“Taking It for Granted: How Philanthropy Structures Voice and Activity”
Private foundations, despite their inability to act through formal political channels, play an important role in criminal justice policy through their strategic funding of certain organizations and activities. I use an original dataset of private foundation grants from 2002-2012 and interviews to examine the rise in foundation funding of advocacy, the key political and organizational characteristics that lead foundations to be more involved in advocacy work, and why they have chosen this strategy over others. This study has implications for how political voice is structured, the role of money in public policy formation and debate, and how seemingly nonpolitical actors can (seek to) influence policy outcomes.
Private foundations, despite their inability to act through formal political channels, play an important role in criminal justice policy through their strategic funding of certain organizations and activities. I use an original dataset of private foundation grants from 2002-2012 and interviews to examine the rise in foundation funding of advocacy, the key political and organizational characteristics that lead foundations to be more involved in advocacy work, and why they have chosen this strategy over others. This study has implications for how political voice is structured, the role of money in public policy formation and debate, and how seemingly nonpolitical actors can (seek to) influence policy outcomes.
Other Research
"The Paradox of Invisible Benefits: How the Earned Income Tax Credit Bestows Resources But Hides Government as Their Source" with Suzanne Mettler (under review at Policy Studies Journal)
"A Shovel-Ready State: Why Some States Receive Private Advocacy Funding and Others Don't" (invited for special issue on "Foundations as Interest Groups" in Interest Groups & Advocacy)
"Philanthropy, Public Interest Groups, and Second Order Policy Feedback Effects" with Mallory SoRelle
"Information vs. Ideology: Recognizing (Government) Benefits in the Submerged State" with Mallory SoRelle (Recipient of the Best Poster on Public Policy Award, 2016)
"The Paradox of Invisible Benefits: How the Earned Income Tax Credit Bestows Resources But Hides Government as Their Source" with Suzanne Mettler (under review at Policy Studies Journal)
"A Shovel-Ready State: Why Some States Receive Private Advocacy Funding and Others Don't" (invited for special issue on "Foundations as Interest Groups" in Interest Groups & Advocacy)
"Philanthropy, Public Interest Groups, and Second Order Policy Feedback Effects" with Mallory SoRelle
"Information vs. Ideology: Recognizing (Government) Benefits in the Submerged State" with Mallory SoRelle (Recipient of the Best Poster on Public Policy Award, 2016)
Other scholars' research that I'm reading right now includes:
Megan Tompkins-Stange's Policy Patrons: Philanthropy, Education Reform, and the Politics of Influence
David Dagan and Steven Teles' Prison Break: Why Conservatives Turned Against Mass Incarceration
Heather Ann Thompson's Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
Sarah Reckhow's Follow the Money: How Foundation Dollars Change Public School Politics
Monika Krause's The Good Project: Humanitarian Relief NGOs and the Fragmentation of Reason
Hahrie Han's How Organizations Develop Activists: Civic Associations and Leadership in the 21st Century
Nonprofits and Advocacy (edited by Robert J. Pekkanen, Steven Rathgeb Smith, and Yutaka Tsujinaka)
Jennifer Mosley's work on nonprofits
Howard Becker's Writing for Social Scientists
Megan Tompkins-Stange's Policy Patrons: Philanthropy, Education Reform, and the Politics of Influence
David Dagan and Steven Teles' Prison Break: Why Conservatives Turned Against Mass Incarceration
Heather Ann Thompson's Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
Sarah Reckhow's Follow the Money: How Foundation Dollars Change Public School Politics
Monika Krause's The Good Project: Humanitarian Relief NGOs and the Fragmentation of Reason
Hahrie Han's How Organizations Develop Activists: Civic Associations and Leadership in the 21st Century
Nonprofits and Advocacy (edited by Robert J. Pekkanen, Steven Rathgeb Smith, and Yutaka Tsujinaka)
Jennifer Mosley's work on nonprofits
Howard Becker's Writing for Social Scientists