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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.

Living in-between professional and caregiving identities – The experience of women working in rural development nonprofits in India

Poonam Barhoi¹, Manan Pathak² and Ranjeet Nambudiri³

¹Institute of Management Technology Ghaziabad, ² UPES Dehradun, ³ Indian Institute of Management Indore

Within rural development nonprofits in India, women professionals find themselves navigating the complex intersection of professional identity and traditional caregiving roles. While the unique socioeconomic conditions of the Global South have created opportunities for women to work in rural development nonprofits in India, obstacles exist in the form of gendered social expectations. Our recent study in NVSQ examines the experiences of such women professionals, who live in the liminality between ‘ideal professional identity’ and ‘traditional caregiving identity’. The study, which involved in-depth interviews with 21 women professionals working in rural development nonprofits across seven states in India, revealed that this liminal state is a source of significant identity conflicts. Our findings suggest that women professionals experience constant guilt due to the conflicting obligations of caregiving and professional worker identities and their inability to justify both roles to themselves.