 600). Results show both brand awareness and brand trust are critical to brand equity from the perspective of noninvolved consumers. Marketing goals, such as creating a consistent image or choosing a narrow cause/campaign that is relatable and aligned with noninvolved consumers’ perceptions of the affiliated religion’s philosophy, may increase brand awareness and brand trust for religion-affiliated NPOs.

Many charities rely on donations to support their work addressing some of the world’s most pressing problems. We conducted a meta-review to determine what interventions work to increase charitable donations. We found 21 systematic reviews incorporating 1339 primary studies and over 2,139,938 participants. Our meta-meta-analysis estimated the average effect of an intervention on charitable donation size and incidence: r = 0.08 (95% CI [0.03, 0.12]). Due to limitations in the included systematic reviews, we are not certain this estimate reflects the true overall effect size. The most robust evidence found suggests charities could increase donations by (1) emphasising individual beneficiaries, (2) increasing the visibility of donations, (3) describing the impact of the donation, and (4) enacting or promoting tax-deductibility of the charity. We make recommendations for improving primary research and reviews about charitable donations, and how to apply the meta-review findings to increase charitable donations.

This study decomposes nonprofit–government relationship into two dimensions, process and structure, and examines their contingent impacts on Chinese environmental nongovernmental organizations’ (eNGOs) revenue diversification, advocacy engagement, and advocacy effectiveness. Data from a nation-wide survey of 89 eNGOs and in-depth interviews with eNGO leaders are analyzed. Empirical findings show that in China, participating in government-organized activities enables eNGOs to diversify their revenue sources and engage more in policy advocacy. Furthermore, government intervention and restrictive policy context motivate, rather than suppress eNGOs’ advocacy engagement. Resorting to flexible strategies, eNGOs have managed to mitigate influences of government’s meddling and persist in advocating for a political environment that they prefer. Yet meanwhile, eNGOs’ advocacy activities are more likely to be effective in a more supportive policy context.

This study examines how non-profit organizations that engage in advocacy gain their legitimacy in the eyes of their target group of vulnerable citizens. The existing body of literature shows that these organizations are challenged in their pursuit of citizen legitimacy, defined as the extent to which their constituent target group perceives the organization as justified, accepted, and appropriate. This paper draws on the results of qualitative research in government-funded non-profit community work organizations that develop advocacy activities to influence policymakers. We interviewed community workers and their target group of citizens in four community centers in Flanders, the northern region of Belgium. We show that community workers engage in practices to enhance both the input and throughput legitimacy of their advocacy activities. More specifically, they construct safe spaces through informality, ensure proximity by taking care of individual needs, and collectivize individual needs.

The dramatic rise of charitable crowdfunding has changed the landscape of fundraising and giving. Little empirical work, however, has been done to explore critical factors that are associated with successful charitable crowdfunding campaigns run both by formal charities and non-charities. To advance the literature on donation-based charitable crowdfunding, we draw on a unique dataset of 427 COVID-19 crowdfunding campaigns in China, examining whether and how external and internal quality signals are related to crowdfunding success measured by total donation amount. Our results show that crowdfunding success is positively associated with internal signals (updates and predefined duration), whereas the role of external signals (platform and award) is less certain. While we find a positive relationship between award information and funding success, informal campaigns using an alternative medium seem to generate more donations than formal campaigns using authorized platforms. The implications of this study for theory, practice and policy are also discussed.

The quantitative data sources for NGO scholars are increasing, introducing new possibilities for our understanding of the global NGO population. The most frequently used data sources tend to privilege larger NGOs located in more politically open countries. We highlight two developments. First, we introduce a new Global Nonprofit Registry of Data Sources (GRNDS) dataset. GRNDS documents the information that governments collect and release to reveal variations in the data environment. Second, new sources of information from social media and donation platforms avoid the filtering and curation of reports from nonprofit regulators. These include Twitter, Google Trends, and new data from #GivingTuesday. Together, this richer information on cross-national variation in reporting and quickly available digital data should help research build a richer picture of the global NGO sector.

In this article we show the potential of using documents to answer research questions pertinent to nonprofit and voluntary sector studies. We start by introducing what the methodological literature has to say about how documents are employed as a data source, along with their strengths and weaknesses. Then, we review 178 articles in three main nonprofit journals to analyze how researchers have used documents to understand nonprofit and voluntary sector organizations. We also provide a case example of document analysis to reveal the processes involved in using documents as a source of evidence. We emphasize that situating documents in a field of action invites researchers to pay attention not only to the information they contain but also what their production and consumption reveal about organizational life. Finally, we conclude with the implications and considerations for using documents in nonprofit and voluntary sector research.

A truism of modern organizational life is that organizations collaborate. They may collaborate to meet client needs, acquire resources, or gain legitimacy. They may be required to collaborate by funders, but have little direction beyond this basic mandate. In this situation, how do managers choose collaborative partners? What is important to them and when is it important? While institutional and resource-dependence theories emphasize environmental factors driving collaboration, only recently has attention has been given to factors individuals identify as important when making choices about who to collaborate with, and for what purpose. This study uses the repertory grid technique, an innovative method based on personal construct theory, to explore what is important in the minds of nonprofit managers when navigating the world of collaboration and partner selection. The results reveal that managers prioritize different traits when selecting partners depending on the type of collaboration. We conclude with a review of current collaboration theories, where the findings from this study support and deviate from them and offer five new propositions about the complex, situation-dependent nature of partner selection in the minds of nonprofit practitioners.

Over the last three decades, Japanese NGOs have become increasingly engaged in the delivery of Japanese foreign aid, and humanitarian responses to national emergencies. Despite these attainments, a lack of recognition for the Japanese NGO sector among the domestic audience remains noticeable. The article proposes that, despite the increasing professionalization and professionalism of the Japanese NGO sector, the activities of practitioners are frequently construed as volunteering. Additionally, the article contends that concerns about the anti-government or “political” undertone to NGO activities and diminishing interest in international cooperation issues constitute a considerable challenge to fostering recognition and building domestic constituencies for development and humanitarian NGOs. Finally, the dominant approach to the non-profit and voluntary sector in Japan promoted by the government in the post-1995/1998 climate is discussed as a consequential hindrance to the process of establishing Japanese NGOs’ aid work as a professional knowledge-based enterprise in the public sphere.

Use of big data in the nonprofit sector is on the rise as a part of a trend toward “data-driven” management. While big data has its critics, few have addressed fundamental ontological and epistemological issues big data presents for the nonprofit sector. In this article, we address some of these issues including most prominently the notion that big data are value neutral and divorced from context. Drawing on data feminism, an intersectional feminist framework focusing on critically interrogating our experience with data and data-driven technologies, we examine the power differentials inherent in the construction of big data and challenge the claims, priorities, and inequities it produces specifically for nonprofit work. We conclude the article with a call for nonprofit scholars and practitioners to employ a data feminist framework to harness the power of big (and small) data for justice, equity, and co-liberation through nonprofit work.

Environmental activism organizations depend on recruiting and retaining individuals willing to engage in leadership tasks on a voluntary basis. This study examined the resources which help or hinder sustained environmental volunteer activist leadership behaviors. Interviews with 21 environmental volunteer activist leaders were analyzed within a Resource Mobilization Theory framework. While six resources supporting sustained engagement in volunteer activist leadership behaviors were identified, only three were sought by all participants: time, community support, and social relationships. Money, volunteers and network connections were considered valuable resources, however their acquisition generated significant additional administrative burdens. Social relationships sustained volunteer activist leaders through fostering feelings of positive emotions connected with the group. We conclude with suggestions for organizations seeking to increase retention of activist volunteer leaders: namely larger organizations sharing their resources to reduce administrative demands on volunteer activist leaders in smaller organizations; developing movement infrastructure groups to build and sustain networks; and the prioritization of positive relationships within volunteer teams.

In this paper, I adopt Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical and methodological framework to investigate patterns of inequality in volunteering fields and practices in Norway. Multiple correspondence analyses of national survey data indicate a hierarchically structured social space in Norway according to total volume of capital, while the positioning of different volunteer fields and practices seems to be more egalitarian with regard to capital possession, with some exceptions. This resonates well with established notions of the Norwegian civil society model as social democratic and egalitarian. Based on the discussions and findings, and considering growing social, cultural, and economic differences in many societies, I argue for a new volunteering research agenda better tailored for investigating social inequalities and differentiation in volunteering in different societal contexts, providing a new vantage point for understanding and explaining such inequalities.

How did Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) globally address the needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic? In this study, we examine the roles CSOs played during the first 18 months of the pandemic, their main challenges, and how the pandemic changed CSOs’ roles in society across 39 countries and economies. Using inductive thematic analysis analyzing responses from global philanthropy experts in two consecutive studies (2020 and 2021), we find that CSOs played fourteen roles, of which we discuss the six most mentioned: providing social assistance; responding to health care needs; coordinating and collaborating with government and business; mobilizing funds to address societal needs; raising awareness and combating misinformation; and advocating. Challenges for CSOs included reduced revenue and difficulty reaching beneficiaries. We found these challenges led to innovative ways of operating and new arrangements between civil societies and governments, which may have opened opportunities for a more active role of CSOs.