MA, Kent State University, 2008, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Geography

This analysis uses the restructuring of the American Cancer Society Ohio Division and its impact on funds raised through Relay For Life and on volunteer opinions as a case study to examine the relationship between a nonprofit's national mission, regional structure, and local fundraising efforts. Three questions were asked to investigate each of these scales: 1. How does the scale of a nonprofit's mission influence the organization's spatial structure? 2. How does a regional spatial structure impact a nonprofit's ability to fundraise at the local level? 3. How are local volunteer and donor attitudes initially affected when nonprofit offices are consolidated at a regional scale?At the national level, research of existing literature demonstrates that mission does not influence the structure of nonprofit organizations. Size, age, and history are more dominant factors. Regionally, the examination reveals the consolidation of offices certainly can have an impact on the amount of revenue raised. However, surveys of local volunteers show the underlying factor to be customer service, not office closures. Volunteers overwhelmingly and repeatedly stated the need for staff to be more visible and involved at the local level and for resources and materials to be more readily available. This project concludes that nonprofits with a national mission can be effective in raising dollars at the local level through a regional office; however, to do so, the organization must structure itself regionally in such a way so that it is able to achieve its national mission while still providing local staff who are available, knowledgeable, and engaged within the community.

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2014, Leadership and Change

How can we examine and address the nonprofit leadership dilemma? Nonprofit board members and executives, caught between a desire to advance a mission of service and a need to participate in the marketplace to acquire resources, are struggling to find scholarly direction that provides appropriate guidance while not succumbing to models of management designed by and for profit-oriented businesses. The Ten Building Blocks of Nonprofit Leadership is a new model of leadership that reconciles this dilemma through the articulation of ten key traits that distinguish the nonprofit leader and directs leadership behaviors in such a way as to retain the unique identity and contributions of the independent sector. The electronic version of this dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/, and OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2014, Leadership and Change

This correlational research design, which included a convenience sample of 157 nonprofit staff and board member responses to a Likert-type survey, was used to conduct a principle components analysis (PCA) to develop subscales related to networked nonprofits. As defined in the study, a networked nonprofit has a set of intentionally built trusting relationships and has systems and strategies that engage various stakeholders in meaningful conversations. They achieve their missions by developing strong partnerships where they invest in the goals of other organizations to mobilize resources for a common shared mission and values. While there were correlations between the level respondents rated their organization as a networked nonprofit, or networkedness, and effectiveness reported by respondents, the two networked nonprofit subscales revealed as a result of PCA (Stakeholder/External and Systems Vision/Internal) included elements found in effective as well as networked nonprofits. Also, the Maturity of Practice items were narrowed and reviewed through bivariate correlation. While they correlate to one another, they did not correlate to the networkedness or effectiveness measures. This seems to indicate a disconnect between the actual practice of networkedness as evidenced through social media and evaluation measures and the networked mindset or organizational culture. In other words, the way respondents perceive their levels of effectiveness and networkedness may indeed not align with actual behaviors. My ETD may be copied and distributed only for non-commercial purposes and may not be modified. All use must give me credit as the original author. A video author introduction in MP4 format accompanies this dissertation. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/. The electronic version of this Dissertation is at Ohiolink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd and Anti (open full item for complete abstract)

BUP/MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2009, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

This thesis looks at the geographic distribution of antipoverty nonprofit organizations in the 52 neighborhoods that makeup Cincinnati, Ohio in 1990 and 2000. This is done to determine if a disparity in antipoverty nonprofit service provision exists within these communities. In addition, this thesis examined the effects of population decline, demographic changes and redevelopment efforts on the antipoverty nonprofit organizations located in the Over the Rhine community as they relate to service utilization and location reliance. Over the Rhine has the highest concentration of anti-poverty nonprofit organizations in the city. Furthermore, historically the community has suffered from a variety of socioeconomic problems as well as continual population declines. In addition, Over the Rhine is currently experiencing aggressive redevelopment efforts, making it a suitable, if not a prime location to focus this study. There are four major findings (1) There is an equitable social service distribution in place in Cincinnati, however there was minor improvement in this distribution from 1990 to 2000. (2) Cincinnati communities are both underserved and overburdened by this unbalanced distribution. (3) Location reliance in Over the Rhine is related to factors of accessibility, demand and community commitment. (4) The development and demographic changes are related to a rise in nonresident service utilization. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the findings and recommendations for further research.

Bachelor of Arts, Miami University, 2009, College of Arts and Sciences - Political Science

The art of dedication and service is fundamental to the development of a greater community. One aspect of service is non-for-profit agencies. These agencies can include anything from breast cancer awareness, orphanages, homeless shelters, and health centers. Although many people dream of how to create and sustain a non-for-profit agency, the process can be very complex and demanding. When a friend heard of my desire to start my own nonprofit I got a call from a mother of a young girl with cerebral palsy, Utawna Leap. For years she has been raising awareness for cerebral palsy, but she wanted to start her own nonprofit organization that educates families and students around the greater Cincinnati area of the needs of those with cerebral palsy. I thought this was a great idea. Due to this, my thesis will be the designated plan for this nonprofit agency. I will lay out the design for building, growing, and sustaining this organization. The result will be a complete and implementable design catered to the ideas and passion of Utawna Leap.

Doctor of Education (EdD), Wright State University, 2024, Leadership Studies

In the context of nonprofit organizations, servant leadership (SL) has been studied on a limited basis. The present study attempted to forge a new path by examining the impact of SL and cohesion in the realm of nonprofit organizations. A total of 91 board members from 32 organizations participated in the study. Five statistical models of mixed effects linear regression were used in the analysis. The first model utilized the eight subscales of SL as independent variables and overall cohesion is the dependent variable while the other four models used overall SL as the independent variable. Each model also had an independent variable that denoted whether a given respondent was the director of the board or a board member. There is strong evidence to suggest a significant linear relationship between accountability and overall board cohesion (F(1, 80) = 5.65, p = 0.0198). There is also strong evidence to suggest a significant linear relationship between humility and overall board cohesion (F(1, 80) = 18.54, p < 0.0001). There is strong evidence to suggest a significant linear relationship between overall SL and attraction to group social F(1, 87) = 7.96, p = 0.0059). There is strong evidence to suggest there is a significant linear relationship between overall SL and attraction to group task (F(1, 87) = 20.88, p < 0.0001). There is strong evidence to suggest there is a significant two-way interaction between role and group integration social (F(1, 86) = 8.05, p = 0.0057). There is not sufficient evidence to suggest there is a significant two-way interaction between role and group integration task (F(1, 86) = 0.30, p = 0.59). Overall, the use of the servant leadership theory by nonprofit executives proved to be an enhancement on overall board cohesion.

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2023, Computer Science

This paper aims to present a study on developing a program that assists nonprofit organizations in determining the ideal location for building their facilities based on community needs, thus maximizing their potential for success. The study highlights the importance of location in the success of nonprofit organizations, and the challenges they face in identifying suitable areas for their operations. The paper reviews existing literature on nonprofit organizations, location analysis, and data analysis techniques, and proposes a methodology for developing the program. The methodology involves data collection and analysis, and machine learning algorithms to predict community needs. The program provides a user-friendly interface for nonprofit organizations to access and analyze the data and offers recommendations for suitable locations based on their criteria. The study concludes that the proposed program can be a valuable tool for nonprofit organizations to make informed decisions about their location and maximize their potential for success in serving their communities.

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2019, Theatre Arts-Arts Administration

This thesis is about how nonprofit arts organizations can use Facebook and Twitter as part of their marketing campaigns. Chapter One discusses best practices for using Facebook and Twitter for marketing as written by marketing professionals. The second chapter is a literature review of current studies arts administration professionals have done on the topic of using social media for marketing. Chapter Three focuses on two case studies about two different nonprofit arts organizations in Indianapolis, Indiana. The chapter is divided into three sections. The Methodology section explains how the case studies were put together. The second section is the case study on the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the third section is the case study on the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. I asked each organization the same set of questions about its use of Facebook and Twitter for marketing and then analyzed the content of each organization's Facebook and Twitter pages over a period of one month. I then offered constructive criticism to each organization based on its interview responses and the best practices from Chapter One. Chapter Four is a conclusion of the entire thesis.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2015, Arts Policy and Administration

The question of what constitutes a good leader is an important area of scholarship for many sectors including the government, business corporations, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations. The nonprofit sector is growing and becoming more institutionalized, which calls for further research to examine how leaders can best deal with this change, and how this growth is impacting the sector. This research will explore leadership practices and styles, and how these methods impact nonprofit organizations. Because of my personal background I have focused on nonprofit theatres in Columbus, Ohio. Nonprofit theatres are unique to other organizations because the art form requires high levels of collaboration; and like other arts organizations, involves large amounts of risk. As will be seen, the nonprofit theatre sector is growing rapidly in America; these organizations need good leadership to survive in a challenging, ever changing environment. Columbus, Ohio hosts a diverse collection of nonprofit theatres, and supports a thriving artistic community. I have used a case study of five nonprofit theatres to provide information on the current status of nonprofit leadership. While nonprofit organizations are led by boards, this research focuses on the executive or artistic director, to examine how one individual can influence and lead an organization. An in-person interview was conducted with the identified leader of each theatre. Anonymous online surveys were sent to other members of the theatre (including board, staff, and ensemble members) to provide information on how the leader is viewed by others in the organization, and give insights on the leaders interpersonal relationships. Research reveals that nonprofit theatre leaders in Columbus, Ohio are hard workers, lead by example, and are generally liked and appreciated by their subordinates. Leaders struggle with communication, the growth of their organizations, becoming overwhelmed, and delegation. Nonprofit (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Public Policy and Management

All organizations need resources. This resource dependence may offer one reason for nonprofit organizations to pursue earned revenue--to provide an “independent” stream of resources to the organization, thereby reducing dependence on other sources of income, such as private donations (Froelich 1999). Yet, nonprofit organizations may pursue earned income for reasons other than revenue diversification. James and Young (2007) suggest that nonprofit organizations may pursue earned income to increase their investment in - and thus expand - their mission-driven services. The goals of this study are to consider the relationship between earned income and charitable mission, and to introduce a more robust measure of earned revenue that links to service-level outcomes. Prior literature on earned revenue starts with a broad, mostly conceptual approach towards commercialization, or total earned revenue (Gilbert 1985; Salamon 1993; Dees 1998; Young and Salamon 2002). With this work, I attempt to address previous shortcomings by (1) developing a more nuanced, theory-based approach to measure earned revenue; and (2) testing the new measure of earned revenue with a newly available dataset from the Culture Data Project. My sample of 2115 organizations from 2007-2010 includes information on both revenue variables and program level outputs, allowing me to measure the relationship between earned income and indicators of charitable mission, measured as (1) donated income and (2) service level outputs. This study demonstrates that the nature of earned income activity matters for charitable mission. By categorizing earned revenue activities on dimensions of organizational technology and target markets, I demonstrate that different types of earned revenue have different effects on charitable mission. Organizations tempted to maximize the cost complementarities afforded by using the same technologies for multiple programs or services might end up generating revenue at the exp (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Liberal Studies, University of Toledo, 2010, Liberal Studies

Studies on ethics and codes of ethics exist in great numbers. However, the research on ethics is lacking in the nonprofit sector. One year ago, a study was conducted that dealt with codes of ethics in a nonprofit organization. Most of the employees did not know their organization had a code of ethics. This thesis expands that study and analyzes ethical conduct and codes within the literature on nonprofit organizations and ethical conduct and codes within five nonprofit agencies in the Northwest Ohio/Southeast Michigan region. Unlike the original investigation, all individuals interviewed were well aware of their organizations' codes of ethics. The participants also showed great interest in becoming more involved in the creation and updating of their codes of ethics. However, 44 percent of the participants have witnessed a breach in ethics at their agency. Annual training and encouragement of staff to take part in updating the agencies' codes of ethics could decrease the unethical misconduct that is apparent within these ventures.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2007, Social Welfare

This study explored the financial relationships between government and nonprofit organizations after welfare reform, from 1997 to 2001, focusing on changes experienced by nonprofit human service organizations. Welfare reform of 1996 brought important changes to social policy. Limited studies, however, have been conducted nationwide, quantitatively, and longitudinally on government support for nonprofit human service organizations. This study intended to fill this gap and investigating the nonprofits on whether they received government support, the amount of support, and their expenses on program services from 1997 to 2001. Three theoretical perspectives guided this study were failure theories, government-nonprofit relationship, and resources dependence. This study analyzed how welfare reform policies and provisions at state level, and financial vulnerability at organizational level, predicted the changes on the chances and amount of government support and proportion of program services expenses in nonprofit organizations. This study applied three HGLM and two HLM analyses on five research models based on different research subsamples and concluded four primary findings. First, this study found that government support flowed to relatively the same nonprofits with increased amounts in the five years, implying increasing complimentary relationship between government and nonprofits. Second, with increased amount of government support in the nonprofits, the proportion of program service expenses did not change over time, implying that other costs of management and fundraising increased in the nonprofits in the five years. Third, complimentary government nonprofit relationship was found in the states with generous welfare reform provisions including larger TANF non-assistance expenditure and more generous financial incentive to work policies. Complimentary relationship was not found in states with stricter time limit policies and work requirements. Four, financially vulne (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2013, Arts Policy and Administration

The purpose of this research was to demonstrate the link between transitional cinemas and the communities in which they reside. As cultural assets, transitional cinemas are in a unique position within the world of film presentation, but they share many characteristics with other arts nonprofits. The cases of Images Cinema in Williamstown, MA and the Drexel Theater in Bexley, OH coupled with fieldwide data and broad theories found in the literature of nonprofit arts undeniably establish this connection. Among the many similarities and differences between cases and artistic fields, it remains clear that an arts nonprofit is an arts nonprofit with strong community ties that enrich both the audience and the providers.

Master of Business Administration, The Ohio State University, 1967, Graduate School

Master of Business Administration, The Ohio State University, 1970, Graduate School

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2024, Antioch Seattle: Clinical Psychology

Recent political movements such as the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements have brought renewed attention to the social roles of White women and their unique position of intersectional privilege and oppression. White women experience the benefits of whiteness while simultaneously experiencing the gendered oppression of womanhood. However, there is a lack of research exploring how White women conceptualize and respond to their own positionality as both White individuals and as women. This study utilizes constructivist grounded theory to examine how White women navigate their social location within the context of working in the nonprofit sector, a space wherein White women are overrepresented and often in close contact with various elements of systemic oppression. The analysis revealed that White women view nonprofit organizations as protected spaces that allow them to foster careers without encountering overt sexism. However, White women also believe that nonprofits are fragile and easily threatened by external pressures. They seek to protect these spaces by maintaining a homogenous culture that aligns with White womanhood. They view increasing diversity as simultaneously aligned with their personal and organizational values and threatening to the organization's culture and internal stability. As a result, White women engage in a variety of maneuvers that serve to symbolically pursue diversity without altering the fundamental culture of the organization. These maneuvers allow White women to see themselves as benevolent and values driven, while also maintaining their systemic power over People of Color. The findings offer insight into the role White women play in maintaining systems of racial oppression in response to their own fears of gender-based oppression, and guide recommendations for further intersectional deconstruction of oppressive systems. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://e (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Organization Development & Change (D.O.D.C.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Organization Development

Research has established a case for the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in arts organizations. Achievements in DEI "…will allow arts organizations to engage their entire communities on multiple levels. Arts organizations will benefit from utilizing new perspectives on chronic challenges that have plagued the arts." (Cuyler, 2013) Additionally, we know that there is a relationship between racial and ethnic diversity and better financial performance. "Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians." (Hunt et al., 2015). While there is some research on the effectiveness of DEI initiatives, there is little research on how commitments to DEI have impacted the artistic programming choices of artistic directors in arts organizations. With over ten years of experience in artistic programming, I am invested in examining how DEI is presented in artistic programming decisions. This grounded theory study explores the artistic programming decision-making process of artistic directors at nonprofit arts organizations in New York City. Through research, I sought to understand DEI's role in the decision-making process of artistic directors and if artistic programming can be used to examine an organization's commitment to DEI. Based on the findings in this study, the Artistic Programming Decision-making Model is presented to explain the role DEI plays in the artistic programming decisions of artistic directors. The emergent model proposes that DEI influences the artistic director's values and experiences, artistic programming philosophies, and leadership role, and these factors impact the artistic programming decision-making process.

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2024, Business Administration

Cultural competency has gained significant attention in the past two decades, particularly within human services nonprofits. These nonprofits often operate under the governance of white, affluent, college-educated individuals while providing services to minority populations with limited financial resources and education. These differences may create cultural understanding challenges. This study endeavored to shed light on the effective cultural competency approaches employed by these organizations in serving a diverse population. Using qualitative comparative analysis, this research examined the disparities among human services agencies in terms of successful strategies for fostering cultural competency within their board of directors. The study involved conducting semi-structured interviews with 28 directors from human services agencies categorized into two groups based on their annual revenue: agencies with an annual revenue between $100,000 and $999,999 and those agencies with $1 million and higher. The findings showed that 25 of the 28 agencies described themselves as successful and implemented cultural competency building efforts among their board members. Of the 25 successful agencies, 13 directly linked their success to their cultural competency building efforts. The other 12 successful agencies stated they could not directly link their success to their cultural competency efforts. These results implicate the need for additional research that looks at a larger sample with broader demographics and other approaches that allow for deeper probing of cultural competency training efforts.

Master of Arts in English, Youngstown State University, 2024, Department of Languages

My thesis analyzes the rhetorical strategies in written grant applications and how they adapt and are utilized in video grant proposals. The video grant proposal is not replacing the standard written application yet, but the video is emerging as a new method for grant applicants to share their stories and request support from funders. I focus primarily on nonprofit grant proposals and the nonprofit sector of philanthropy because foundations across the United States offer video grant applications as a replacement or alternative option to the traditional, text-based proposal. Nonprofits face numerous challenges in fundraising, especially in gaining grants because they are competitive. Many scholars acknowledge that the grant proposal is a challenging genre to learn, and that the novice grant writer may consistently struggle to compose rhetorically effective proposals that win grants (Porter, 2007; Risjord, 2017). In response to the nonprofit grant writer's challenges, I asked the following research questions: what are the common rhetorical moves employed in written grant proposals? How do these strategies manifest in video grant proposals? What visual and auditory techniques enhance the persuasiveness of a video grant proposal? First, I reviewed grant, rhetoric, and multimodal scholarship to understand the common rhetorical moves of grant proposals as well as the visual and auditory techniques that help persuade in multimodal messages. Next, I conducted a rhetorical analysis of winning video grant proposals. I aimed to determine if the techniques from written applications and multimodal texts appeared and enhanced the persuasiveness of the videos. Then, I conducted think-aloud protocols and interviews with professional grant reviewers to gauge their perspectives on the same video proposals and understand if these techniques played a role in their decision-making process. My results of the rhetorical analyses showed that rhetorical moves of a written application (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Science (M.S.), Xavier University, 2023, Psychology

This study examined the relationship between different leadership styles (humble leadership and transactional leadership) and how they influenced the relationship between OCBs and organizational commitment. A total of 121 participants participated in this vignette-based study and were recruited from Prolific.com. The results showed a positive correlation between organizational commitment and OCBs, with leadership style acting as a moderator of the relationship. Specifically, the presence of a humble leader strengthened the connection between organizational commitment and OCBs, compared to the presence of a transactional leader, emphasizing the role of humility in effective leadership. However, the current study did not find evidence of leadership style influencing employee intention to engage in OCBs. Further research is needed on humble leadership and how it impacts employee behaviors.