The theme for this year’s conference is Philanthropy in Communities: Finding Opportunity in Crisis. It is relevant and timely, and I am really excited to see the research that will be presented. I will be presenting two papers: the first is on managerial perceptions of innovation value in public and nonprofit organizations, and the second will be a case study of the now defunct Arizona 2-1-1 Online program. I’m also excited to be participating in a colloquium entitled “Does Real Action Happen Online?” I’m very eager to hear my colleagues’ response to what I view as a question of ever-increasing importance.

In addition to presenting my research, Lindsey McDougle and I will also be helping with the social media coverage of the conference. I’ll post a few updates on my blog and here at thirdsectornetwork.org. Also joining me in the social media coverage are:

So, even if you can’t join us in Cleveland, we hope you’ll join us online!

Welcome to my first official blog post! My name is Jasmine McGinnis and I am a second year Ph.D. student in a joint public policy program through the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University and the Ivan Allen College of Public Policy at Georgia Institute of Technology.

I have a rather interesting career trajectory that has led me to have two areas of interest in research. In my “first life” I was privileged to work for several years at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. I began working there as an undergrad as a transcriber and eventually became a Research Project Coordinator for an NIH study examining cocaine/crack use in 18-25 year old drug users living in Metro Atlanta within the context of the family unit. It was truly incredible to be a part of this project where the ultimate goal was to develop culturally relevant and appropriate treatments in order to respond to the rising needs of Atlanta’s drug using population.

It was this initial experience, coupled with a strong desire to serve others that provided the drive to pursue further studies in public service. I was specifically becoming interested in the tremendous ability to transform lives that the public sector has. I received my MPA from the University of Georgia and engrossed myself in examining human resource issues. This led me to a body of work around the impact of diversity on client and organizational performance and representative bureaucracy. I loved this research area and thought that perhaps one day I would get my Ph.D.

I ended up spending several years working in the nonprofit sector before going back to school and ended up in fundraising. I knew that my strengths in an organization would be in administrative and fundraising capacities–which was a great fit for my personality. I worked for small grassroots organizations and large prestigious organizations within the Atlanta area.  My last place of employment was at Special Olympics Georgia where I was a Senior Development Manager. Working in the nonprofit sector as a fundraiser led me to develop a strong desire to research “giving” at the Ph.D. level.

Last year, under the guidance of my major professors I became engrossed in an analysis of foundation grant making with a unique dataset of a sample of foundations within Georgia.  With this data, I conducted research understanding foundation grant making within Boulding’s (1973) concept of a grants economy. This research has led to several conference presentations and proposals. The results of one study used principal agent theory to understand how different “types” of foundations (i.e. family vs. independent foundations) prefer certain nonprofit characteristics (size, sector, financial health/efficiency characteristics). Additionally, I’ve conducted research using elite network theory to understand grant making preferences of elite foundations in Georgia (those foundations who are the largest by both total assets and total giving).

I have another stream of research where I examine wage differentials within specific demographics of the workforce (i.e. Generation Y). I also have a paper in the works looking to use public and private sector methods to evaluate the impact of workforce diversity on client outcomes in the nonprofit sector.

My goal is to not only earn my Ph.D. and join the ranks of academia where I can contribute to scholarship in this field but also to become a professor who serves as a role model inspiring students to pursue careers in the public sector.

We are all in agreement that the world is rife with talk and activity of and within the third sector. Our interests are common, but each of us has managed to target something rather unique.

Photo courtesy of RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, UT Austin

Nonprofit organizations, volunteerism, business associations, public charities, family foundations, art as investment, corporate social responsibility, generation X and Y in the nonprofit workplace, higher education, social enterprise…and the list of topics goes on and on. We are particularly concerned with what makes certain aspects of these topics “nonprofit,” “philanthropic,” or generally socially beneficial. Our common thread is our desire for the development of theory and practice in the third sector, and as our RGK mentor Peter Frumkin put it in his book On Being Nonprofit, the “structural features [that] give these entities a set of unique advantages that position them to perform important societal functions neither government nor the market is able to match.”

However, recent structural changes within some organizations have challenged that ideal…but odds are, one of us is interested in those changes, and we’ll eventually end up discussing it at some point.

We look forward to providing what we hope will be insightful commentary, and we invite you to take part in the discussion.