Enhancing Diversity in STEMM

Professional and scientific societies can foster inclusive environments that can enhance the diversity of their respective fields and disciplines, but some associations are doing a better job than others. This paper reviewed more than a dozen professional associations and their efforts to support diversity as reported online in an effort to identify successful examples. It finds that resources generally fall into two categories: 1) Websites highlighting the accomplishments of specific individuals, which raise the profile of diverse practitioners in the field. 2) Membership associations that support under-represented communities within a particular field. This article will offer a review of the resources available and some recommendations for how professional associations can better enhance their support for diversity and inclusion in their fields.

Does Gender Congruence Make a Difference in Female Members’ Volunteering Behaviors?

This article examines the association between gender congruence—the extent to which members and senior managers or leaders are of the same gender—and volunteering behaviors of members in membership associations. Recognizing several limitations, we find that greater gender congruence has a positive effect on the breadth of volunteering (number of activities) as well as the level of satisfaction associated with these activities among female members. However, gender congruence is neither significantly related to the likelihood of volunteering nor to the depth of volunteering. In other words, having female figures in leadership positions do not necessarily mean that female members will be more likely to volunteer or assume more intense volunteer responsibilities.

How Collective Action Problems Suppress Participation in Nonprofit Trade Associations

In seeking to understand how nonprofits participate in policymaking at the state level, scholars of the third sector tend to overlook or assume a barrier to this activity: collective action problems. I show that such problems suppress charter school participation in their trade associations. An analysis of original survey data and informant interviews combined with Internal Revenue Service data for the complete set of charter membership associations in the United States demonstrates that schools’ participation in these collectives follows a classic pattern of collective action problems: In states where the number of potential members is high, participation rates are lower. Across states, the size of the population of schools eligible for membership better explains variation in participation than other factors typically deemed important by scholars, such as organizational resources and policy environments. The finding supports the argument that large numbers inhibit participation in associations that pursue collective goods for their industry.

Foundation-sponsored networks: Brokerage roles of higher education intermediary organizations

Philanthropic foundations are influential policy entrepreneurs in higher education, advocating new ideas, engaging in collaborative activities, and seeding research to inform the decision-making process. Despite occupying this role, the higher education literature has yet to examine how philanthropic foundations promote ideas between entities or how shared granting relationships are used to distribute and exchange information. By utilizing several sources of data, including in-depth interviews and an original dataset of postsecondary grants, and by applying social network concepts, this study explores the strategies educational funders use to disseminate ideas and promote information exchange. This study found that major foundations are not only taking on an advocacy-oriented role within their communication strategies, but they are also facilitating information sharing among intermediaries based on mutual granting relationships and shared agendas. Furthermore, the most impactful grantees are those who cross sectoral boundaries, such as advocacy nonprofits, think tanks, membership associations, and government agencies.

The Beginnings of the Summer Camp Movement

“The Beginnings of the Summer Camp Movement” presents the early history of the summer camp as background for understanding the circumstances confronted by the new social work profession around the turn of the 20th century. The emergence of summer camps was influenced by the changing economy and industrialization, immigration, health issues, the growth of a transportation network, school vacations, and the rise of a middle socioeconomic class with increased leisure time. The Fresh Air Movement, created by mid-19th century religious, health, and charity organizations, provided daily excursions and weeklong trips to the country for children living in poverty. Early settlement houses initiated informal summer programs for their members. Private camping programs began for upper socioeconomic class boys and, later, girls. Youth-serving organizations including the Ys, the Scouts, and the settlement houses started organized camp programs for children from middle- and lower-socioeconomic class families. Camp directors soon established membership associations.