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Place-based Stigma and Community Foundation Grant Making

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Yue Ming¹, Laurie E. Paarlberg²

¹Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, ²Indiana University Indianapolis, USA

When we think about why some nonprofit organizations receive larger grants than others, we typically focus on factors like organizational size, track record, or leadership capacity. What we do not often consider is something much more fundamental: where these organizations are located—and more importantly, where their funders are located.

Consider how place shapes perceptions in everyday life. A job applicant listing an address in an affluent suburb might be viewed more favorably than one from a neighborhood associated with poverty or crime, regardless of their actual qualifications. The same dynamic may operate in philanthropy, where the location of a grantee could influence funding decisions in ways that have little to do with organizational merit.

This phenomenon, known as “place-based stigma,” refers to the negative perceptions and symbolic “taint” attributed to individuals and organizations based on the racial and class characteristics associated with their geographic location. Places stigmatized in this way are often labeled with terms like “the wrong side of town”—and these labels carry real consequences for those who live and work there.

Despite growing awareness of these dynamics in other sectors, the role of place-based stigma in philanthropic decision-making remains largely unexplored. To investigate whether similar geographic biases operate in grantmaking, we examined the funding patterns of U.S. community foundations.

Philanthropy’s Hidden Power: How Foundations Quietly Shape Society

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Lauren Dula¹, Laurie E. Paarlberg² , and Imoleayo Adeyeri²

¹Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA, ²Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University, Indianapolis, USA

Imagine a world where unelected actors—wealthy, well-intentioned, and often invisible—have profound influence over public policy, social change, and even what counts as “the public good.” This isn’t dystopian fiction. It’s the real, often under-scrutinized, but often critiqued, world of philanthropic foundations.

For decades, foundations were seen as benevolent forces—generous patrons funding education, health care, climate action, and poverty alleviation. But as scholars and critics dig deeper, a more complex picture emerges: philanthropy is not only about giving. It’s also about power. The kind of power that shapes narratives, sets agendas, and determines whose voices get heard—and whose don’t. It is also about the norms, values, and government regulations that shape private actors’ capacity to enact their philanthropic values.

A recent integrative review by Lauren Dula of Binghamton University, SUNY, and Laurie Paarlberg and Imoleayo Adeyeri, both of the Lily School of Philanthropy, Indiana University (2025) entitled “Philanthropic Foundations and the Exercise of Power: An Integrative Literature Review of The Many Faces of Power” challenges us to take a closer look at the complexities of power and philanthropy, offering a fresh lens: the four faces of power—domination, coercion, subjugation, and manipulation—and how they operate in, through, over, and against philanthropic organizations.

Who Determines Where the Sun Shines? Understanding Stakeholder Influence in Nonprofit Reporting

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Juniper Katz¹, Todd L. Ely², and Thad D. Calabrese³

¹University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA, ²University of Colorado Denver, USA, ³New York University, New York City, USA

For nonprofits across the United States, IRS Form 990 serves as a crucial accountability tool. Not only does this form help ensure compliance and transparency, but it also provides valuable insight into nonprofit management, finances, and governance. Despite its central role, few have explored how this form has evolved, who shapes it, and why those changes matter.

In our recently accepted article, “Who Determines Where the Sun Shines: Nonprofit Sector Stakeholders and the IRS Form 990 Redesign,” published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, my co-authors and I explored these important questions. We analyzed public comments from the most recent significant revision of Form 990 in 2007, uncovering a detailed picture of the interests and stakeholders influencing nonprofit transparency and regulation.

Fundraising Ethics: Toward an In-Depth Understanding of Individual Donors’ Perceptions

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Tine Faseur¹ , Tine De Bock¹ , and Glenn Timmermans²

¹KU Leuven, Belgium, ²Hogeschool PXL, Hasselt, Belgium

Why this study? What is it about?

Imagine receiving an email with a donation request from a charity you have never donated to before. The message is urgent, the images are emotional, and the request is clear: donate now. But as you hover over the “donate” button, questions arise. How did they get your contact information? Where exactly will your money go? Is this emotional appeal crossing an ethical line?

Fundraising ethics has become a growing concern as the professionalization of fundraising and the use of marketing techniques have expanded. To address these concerns, nonprofit organizations and professional associations have developed ethical codes that outline best practices for fundraisers. However, these guidelines are primarily created from the perspective of fundraising professionals, leaving a critical gap: how do individual donors—arguably one of the most essential stakeholders—perceive the ethics of fundraising? Despite the nonprofit sector’s dependence on individual donors, research on their ethical views remains scarce. This study fills that gap by exploring what drives donors to perceive fundraising practices as ethical or unethical.