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A Message from Your Board President: December 2025

Peter C. Weber, PhD

Peter C. Weber, PhD
Associate Professor and Program Coordinator
Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (PNPS) Program
College of Human Sciences
Auburn University

Greetings,

It is a pleasure to write my first letter as President of the Board of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC). I look forward to the coming two years and to working with you all to strengthen NACC, our programs and centers, and our field of study. I am grateful to Angela Logan, our immediate past president; Nicole Collier, our executive director; and the many past and present board members who have been part of my journey with NACC since I first joined the board in 2018. And it is also a pleasure to celebrate and congratulate all the new Nu Lambda Mu inductees who are graduating this term! Congratulations!

As the fall semester is finally reaching the end – and only mountains of assignments to grade prevent us from fully seeing the light at the end of the tunnel – I realize how intense this semester has been. The political, economic, and cultural pressures on our courses and programs, as well as on the nonprofit sector as a whole, made our lives as faculty members, scholars, and private individuals challenging. These challenges, however, remind us why NACC and our partner scholarly and professional organizations, including the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) and the International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR) exist: they provide spaces for connection, collaboration, and shared purpose.

Our professional organizations (NACC, ARNOVA, ISTR) and the many others, from the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA) to the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), where, as scholars and administrators, we have found a home and space to congregate, serve as crucial places of socialization. We have all benefited, from junior scholars to established ones, from the exchange of ideas, networking, and peer support that takes place at our yearly ‘getting together.’ More than this, these gatherings are moments to reconnect with friends we have made throughout our academic lives, and offer moments of respite and joy in our hectic academic lives.

These organizations, however, are more than annual conferences. They are the infrastructure of a field of study that has grown around nonprofits, philanthropy, and related areas. They sustain the health and vibrancy of our field, and ultimately, of the nonprofit sector that we aim to fuel, strengthen, and support by fostering civic values, enhancing organizational capacity, and leveraging the power of data.

Serving an organization as a committee member, board member, or officer is not just a line on our curriculum vitae. It is a commitment to the organization, the field, and the sector. Today, that commitment matters more than ever. Our organizations face challenges that require renewed attention and action. We must be intentional in our efforts.

In the coming year, we must work together to ensure financial sustainability, articulate the unique value of our organizations, and build bridges across silos. For NACC, this means to work intentionally to deepen collaborations with partner organizations across the nonprofit, public administration, and philanthropic ecosystem, and reflect on both the unique value NACC brings to its members and the future of accreditation standards or quality indicators for stand-alone nonprofit programs.

The founders of our field were visionaries and builders. Now it is our turn.

Peter C. Weber
Board President, NACC

By |2025-12-11T14:36:31-05:00December 11th, 2025|President's Message|
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College Towns and Creativity: Exploring Potential Interactions Between Educational Institutions and Local Cultural Economies

Trevor Meagher

Trevor Meagher
Assistant Professor, Arts Administration
FSU Department of Art Education

Dr. Karabi C. Bezboruah

Karabi C. Bezboruah, PhD
Professor, Public Affairs and Planning
The University of Texas at Arlington

College Towns and Creativity: Exploring Potential Interactions Between Educational Institutions and Local Cultural Economies
Trevor Meagher, Karabi Bezboruah, Alejandro Rodriguez, Jiwon Suh, Emily Nwakpuda
Cities, Volume 169, February 2026, 106566

This paper explores local dynamics in “college towns” by focusing on connections between universities and their surrounding artistic communities. Adopting an institutionalist lens, it argues that cross-sector relationships between arts organizations, educational institutions, and local markets are reciprocal rather than instrumental, and that these relationships are essential for cultivating a desirable and robust sense of place-based arts vibrancy. We use the SMU DataArts Arts Vibrancy Index to develop an ordered logit model analyzing the impact of universities and two-year colleges on these local cultural economies. Findings suggest that two-year colleges act as anchor institutions that positively impact vibrancy. Notably, the model fails to indicate significant association between four-year universities and cultural vibrancy. We conclude by discussing implications for future research, cultural policymaking, and collaboration.

Trevor Meagher is an Assistant Professor of Arts Administration in the Department of Art Education at Florida State University. His research explores the evolving role of arts organizations in contemporary society, focusing on cultural policy, arts advocacy, creative placemaking, and cross-sector collaboration. He received his PhD in Public Administration and Public Policy as well as an MPA from the University of Texas at Arlington, and he holds a Bachelor of Music Performance with minors in Arts Management and Arts Administration from Southern Methodist University.

He regularly attends academic conferences and has presented at the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action’s annual conference, the Public Management Research Conference, and the Social Theory, Politics, and the Arts conference, among others. He has published in Cities, Voluntas, the Journal of Philanthropy, and The Future of Charity Marketing (edited by Mitchell & Hyde), and his work has been featured by the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council. At the 2025 Association of Arts Administration Educators conference, he received the award for Best Paper by an Emerging Arts Administration Educator.

Before joining FSU, Trevor held professional roles at Southern Methodist University, UT Arlington, the Coppell Arts Center, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Karabi Bezboruah, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Public Affairs and Planning at the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs (CAPPA) at the University of Texas at Arlington.Dr. Bezboruah also serves as the director of the two doctoral programs in CAPPA. These are the Public Administration & Public Policy (PAPP), and Urban Planning and Public Policy (UPPP).

Dr. Bezboruah teaches administration and policy courses in the Department of Public Affairs. She teaches the core courses in the Nonprofit Management specialization track and facilitates the graduate Certificate in Urban Nonprofit Management. She applies service-learning pedagogy in her courses, and has worked with community organizations, nonprofits, and local government agencies.

Dr. Bezboruah’s research includes cross sector collaboration, nonprofit management and leadership, strategic management, community development, cross-sector comparisons, NGOs – organizational role, gender role, leadership role & NGO effectiveness. Her work is in the intersection between public policies and organizational behavior, and she frequently collaborates with other disciplines to conduct research on policy issues surrounding health, housing and the environment.

By |2025-12-11T14:35:36-05:00December 11th, 2025|NACC Member Research|
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Researching Individual Giving to Education in the US

Genevieve G. Shaker, PhD

Genevieve G. Shaker, PhD
Professor of Philanthropic Studies
Donald A. Campbell Chair in Fundraising Leadership
Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Patricia Danahey Janin

Patricia Danahey Janin, PhD
Independent Researcher and Educator

Researching Individual Giving to Education in the US
Genevieve G. Shaker and Pat Danahey Janin
Advancing Research in Philanthropy and Education, 2025

This chapter reviews research about individual donors to education. In general, research finds that education donors are highly educated and wealthier than other donors. Studies typically examine either higher education donors or K-12 donors. Most higher education studies explore alumni donors—usually to refine fundraising practices: who they are, why they give, and where they give. Meanwhile, K-12 research focuses on parents, is filtered through organizations that aggregate individual gifts (i.e., parent–teacher associations, school foundations), and often reflects concern for equitable educational opportunities. In today’s rapidly changing educational context, researchers can make important contributions to inform the field. The chapter presents ideas for future research about educational donors as a group and for expanding and enhancing the distinct literatures of K-12 and higher education giving.

Genevieve G. Shaker, PhD, is a professor of philanthropic studies and the Donald A. Campbell Chair in Fundraising Leadership at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. In her two decades as university fundraising and communications professional, she helped Indiana University connect with supporters and achieve significant goals. Dr. Shaker’s research explores fundraising, the fundraising profession, donor-fundraiser relationships, workplace giving, and the philanthropic dimensions of higher education. Her work often bridges scholarship and practice, with books including Faculty Work and the Public Good, Fundraising Principles for Faculty and Academic Leaders, and the widely used textbook Achieving Excellence in Fundraising (5th edition). She is associate editor of the journal Philanthropy & Education.

Dr. Patricia Danahey Janin is an independent researcher and educator specializing in philanthropy and international governance. She earned her PhD in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University and an MBA in International Business from ESCP-Europe. Dr. Danahey Janin teaches at Sciences Po Paris and previously at Indiana University, integrating global perspectives into courses on philanthropy and social impact. Her publications include Individual Giving to Educational Institutions in Advancing Research in Philanthropy and Education (Edward Elgar, 2025), two chapters in Achieving Excellence in Fundraising (Wiley, 2022), and case studies in Nonprofit Organizational Resilience (Edward Elgar, 2025). Her work bridges scholarship and practice, fostering cross-border dialogue on giving and education.

By |2025-12-11T15:15:11-05:00December 11th, 2025|NACC Member Research|
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In Defence of Philanthropy: Why Social Policy Needs to Engage with Critiques of Private Giving

Beth Breeze, PhD
Principal and Professor
Harris Manchester College
University of Oxford

In Defence of Philanthropy: Why Social Policy Needs to Engage with Critiques of Private Giving
Beth Breeze
Sociology, Social Policy, and Education, 2025

Philanthropy is facing accusations of being undemocratic, ineffective, self-interested, and an exercise of power that perpetuates inequality. Whilst the essence of such critique is long-standing, concerns about the purpose, motivation, and impact of large monetary gifts have recently become more prominent and call into question the fundamental legitimacy of philanthropy within modern welfare democracies. In response, this chapter notes the distinctive role that philanthropy plays in defining and meeting social needs in a way that complements, co-exists with, and challenges both state and market activity. Responses to the main critiques are offered and Social Policy scholars and practitioners are invited to take a more balanced and nuanced approach that avoids overstating the problematic nature and consequences of philanthropy, and understating – or disregarding – its positive benefits. The chapter concludes that philanthropy is improvable but not illegitimate, and that it has value that urgently needs articulating and defending.

Professor Breeze is Principal of Harris Manchester College. She began her career in the nonprofit sector as a fundraiser, researcher and manager. In 2011, as a mature student, she completed a PhD on contemporary UK philanthropy and has since specialised in researching, teaching, and advancing public understanding of the role and impact of private giving.

Beth has written and edited eight books: Richer Lives: Why Rich People Give (2013, co-authored with Theresa Lloyd), The Logic of Charity: Great Expectations in Hard Times (2015, co-authored with John Mohan) and The Philanthropy Reader (2016, co-edited with Michael Moody). Her book, The New Fundraisers: who organises charitable giving in contemporary society? (2017) won the AFP Skystone Research Partners book prize, as did In Defence of Philanthropy (2021), which is a timely response to growing critiques of private giving. In 2023 she published both: Advising Philanthropists: Principles and Practice (co-authored with Emma Beeston), and The Fundraising Reader (co-edited with Donna Day Lafferty and Pamala Wiepking). In September 2025 she published Rich Expectations: Why Rich People Give, the 3rd decennial update of the Why Rich People Give study.

Beth has also written a wide range of research reports including ten editions of the annual ‘Coutts Million Pound Donors Report’ as well as studies of giving circles, fundraising for ‘unpopular’ causes, philanthropy across the life-course, corporate philanthropy, and the nature, challenges and opportunities of Moonshot Philanthropy.

Beth is chair of the Data and Research sub-group implementing the Irish government’s first National Policy on Philanthropy. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for both the Center on Philanthropy at Geneva University and the ESSEC Chair in Philanthropy, Paris. She is on the review board for the Pan-African International Review on Philanthropy and Social Investment Journal and is a member of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute research committee at the Lilly School of Philanthropy, Indiana University, USA. She has served as trustee for the Cardinal Hume Centre in London for young homeless people, as a Commissioner on the Commission for the Donor Experience, on the Advisory group for the Charity Tax Commission, as publications editor of Philanthropy UK, and as a member of the President’s advisory council at NCVO.

In recognition of her services to philanthropic research and fundraising, Beth was awarded the OBE at Windsor Castle in 2022.

By |2025-12-05T13:54:10-05:00December 5th, 2025|NACC Member Research|
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Visual Research Methods in Arts Administration: Incorporating Photo Elicitation

Elise Lael Kieffer, PhD

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

Visual Research Methods in Arts Administration: Incorporating Photo Elicitation
Elise Lael Kieffer
Routledge, 2025

This book explores the benefits of incorporating the photo-elicitation method into interviews within arts and cultural administration, leadership, and management research.

For the qualitative researcher, photographs open pathways to richer understandings of experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions of study participants. This book explored the benefits of incorporating the photo-elicitation method into interviews within arts and cultural administration, leadership, and management research. Within the arts and culture, researchers often use terminology that doesn’t resonate with arts and creative practitioners. It shows how photo-elicitation serves to bridge these gaps, opening research participants up to opportunities for deeper reflection. Providing in-depth, multidisciplinary guidance on photo elicitation as a significant visual research method is valuable reading for arts administration researchers to create inclusive and collaborative research environments with research participants.

Visual Research Methods in Arts Administration will be a useful guide for scholars interested in incorporating photo elicitation into their social science research. It is also valuable for educators and students within the qualitative research space.

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 |2025-12-05T13:48:27-05:00December 5th, 2025|NACC Member Research|
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Greetings from the Executive Director: November 2025

Nicole Collier, NACC Executive Director
Nicole Collier

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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 |2025-11-25T13:00:56-05:00November 25th, 2025|Executive Director's Report|
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AI as Co-Creator: Fostering Social Equity Towards Social Sustainability in Entrepreneurial Development for Women and Minority Entrepreneurs

Latha Poonamallee, The New School

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 |2025-11-21T07:16:48-05:00November 21st, 2025|NACC Member Research|
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There Are No Lone Wolves: The Role of Civil Society in Aiding and Abetting Domestic Terrorists

Roseanne M. Mirabella, Ph.D.

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.

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 |2025-11-21T07:06:39-05:00November 21st, 2025|NACC Member Research|
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“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

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.

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 |2025-11-21T07:02:15-05:00November 21st, 2025|NACC Member Research|
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LGBTQ+ Donors as a Philanthropic Constituency

Elizabeth Dale

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.

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 |2025-11-21T06:56:18-05:00November 21st, 2025|NACC Member Research|
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