Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

The academic study of philanthropy presupposes a comprehensive definition that guides inquiry into what, exactly, philanthropy is and why it matters. At present, though, no such well-thought-out definition exists. Scholars tend to explore various facets of philanthropy, according to their particular academic interests, but without a comprehensive understanding of its full meaning. This article attempts to correct this lack of synoptic understanding by surveying prominent instances of usage and definitions of philanthrôpía in the classical Greek era and synthesizing them into a overall framework for understanding its full classical meaning. In so doing, philanthrôpía is revealed to be a signal word, the meaning of which significantly evolved to reflect historically dominant philosophical and cultural trends in classical Greek society. This article concludes the exploration of this subject begun in an article published in the previous issue of NVSQ, titled “On the Modern Meaning of Philanthropy.”

The Quran prohibits interest and encourages trade and charity as alternates. This article seeks guidance from the verses of the Quran and develops a theoretical model of charity-based Islamic microfinance institutions (MFIs), which can be used as an alternative approach to reduce poverty. The article argues that charity-based Islamic MFIs will be financially and socially sustainable as these are to be based on the concepts of brotherhood, local philanthropy, and volunteer services. Charity-based Islamic MFIs will provide money for consumption as well as production purposes and, thus, can broadly target the economic and social needs of the poorest of the poor. They can help minimize indebtedness and reduce unequal distribution of wealth in society.

Although a great deal of research on civic engagement has been based on individual survey responses, there is emerging consensus for the need to better understand the civic opportunities provided by a given organizational context. This article develops a conceptual model to examine the different reasons why organizations would choose to invest in a membership-recruiting strategy despite the significant investment this strategy requires. The case study analysis of interest group associations in Israel confirms the hypothesis of an increased use of membership as an organizational strategy for building policy influence. The organizations are shown to be more interested over time in developing political leverage for influencing policy-making processes. Membership is viewed primarily as a strategy for rhetorical or symbolic legitimation for one organization, but even this organization uses membership as a tool for gaining greater leverage resources. Yet the findings are not optimistic regarding the focus on developing civic leadership.

Third-sector organizations provide essential services, but not all types of organizations operate equally well given different intensities of public problems. This article considers the need to create three-dimensional maps of the sector matching populations of service providers with the intensities of public problems where they operate. It does so by providing a framework for understanding third-sector organizational service provision. It is illustrated by following a case of essential service provision in the face of state failure. It concludes by highlighting the utility of three-dimensional maps for policy makers.

This article examines the diffusion of a state-level nonprofit program to other states across the United States. Current literature on innovation diffusion largely overlooks the diffusion of nonprofit program innovation. Although several streams of related diffusion research have considered organizational change and government policy transfer, they miss organizational and contextual factors particularly important for nonprofits. This study considers organizational and environmental factors in the transfer of state-level nonprofit program innovation using in-depth interviews with 74 policy actors to examine the spread of the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood Project to nonprofits in four states. It identifies similarities and differences between nonprofit program and government policy diffusion and proposes a modified framework for state-level nonprofit program diffusion that consists of multiple stages and participant roles.

This research adopts the utilitarian view of volunteering as a starting point: we posit that for an undergraduate student population volunteering is motivated by career enhancing and job prospects. We hypothesize that in those countries where volunteering signals positive characteristics of students and helps advance their careers, their volunteer participation will be higher. Furthermore, regardless of the signaling value of volunteering, those students who volunteer for utilitarian reasons will be more likely to volunteer but will exhibit less time-intensive volunteering. Using survey data from 12 countries (n = 9,482), we examine our hypotheses related to motivations to volunteer, volunteer participation, and country differences. Findings suggest that students motivated to volunteer for building their résumés do not volunteer more than students with other motives. However, in countries with a positive signaling value of volunteering, volunteering rates are significantly higher. As expected, students motivated by résumé building motivations have a lower intensity of volunteering.

Nonprofits are incorporating information technologies (ITs) into direct client services. Organizations may hesitate, however, to assign volunteers to operate these systems, for a variety of reasons. This article reports an experiment testing the capacity of two types of volunteers—“traditionals” (experienced in social services) and “beneficiaries” (from the ranks of the nonprofit’s clientele)—to use an IT for client services at two food pantries. The IT, Quick! Help for Meals, generates customized recipes and food-use tips about fresh vegetables. Results showed that both types of volunteers learned to operate the IT successfully. Traditionals’ use of the IT proved as effective as paid staff’s use in encouraging clients to consume more fresh vegetables. Beneficiaries’ use of the IT was not as effective in changing clients’ food use, compared to paid staff. Results of this case study should encourage nonprofits to experiment with assigning volunteers to operate ITs linked to client services.

This research note explores roles for nonprofit boards as described by 121 community foundation executives. Through content analysis, a synthesized list of 13 different roles were identified. The study considered institutional and organizational attributes such as environmental uncertainty and organizational complexity to explore the contingencies under which certain board roles become more prevalent. The roles were also matched to existing governance theories. The list not only reflects activities recognized by different theoretical models but also suggests conflicts in the way strategy is conceptualized and articulated as a governance task.