Donors' ability to attach strings to their contributions has become increasingly prevalent in the nonprofit sector. Using the case of workplace charity, this article examines the determinants of nonprofit organizations' adoption of donor choice as a mode of fund-raising. Drawing from a nationwide survey, it tests three competing tenets to explain United Ways' implementation of donor choice. Employing logistic regression analysis, the findings indicate that United Ways allow for donor control when facing donors' demands for choice, regardless of the composition of the local market or fundraisers' organizational characteristics.
Alexander, V. (1996). Pictures at an exhibition: Conflicting pressures in museums and the display of art. American Journal of Sociology , 101, 797-839.
2.
Alexander, V. (1998). Environmental constraints and organizational strategies . In W. W. Powell & E. S. Clemens (Eds.), Private action and the public good (pp. 272-290). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
3.
Barman, E. (2006). Contesting communities: The transformation of workplace charity. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
4.
Barman, E. (2007). An institutional approach to donor control: From dyadic ties to a field-level analysis. American Journal of Sociology, 112, 1416-1457.
5.
Barry, J. W., & Manno, B. V., Eds. (1997). Giving better, giving smarter: Renewing philanthropy in America. Washington, DC: National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal.
6.
Berman, M., Ed. (1994). The future of workplace giving. New York: Conference Board.
7.
Bielefeld, W. (2000). Metropolitan nonprofit sectors: Findings from NCCS data. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 29, 297-314.
8.
Blau, P.J. (1970). A formal theory of differentiation in organizations . American Sociological Review, 35, 201-218.
9.
Brandt, R. (1990, March 5). More givers are adding strings: Donors want a say in just where charities spend their money. Business Week, p. 34.
10.
Brilliant, E. (1990). The United Way: Dilemmas of organized charity . New York: Columbia University Press.
11.
Brulle, R.J. (2000). Agency, democracy, and nature: The U.S. environmental movement from a critical theory perspective. Cambridge, MA: MIT University Press.
12.
Carroll, G.R., & Hannan, M.T. (1989). Density dependence in the evolution of populations of newspaper organizations. American Sociological Review, 54, 524-541.
13.
Chambre, S. (2001). The changing nature of “faith” in faith-based organizations: Secularization and ecumenism in four AIDS organizations in New York City. Social Service Review, 75, 435-455.
14.
Chaves, M. (1999). Financing American religion. In M. Chaves & S. L. Miller (Eds.), Financing American religion (pp. 169-188). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
15.
Clotfelter, C. (1997). The economics of giving. In J. W. Barry & B. V. Manno (Eds.), Giving better, giving smarter: Working papers of the national commission on philanthropy and civic renewal (pp. 31-51). Washington, DC: National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal.
16.
Corbin, J. (1999). A study of factors influencing the growth of nonprofits in social services. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly , 28, 296-314.
17.
Cordes, J.J., Henig, J., & Twombly, E. (1999). The effects of expanded donor choice in United Way campaigns on nonprofit human services providers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly , 28, 127-151.
18.
Cutlip, S. (1965). Fund raising in the United States. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
19.
DiMaggio, P.J. (1986a). Can culture survive the marketplace? In P. J. DiMaggio (Ed.), Nonprofit enterprise and the arts (pp. 65-93). New York: Oxford University Press.
20.
DiMaggio, P.J. (1986b). Introduction. In P. J. DiMaggio (Ed.), Nonprofit enterprise and the arts (pp. 3-13). New York: Oxford University Press.
21.
Ebaugh, H.R., Chafetz, J.S., & Pipes, P. (2005). Funding good works: Funding sources of faith-based social service coalitions. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 34, 448-472.
22.
Fischer, C. (1982). To dwell among friends: Personal networks in town and city. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
23.
Froelich, K.A. (1999). Diversification of revenue strategies: Evolving resource dependence in nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 28, 246-268.
24.
Frumkin, P. (1997). Fidelity in philanthropy: Two challenges to community foundations. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 8, 65-76.
25.
Glaser, J.S. (1994). The United Way scandal: An insider's account of what went wrong and why. New York: John Wiley.
26.
Gronbjerg, K. (1993). Understanding nonprofit funding: Managing revenues in social services and community development organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
27.
Gronbjerg, K.A., Campbell, D.T., Harmon, L., Olkkonen, A., Printen, T., & Raza, A. (1995). United Way ofChicago: Perspectives on key planning issues by major consistuency groups. Unpublished manuscript.
28.
Gronbjerg, K.A., Martell, L., with Paarlberg, L. (2000). Philanthropic funding of human services: Solving ambiguity through the two-stage competitive process. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 29(Suppl. 1), 9-40.
29.
Haider, D. (1997). Do trust and efficiency still sell? In J. W. Barry & B. V. Manno (Eds.), Giving better, giving smarter: Working papers of the national commission on philanthropy and civic renewal (pp. 147-168). Washington, DC: National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal.
30.
Hall, P.D. (1992). Inventing the nonprofit sector and other essays in philanthropy, voluntarism, and nonprofit organization. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
31.
Hannan, M.T., & Freeman, J. (1977). The population ecology of organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 82, 929-64.
32.
Hansmann, H. (1980). The role of nonprofit enterprise. Yale Law Journal, 89, 835-902.
33.
Hawley, A. (1971). Urban society: An ecological approach. New York: Ronald.
34.
Healy, K. (2000). Sacred markets and secular ritual in the organ transplant industry. American Journal of Sociology, 105, 1633-1657.
35.
Healy, K. (2004). Altruism as an organizational problem: The case of organ procurement. American Sociological Review, 69, 387-404.
36.
Helms, L., Henkin, A.B., & Murray, K. (2005). Playing by the rules: Restricted endowment assets in colleges and universities. Nonprofit Management and Leadership , 15, 341-356.
37.
Hoge, D., Zech, C.McNamara, P., & Donahue, M.J. (1996). Money matters: Personal giving in American churches . Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
38.
Hughes, P., & Luksetich, W. (2004). Nonprofit arts organizations: Do funding sources influence spending patterns?Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 33, 203-220.
39.
Kriesi, H., Koopmans, R., Duyvendak, J.W., & Guigni, M. (1995). New social movements in Western Europe: A comparative analysis. London: University College London Press.
40.
Lenkowsky, L. (2002). Foundations and corporate philanthropy. In L. Salamon (Ed.), State of nonprofit America (pp. 355-386). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
41.
Levy, R. (2001). Corporate philanthropy comes of age: Its size, its import, its future. In C. T. Clotfelter & T. Erlich (Eds.), Philanthropy and the nonprofit sector in a changing America (pp. 99-121). Bloomington : Indiana University Press.
42.
McAdam, D. (1982). Political process and the development of black insurgency, 1930-1970. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
43.
McCarthy, D. (2004). Environmental justice grantmaking: Elites and activists collaborate to transform philanthropy. Sociological Inquiry, 74, 250-270.
Millar, B. (1991). United Way's rivals gain ground. The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 4(1), 24-25.
46.
Milofsky, C., & Blades, S.D. (1991). Issues of accountability in health charities. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 20, 371-393.
47.
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. ( 1998). Charity in the workplace. Washington, DC: Author.
48.
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. ( 2003). Giving at work. Washington, DC: Author.
49.
Oster, S. (1995). Strategic management for nonprofit organizations . Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
50.
Oster, S. (2003). Is there a dark side to endowment growth?New Directions for Institutional Research, 119, 81-90.
51.
Ostrander, S.A. (1995). Money for change: Social movement philanthropy at Haymarket People's Fund. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
52.
Ostrander, S.A., & Schervish, P. (1990). Giving and getting: Philanthropy as social relations . In J. Van Til (Ed.), Critical issues in American philanthropy: Strengthening theory and practice (pp. 67-98). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
53.
Ostrower, F. (1995). Why the wealthy give. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
54.
Paprocki, S. (1988). On the effects of different types of workplace campaigns on employees' total giving and giving to United Way. Washington, DC: National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy .
55.
Pfeffer, J., & Leong, A. (1977). Resource allocations in United Funds: Examination of power and dependence. Social Forces, 55, 775-790.
56.
Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. (1978). The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective. New York: Harper & Row.
57.
Piven, F.F., & Cloward, R. (1977). Poor people's movements: Why they succeed, how they fail. New York: Pantheon.
58.
Polivy, D.K. (1985). Increasing giving options in corporate charitable payroll deduction campaigns: Who benefits? (ISPS Working Paper No. 2083). New Haven, CT: Yale University, Institute for Social and Policy Studies.
59.
Polivy, D.K. (1988). The United Way: Understanding how it works is the first step to effecting change. In C. Milofsky (Ed.), Community organizations: Studies in resource mobilization and exchange (pp. 157-169). New York: Oxford University Press.
60.
Powell, W.W., & Friedkin, R. (1986). Politics and programs: Organizational factors in public television decision making. In P. DiMaggio (Ed.), Nonprofit enterprise in the arts: Studies in mission and constraint (pp. 245-269). New York: Oxford University Press.
61.
Powell, W.W., & Friedkin, R. (1987). Organizational change in nonprofit organizations . In W. W. Powell (Ed.), The nonprofit sector: A research handbook (pp. 180-194). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
62.
Powell, W.W., & Minkoff, D. (2006). Nonprofit mission: Constancy, responsiveness, or deflection? In W. W. Powell & R. Steinberg (Eds.), The nonprofit sector: A research handbook (2nd ed., pp. 591-611). New Haven: Yale University Press.
63.
Rose-Ackerman, S. (1987). Ideals versus dollars: Donors, charity managers, and government grants. Journal of Political Economy, 95, 810-823.
64.
Salamon, L. (2002). The state of nonprofit America. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
65.
Schervish, P.G. (2005). Major donors, major motives: The people and purposes behind major gifts. New Directions for Philanthropic Fundraising , 47, 59-87.
66.
Scott, R.A. (1967). The selection of clients by social welfare agencies: The case of the blind. Social Problems, 14, 248-257.
67.
Seeley, J.W., Junker, B.H., & Jones, R.W. (1989). Community chest. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. (Original work published 1957)
68.
Souccar, M.K. (2005, January 17). NY nonprofits see drought as funds go to Asia. Crain's New York Business, pp. 1-49.
69.
South, S.J., & Crowder, K.D. (1997). Escaping distressed neighborhoods: Individual, community, and metropolitan influences. American Journal of Sociology, 102, 1040-1084.
70.
Thompson, J.D. (1967). Organizations in action: Social science basis of administrative theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
71.
United Way of America. (1977). People and events: A history of the United Way. Washington, DC: Author.
72.
United Way of America. (1988). United Way of America annual report. Alexandria, VA: Author.
73.
United Way of America. (1999). Donor preference policies and practices. Unpublished report.
74.
United Way of America. (2003). Basic facts about United Way. Alexandria, VA: Author. Retrieved February 12, 2003, from http://national.unitedway.org/aboutuw
75.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (2000). County and city data books. Retrieved November 6, 2000, from http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/
76.
Vanderwoerd, J.R. (2004). How faith-based social service organizations manage secular pressures associated with government funding. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 3, 239-262.
77.
Walter, K. (1997, October). Nurturing charitable causes through fundraising campaigns. HRMagazine, p. 102.
78.
Wenocur, S., Cook, R.V., & Steketee, N.L. (1984, Spring). Fund-raising at the workplace. Social Work, pp. 55-60.
79.
White, A.H. (1989). Patterns of giving. In R. Magat (Ed.), Philanthropic giving: Studies in varieties and goals (pp. 65-71). New York: Oxford University Press.
80.
Witty, C.J. (1989). Workplace giving: Employee attitudes, perceptions, and behavior (Working Paper No. 9). San Francisco: University of San Francisco.
81.
Wolpert, J. (1993). Patterns of generosity in America: Who's holding the safety net?New York: Twentieth Century Fund Press.
82.
Wuthnow, R. (1988). The restructuring of American religion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
