Dr. Karl Besel of Indiana University Bloomington and Dr. Charlotte L. Williams of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service will be able to continue their innovative and timely research endeavors related to racial justice and nonprofit sustainability through a grant award from the Racial Justice Research Fund at Indiana University Bloomington.
This research project, titled Racial Justice in the Nonprofit Sector: Addressing Nonprofit Sustainability in Diverse Communities, will expand upon this exploration of the intersection between racial justice and nonprofit sustainability by adding a research site (Gary, Indiana) and additional questions related to racial justice. Subsequently, the data collection sites for this study will include racially diverse neighborhoods in Louisville, Ky., Indianapolis, Ind., New Orleans, La., Gary, Ind., as well as two rural counties in Arkansas (Phillips and St. Francis Counties).
Besel and Williams have been working on projects that address nonprofit fiscal sustainability in racially diverse communities since Besel served as a Visiting Scholar at the Center on Community Philanthropy at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service in 2009.
Besel and Williams previously co-authored Nonprofit Sustainability During Times of Uncertainty.
Nonprofit organizations in the United States depend upon a diverse set of funding streams in order to sustain their operations. This study will consist of revisiting the authors’ 2011 article Nonprofit Sustainability During Times of Uncertainty through both organizational surveys and individual interviews with key stakeholders that were a part of this original study. This study recently received the Nonprofit Management & Leadership Journal, “Best of the 2010s.” Award. A key factor in receiving this award was the article’s focus on nonprofit sustainability in racially diverse communities. The Principal Investigators (Besel and Williams) will work in tandem with James Wallace, Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs (ODEMA) at Indiana University Northwest, and Indiana Blacks in Philanthropy (IBIP) former president and current member Tyrone Spann in undertaking this analysis, and related activities.
Dr. Karl Besel (Principal Investigator) is a former nonprofit executive whose research on nonprofits has been published in some of the highest ranked journals within this field, including two book publications. His latest book, co-authored with Williams, Passing the Torch: Planning for the Next Generation of Public-Service Leaders, focuses on nonprofit succession planning, as well as diversity and inclusivity in the selection of nonprofit administrators.
Dr. Charlotte L. Williams (Co-Principal Investigator) DrPH, MPH is Professor of Public Health and Director of the Center on Community Philanthropy (The Center) at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. The Center is dedicated to expanding the knowledge, tools, and practice of community- spawned, community-driven philanthropy as a strategy for social change. Williams serves on the Advisory Committee for the National Racial Equity in Philanthropy Fund which is managed through Borealis Philanthropy. A business administration graduate from Howard University, Washington, D.C., Williams earned her Doctoral Degree in Public Health and her Master’s degree in Public Health from the UAMS College of Public Health. In her academic research experience, she has extensively studied and published papers in several peer reviewed journals including Academic Medicine, the Journal of Communication and Nonprofit Management and Leadership. In 2014 Williams co-authored a study entitled “The Changing Misrepresentation of Race and Crime on Network and Cable News” which was published in the Journal of Communication. In 2020 Williams co-authored a study in the Journal of Health Equity entitled “Race and Racism as Structural Determinants for Emergency and Recovery Response in the Aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico.”
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