November 2025 - Nonprofit Academic Centers Council

Greetings from the Executive Director: November 2025

Nicole Collier, NACC Executive Director

Nicole Collier, MPSA
Executive Director, NACC
Center for Nonprofits and Philanthropy
Bush School of Government and Public Service
Texas A&M University

Greetings,

I’m writing this update from the plane on my way back from NACC’s Annual Member Meeting in Indianapolis. I hope those of you who were able to join us and attend ARNOVA’s annual conference had a great time! As we enter the final stretch of the fall semester in College Station, I can’t help but reflect on how much has changed since our last member meeting. It has been a very busy year—both at work and emotionally—and I know many of you are feeling the same.

I will not pretend to have the words to fully capture everything happening in Texas, across the country, and around the world, nor do I have all the answers or a message that can erase the stress so many of you are dealing with. What I can say is that NACC continues to show me how deeply our network is committed to being a positive force for good in our sector.

At this year’s member meeting, we heard from both new and longtime colleagues. We shared our successes and our struggles, and we learned new things about each other that will shape how we move forward together.

We also recently convened four new committees to help guide NACC’s priorities for the coming year and beyond. Each committee shared guiding prompts and gathered feedback, and while I cannot capture everything here, I want to highlight two key themes:

Meaningful collaborations. Members mentioned the importance of creating, sustaining, and strengthening key partnerships in intentional and strategic ways, and focusing on those who are also invested in the important work NACC upholds. While we have had more informal collaborations in the past, now seems like a time to formalize these relationships and ensure we are dedicating our efforts where they can make the most impact.
Articulating our value. We discussed how to better define our value to the sector and clarify who the primary users and beneficiaries of our work are. While a simple enough-sounding idea, we serve many populations directly and indirectly. The Value-Added committee in the future may work on creating a ‘Theory of Change’ to articulate some of these values.

These are only two of the important insights from the meeting. I would love to have more of you involved in these conversations going forward. If you are interested in joining a committee or contributing your perspective, please reach out.

Our annual member meeting also marks the end and beginning of NACC’s board terms. We said thank you to two outgoing board members, Alex Skailes at City, University of London, and Will Brown from Texas A&M University. We also welcomed Roseanne Mirabella at Kean University and Michelle Wooddell at Grand Valley State University. This also marks the beginning of Peter Weber’s term as board president and Angela Logan’s transition to immediate past president. I want to take a moment to thank them all for their service and dedication to the sector!

I hope you all have meaningful time to spend with all those you hold dear and especially find time to take care of yourselves as we head towards the winter holidays. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with ideas, questions, or to chat with us!

Wishing you all the best!
Nicole

By N.A.C.C.|2025-11-25T13:00:56-05:00November 25th, 2025|Executive Director's Report|

AI as Co-Creator: Fostering Social Equity Towards Social Sustainability in Entrepreneurial Development for Women and Minority Entrepreneurs

Latha Poonamallee, PhD
Professor of Management & Social Innovation
School of Design Strategies
Parsons School of Design
The New School

AI as Co-Creator: Fostering Social Equity Towards Social Sustainability in Entrepreneurial Development for Women and Minority Entrepreneurs
Joanne Scillitoe, Deone Zell, Latha Poonamallee, and Kene Turner
Sustainability | October 2025

This paper examines how artificial intelligence (AI) can act as a co-creation partner to foster social equity leading to social sustainability by addressing persistent barriers faced by women and minority entrepreneurs. We develop a theoretical framework integrating social capital theory and the resource-based view to analyze how AI can systematically address resource gaps across structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions while serving as a strategic capability that enables competitive advantage. Modern AI systems including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity represent practical technologies already operational for everyday entrepreneurs through accessible platforms, low-cost subscriptions, and no-code tools enabling workflow automation with minimal technical skill. While prior work has explored how social capital creates competitive advantages, little research explains how AI technologies specifically enhance both social capital development and resource-based competitive advantage simultaneously for ventures of underrepresented entrepreneurs. This study explicitly identifies the entrepreneurial venture as the unit of analysis and articulates five testable propositions on AI’s influence across structural, relational, and cognitive capital, clarifying mechanisms by which AI functions as a technological mediator that democratizes access to both network resources and strategic capabilities for underrepresented founders. Using AI-generated hypotheticals from Los Angeles demonstrating replicable processes with current technologies like retrieval-augmented generation and cloud AI workspaces, we show that AI-enhanced social capital can reduce venture development disparities while generating distinctive advantages for strategically adopting entrepreneurs. The framework requires empirical validation through longitudinal studies and acknowledges dependencies on infrastructure, ecosystem support, and cultural context, ultimately reconceptualizing AI as an active partner, illustrating that equity and competitive excellence are complementary and achievable through deliberate AI-enabled social capital development.

Dr. Latha Poonamallee is a Professor of Management & Social Innovation in the School of Design Strategies in the New School Parsons School of Design.

She works on two major research areas both focused on how management, organizations, and leadership can be vehicles to create a more sustainable, prosperous, just, and equitable world. She is the Founder and Director of Management and Social Justice Collective that has convened thousands of people from over 66 countries since its inception in 2020. The collective welcomes submissions and proposals to the 2026 Management and Social Justice Conference to be hosted in New York between April 29-May 1, 2026. The theme is Entrepreneurship and Social Justice.

She is also the co-founder and CEO of In-Med Prognostics, a med-tech firm that uses AI and Deep Tech to develop brain health predictive analytics.

Dr. Poonamallee received her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University, M.B.A. from Pondicherry University, and B.A. and M.A. from University of Madras.

By N.A.C.C.|2025-11-21T07:16:48-05:00November 21st, 2025|NACC Member Research|

There Are No Lone Wolves: The Role of Civil Society in Aiding and Abetting Domestic Terrorists

Roseanne M. Mirabella, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Business and Public Management
Department of Criminal Justice and Public Affairs
Kean University

There Are No Lone Wolves: The Role of Civil Society in Aiding and Abetting Domestic Terrorists

Roseanne M. Mirabella, Geoffrey Upton, and Lauren Willner
Public Administration Quarterly | September 2025

This paper focuses on the role Deviant Voluntary Associations (DVAs) play in the radicalizing of domestic terrorists associated with the alt-right in the United States and the outsized role social media plays in forming social capital bonds with those who become lone wolves. Drawing on Rousseau and Nietzsche, we explore the theoretical roots of the American political system particularly and liberalism more generally to better understand how violent acts such as these are deeply enmeshed in American culture. The contemporary case of paramilitary groups in the United States is explored, arguing the use of violence by these groups to achieve their ends has enabled the actions of the misnamed “lone wolf.” We end with recommendations for additional research on DVAs and civil society to further explore the connection between liberalism and nationalism, delve into the interaction of populism and civil society, document the fracture of civil religion through increased partisanship, and investigate the concomitant closing of civic spaces in the United States.

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A leading scholar in nonprofit education, philanthropy, and critical perspectives on nonprofit organizing, Dr. Mirabella is co-editor of two field-defining volumes and a recipient of ARNOVA’s 2024 Distinguished Achievement and Leadership in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research Award. She co-edits the Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership alongside her Kean University colleague Dr. Bok Gyo Jeong, and has held long-standing leadership roles in ARNOVA and ASPA.

By N.A.C.C.|2025-11-21T07:06:39-05:00November 21st, 2025|NACC Member Research|

“Whether they’ve done anything beyond performance could be argued”: A focus group study examining the perceived impact of a racism is a public health crisis declaration

Douglas Ihrke, PhD
Professor, Political Science
Affiliated Professor, Urban Studies
Affiliated Professor, Public and Nonprofit Administration
College of Letters & Science
Department of Political Science
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

“Whether they’ve done anything beyond performance could be argued”: A focus group study examining the perceived impact of a racism is a public health crisis declaration

Michael Gonzalez Jr., Musa Yahaya, Rebecca Yang, Jessieka Knazze, Tajammal Yasin, Douglas Ihrke, Young Cho, Lorraine Lathen, Linnea I. Laestadius
ScienceDirect, SSM – Qualitative Research in Health | December 2025

In recent years, local governments have begun to explicitly recognize that racism is a public health crisis that requires policy reforms to address systemic drivers of inequality. In May 2019, Milwaukee County, WI became the first locality in the U.S. to adopt such a resolution. It is not clear to what extent these declarations foster substantive change. We use Milwaukee County, WI as a case study to determine community perceptions of the impacts of declarations naming racism as a public health crisis. Between December 2022 and March 2024, we conducted ten focus groups with minoritized communities in Milwaukee County, WI. The 50 participants were stratified based on self-identified race/ethnicity, with one group specific to LGBTQ+ members of these communities. Focus group transcripts were analyzed using rigorous and accelerated data reduction (RADaR) and reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) approaches to qualitative data. Focus groups suggest little awareness of the resolution and some skepticism toward its ability to foster change. Few indicated that the inequities within the county have improved since 2019. Analysis of perceptions of the declaration’s impact yielded three key themes: 1) the declaration represents the potential for needed reform, 2) limited public-facing action fosters frustration and skepticism, and 3) communication failures impact the promotion of health equity. There was a strong desire to see active, direct engagement from government officials in their communities. Overall, findings indicate that declarations alone may not be sufficient to spur meaningful policy action that impacts communities in a broadly noticeable manner.

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Dr. Ihrke teaches in the Department of Political Science, the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program, and in UWM’s interdisciplinary Urban Studies program. After receiving a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from the University of Minnesota, he worked as an engineering technician before pursuing an MPA degree at Northern Michigan University (NMU). Professor Ihrke also worked in municipal government in Michigan for two years. At Northern Illinois University, his doctoral studies focused on public administration, public policy, and urban studies.

Professor Ihrke has written on American bureaucratic institutions and politics, with special emphasis on public employee attitudes and behaviors. He also has written on various local government issues including city council/administrator relations and managerial innovation. He has published articles in journals such as Public Personnel Management, Public Administration Quarterly, Public Productivity and Management Review, and the Journal of Management History. Future research will more fully explore the nature of urban communities.

Dr. Ihrke teaches undergraduate courses in urban politics, public policy, public administration and American Government. He also teaches graduate courses on organization theory and public personnel administration in the Master of Public Administration (MPA) Program as well as courses on bureaucracy, and urban public policy and social institutions in the Urban Studies Programs.

By N.A.C.C.|2025-11-21T07:02:15-05:00November 21st, 2025|NACC Member Research|

LGBTQ+ Donors as a Philanthropic Constituency

Elizabeth J. Dale, Ph.D.
Frey Foundation Chair for Family Philanthropy
Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy
Grand Valley State University

LGBTQ+ Donors as a Philanthropic Constituency

Elizabeth J. Dale and Nicole J. Plastino
Chapter in Advancing Research in Philanthropy and Education | August 2025

LGBTQ+ donors are a distinct and emerging philanthropic constituency in higher education. This chapter explores how LGBTQ+ donors engage with higher education institutions and how these institutions have adapted their advancement strategies to cultivate them. Drawing on existing research and interviews with advancement professionals, the authors explore who LGBTQ+ donors are, their motivations for giving, and how their philanthropy manifests in the higher education context. Key findings indicate that LGBTQ+ donors are influenced by both identity-based factors and broader philanthropic motivations, and campus climate and student experiences play a significant role in LGBTQ+ alumni giving. This research contributes to the growing scholarship on LGBTQ+ philanthropy in higher education and offers valuable insights for advancement professionals, including the importance of recognizing intersectionality, aligning institutional values with LGBTQ+ equality, and refining data collection practices to better engage LGBTQ+ donors.

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Elizabeth J. Dale, Ph.D., joined the Johnson Center in September 2024 as the second holder of the Frey Foundation Chair for Family Philanthropy, the world’s first endowed chair for family philanthropy. She previously held a faculty position and directed the Nonprofit Leadership Program at Seattle University and was the Visiting Eileen Lamb O’Gara Fellow in Women’s Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Dr. Dale has authored or co-authored more than 20 publications and reports for both scholarly and practitioner audiences, which have been published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing, Voluntary Sector Review, The Foundation Review, Philanthropy and Education, and several prominent edited volumes. Her scholarship has focused on social justice philanthropy, women’s giving and giving to women’s and girls’ causes, LGBTQ+ philanthropy, and couples’ charitable giving, as well as gender and the fundraising profession. Ultimately, Dr. Dale seeks to understand the power and potential of philanthropy, the role of identity in giving, and the role of philanthropy in contributing to a more just, equitable, and inclusive society.

By N.A.C.C.|2025-11-21T06:56:18-05:00November 21st, 2025|NACC Member Research|

Introducing Critical Rural Theory into the Arts Management Toolbox

Elise Lael Kieffer, Ph.D.
Program Director and Assistant Professor
Nonprofit Leadership Studies
Organizational Communication and Leadership
Murray State University

Introducing Critical Rural Theory into the Arts Management Toolbox
Elise Lael Kieffer
The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society | October 2025

This article introduces Critical Rural Theory as a lens worthy of consideration for researchers, scholars, arts educators, and practitioners working in and with rural communities. Although rural communities boast a thriving arts and cultural sector, it differs in form and function from its urban counter-sector. These differences have traditionally been understood as deficiencies, rather than simply, differences. Neglecting the unique challenges and opportunities that rural arts organizations face or relegating them to “other” status, has perpetually disadvantaged arts managers working in rural places. Resource allocation, audience engagement, and organizational legitimacy are just a few of the many aspects of arts management that are affected by the urbannormative model of arts management education that pervades current research and practice. By looking through the lens of Critical Rural Theory, this paper advocates for a reimagining of arts leadership and management strategies that are tailored to the specific contexts of rural spaces. Recognizing and valuing the distinct cultural, social, and infrastructural characteristics of rural communities, this exploration calls for a critical reassessment of how arts management researchers and practitioners engage with rural communities, ultimately promoting self-determination and innovative practices that reflect the true diversity and potential of rural arts landscapes.

Dr. Elise Lael Kieffer (Program Director and Assistant Professor) came to Murray State University in 2021 to serve as program director of the Nonprofit Leadership Studies academic programs and also as the Director of the Nonprofit Resource Center. Specializing in Rural Arts Management, Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Management, and Rural Nonprofit Development, Dr. Kieffer is dedicated to advancing the sustainability and impact of nonprofit organizations in rural communities, ultimately seeking to improve the quality of life in the communities where we live and work. In recognition of her contributions to the field, Dr. Kieffer was named a Murray State University Emerging Scholar in 2024. She is the author of Routledge Rural Arts Management (2024), a comprehensive exploration of the challenges and opportunities in managing arts organizations in rural settings. She is published widely in American Journal of Arts Management, Journal of Nonprofit Innovation, and others. Her professional experience ranges from on the ground building an organization from the ground up to consulting with international nonprofit organizations with global reach. Dr. Kieffer holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theatre performance, a Masters in Public Administration with a certificate in nonprofit management, and a PhD in arts administration with a certificate in program evaluation. Her diverse educational background combined with varied work experiences create a pedagogical and professional emphasis on communication, collaboration, and pragmatism. She emphasizes impactful, experiential learning in her classroom. Beyond academia, Dr. Kieffer is passionate about fostering community engagement through the arts and enjoys practicing yoga as a way to stay balanced and inspired.

By N.A.C.C.|2025-11-21T06:49:43-05:00November 21st, 2025|NACC Member Research|