Journals
2025 EN
Azevedo Lauren · Bell Andrew
ABSTRACT Community foundations can strengthen their localities by connecting philanthropists with areas of greatest need. This article seeks to examine if equitable practices constitute more equitable decision‐making in the structure and processes of the foundation. To this end, we explore decision‐making in terms of the processes involved in funding allocation and grantmaking of discretionary funds in foundation boardrooms, where these decisions typically begin or take place. Through an inductive approach, we formulate a theoretical framework and test our framework through surveys to community foundation leaders. Findings reveal that cultivating diversity and inclusive practices in decision‐making, organizing decisions by mission and strategic goals, and an organizational commitment to equity can strengthen perceived equitable decision‐making. This research has substantial implications in nonprofit spaces by exploring informal and nontraditional prescriptions for better engaging with communities they are serving and creating a more inclusive society. Theoretical and practical contributions are made for advancing equity through decision‐making in spaces where important community‐based decisions are made.
Journals
2025 EN
Hodgins Margaret · Pursell Lisa · Itzkovich Yariv
+2 more
ABSTRACT Approximately 15% of workers are exposed to bullying in their workplace. However, few studies appear to have been conducted in nonprofit and voluntary organizations. This scoping review explored prevalence and structural and contextual factors that influence bullying in nonprofit and voluntary organizations. From a capture of 671 papers, 54 were assessed for eligibility and 18 full‐text articles were reviewed. Bullying is prevalent in nonprofit and voluntary organizations at the same or higher levels as other sectors, with sexual harassment appearing to be a serious problem in the context of fundraising. A synthesis of papers found a suite of factors presented in four themes; complex and unique power relations, the exploitation of virtuosity, the exercise of hegemonic power, and asymmetrical power and extreme dependency, which together act to stabilize the presence of bullying in nonprofit and voluntary organizations. Such dynamics need to be disrupted for intervention to occur. Further research is needed on how volunteers “sense‐make” in the face of dissonance between organizational mission and behavior, intervention evaluation, and regulating philanthropic donation to reduce donor dependence.
Journals
2025 EN
Yang Yanxiang · Byers Terri · Koenigstorfer Joerg
ABSTRACT Previous approaches to model the performance of nonprofit organizations and their determinants largely rely on linearity and monotonicity assumptions. This research note makes a methodological contribution by jointly using descriptive and predictive models, particularly advanced machine‐learning algorithms that allow for the consideration of non‐linear or non‐monotonic relationships, to understand the relevance of factors associated with the performance of nonprofit sport clubs as well as the nature of relationships. Data were collected via an online survey with 126 representatives of Canadian sport clubs, in which four performance domains were considered: Member relationship, service quality, financial stability, and sporting success. Explanatory linear regressions and four machine‐learning models (i.e., ridge regression, bagged regression, random forest, and gradient boosting machine) are used. The results reveal that machine‐learning models increase the explanatory power compared to linear models. The random forest outperforms the other models in terms of root mean squared error and, partly, mean absolute error, and R square (even though absolute levels of R square are low at times, particularly for financial stability and sporting success, where the presence or absence of a high‐volume donor or high‐performance sports mission might help or hinder performance). Non‐linear relationships are found for several predictors across the four dimensions that were considered, such as the use of outside knowledge, trust, coopetition, age, and tenure of the club representative. We showcase the use of joint computational techniques in nonprofit research to serve two relevant goals: enhance the explanatory power and maintain the interpretability of predictive models.
Journals
2025 EN
Cnaan Ram A. · Unetic Phoebe E. · Choi Daniel
ABSTRACT This research note focuses on the experience of nonprofit organizations that relied on in‐person essential volunteers during the pandemic to conduct their core, mission‐related programs. We use unique case data from a survey of a single organization's volunteers before and during the pandemic. We found that there were very few socio‐demographic differences between volunteers before and during the pandemic. However, the organization's volunteer administrative data revealed important differences in the modes that volunteers engaged with the organization. While the total number of volunteers decreased significantly, the number and frequency of individual volunteers volunteering alone increased during the pandemic, and the decline in volunteers overall was driven by the many organized groups of volunteers that the organization depended on pre‐pandemic, which declined precipitously. Individual, committed volunteers became more essential to the organization during the pandemic to help sustain the organization when their stable flows of revolving volunteer groups ended. The prior volunteer management inattention to core, individual volunteers before the pandemic and over‐reliance on revolving volunteer groups left the nonprofit vulnerable at the time of the pandemic disruption, which provides lessons for many similar organizations. Our findings suggest that organizations that benefit from steady volunteer groups should do more to promote individual volunteer loyalty while also managing the revolving door of groups.
Journals
2025 EN
Tribble Dana · Holt Aubrey · Gordon Sarah
To best support women in higher education, especially those balancing complex professional and personal roles, deepening our understanding of their lived experiences is critical. From those experiences, we can build meaningful support structures that truly meet their needs. As passionate educators and advocates, we, Drs. Dana Tribble, assistant professor of higher education and student affairs at Arkansas Tech University; Aubrey Holt, visiting lecturer of leadership studies at Arkansas Tech University; and Sarah Gordon, dean of the Jackson College of Graduate Studies at University of Central Oklahoma; held leadership positions in Arkansas higher education and officer positions with the Arkansas Council for Women in Higher Education (ACWHE). ACWHE's mission is to promote institutional change, elevate women's voices, and advocate for meaningful support in higher education.
Journals
2025 EN
Komárek Jan
ABSTRACT Drones have become indispensable for high‐resolution, on‐demand remote sensing, yet their valid operational window is far narrower than often portrayed. Using meteorological data from 31 locations in the Czech Republic since 2016, we demonstrate that weather constraints—including precipitation, wind and temperature extremes—collectively limit feasible flight days to roughly 25% per year. Although an overall 0.8°C rise in average temperature since 2019 has slightly reduced cold‐weather issues, it has introduced more frequent heatwaves and increased wind variability, offsetting potential gains. High wind gusts, precipitation and temperature can degrade sensor accuracy and distort imagery even when conditions permit flight. Radiometric data collection—often conducted near solar noon—can be disrupted by clouds, haze or gusts, complicating efforts to obtain consistent, high‐quality measurements. Despite these pervasive effects, many drone‐based studies lack detailed weather documentation, hindering data reproducibility and comparisons. Weather nowcasting and adaptive mission planning offer ways to mitigate data gaps, but questions remain about ensuring sustained, high‐quality coverage in variable climates. By acknowledging and addressing inherent weather constraints, the remote sensing community can more realistically harness drones’ potential and refine operational guidelines for long‐term environmental monitoring. Highlights: Meteorological constraints are a strong reality check. Climate trends alter but don't solve drone limitations. Future improvements must go beyond hardware enhancements.
Journals
2025 EN
De Bruin Cardoso Isabel · Meyer Marco · Kaptein Muel
ABSTRACT This study explores why nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) engage in unethical behavior because of, and not despite, their perceived moral integrity. Contrary to expectations, we show how a glorified perception of moral integrity within NGOs can create blind spots for unethical behavior, a phenomenon termed the NGO halo effect. The NGO halo consists of people in NGOs glorifying the moral goodness of their organization's mission, morals, and people and prioritizing them over other considerations, the effect of which is unethical behavior. The relationship between the NGO halo and NGO unethical behavior has not been measured. We conduct two studies to measure the relationship between the NGO halo and NGO unethical behavior. In Study 1 ( N = 256), we define and establish the content validity of the two NGO halo effect constructs. In Study 2 ( N = 544), we validate the constructs and use a regression design to show that the NGO halo is positively and significantly related to unethical behavior. Our research reveals the dark side of moral idealization and confirms that the NGO halo effect is a risk factor for NGO unethical behavior.
Journals
2025 EN
Lusk Randy · Elliott Stephanie
The mission of AWWA's Small Systems Division (SSD) is to help small communities develop the technical, managerial, and financial capabilities to sustainably manage water services. The SSD invites small water system staff to take advantage of the full slate of valuable technical sessions at AWWA's 2025 Annual Conference & Exposition ( ACE25), which will be held June 8–11 in Denver.
Journals
2025 EN
Kaur Ravinder · Singh Ajaypal · Mishra Suyash
ABSTRACT In the era of the digital world, the revitalization of poor households' responses to the availability and usage of financial services is essential. Deprived individuals who possess financial literacy are able to make better financial decisions by learning about and comprehending the different financial services that are offered in the market. This research is an attempt to investigate the mediating effect of online banking and the moderating effect of income while mapping linkages between financial literacy and financial inclusion in the context of PMJDY which is a national mission of financial inclusion in India. The primary data acquired from marginalized people having bank accounts under PMJDY via structured questionnaires in Himachal Pradesh (India) were analyzed using a structural equation model combined with bootstrap. The results of the current study shed valuable light on the crucial mediating role of online banking as a driver for financial inclusion through financial literacy for the beneficiaries of PMJDY. Additionally, this study emphasizes understanding the significance of household income in encouraging financial inclusion for marginalized groups. This study identifies crucial predictors of financial inclusion, especially through PMJDY and provides practical implications to assist policymakers in increasing financial services among marginalized populations by leveraging financial literacy and online banking, thereby contributing to broader financial inclusion in India.
Journals
2025 EN
Rappaport Keener Sarah · Wilkins Emily J. · Carr Wylie
+4 more
Abstract Many public lands, including those managed by the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), have the purpose of conserving natural and cultural resources and providing opportunities for visitors to recreate in and enjoy these areas. Achieving this mission becomes more challenging as drought, flooding, increasing temperatures and other climatic change effects are impacting NPS lands and visitors and affecting factors such as visitation, recreation access and health and safety among other aspects of park operations. However, the literature lacks insights from staff dealing with on‐the‐ground climate impacts to visitor use. To address this gap, we held semi‐structured interviews with 63 staff from 31 NPS units across the United States (U.S.) to better understand the effects of climate change on visitor use. We qualitatively analysed the interviews using both deductive and inductive methods to identify key themes. Interview participants consistently noted that climate change is already affecting visitor use at their parks. For instance, increasing temperatures are negatively affecting both staff and visitor safety at parks nationwide, whereas all coastal parks within our sample are already experiencing impacts from sea‐level rise or more frequent and severe coastal storms and hurricanes. Other impacts include reduced recreational access, damaged infrastructure and cultural resources and diminished visitor experiences due to fire and smoke. Similarly, concerns about future impacts often revolved around the health and safety of visitors and staff—particularly related to wildfire and smoke, water quality and availability, and increased heat—and climate change forever altering parks. Our research shows staff in parks and protected areas are noticing effects of climate change on visitor use; some of these impacts have not been previously documented in the scientific literature. Study results highlight future visitor use management research needs and key topics to consider for visitor use planning processes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.