How can nonprofit networks be rewired for maximum social impact?

This is the main question that the Network for Nonprofit and Social Impact is dedicated to answering. Located at Northwestern University, the research team includes undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty members. Since its establishment in 2012, NNSI uniquely focuses on research that emphasizes collaborative efforts and network structures that include nonprofit organizations and their many organizational and community partners.

Meet the Team

Michelle Shumate is a Professor in Communication Studies and Associate Faculty at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on how to design interorganizational networks to make the most social impact, which has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Army Research Office. In addition to leading NNSI, she offers workshops, consulting, and coaching through the Social Impact Network Consulting. Professor Shumate holds a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s Degree from Pepperdine University.
Kate Cooper is an assistant professor at DePaul University. Her research interests include nonprofit and cross-sector collaboration in response to social problems as well as stakeholder participation in collective impact models. Kate’s research has appeared in Management Communication Quarterly and Communication Yearbook; her work also includes the development of the bona fide network perspective to explore collaborative networks convened around complex social problems. Kate holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.A. from Wheaton College.
Amy O’Connor is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota. She received her Ph.D. from the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University. O’Connor has published or presented over 30 research papers focusing on corporate social responsibility and the corporate society relationship. Her research focuses on the role of corporations in society, specifically the rights and responsibilities of corporations in the global commons. She is co-PI of the nonprofit-corporate partnership project.

Michelle Shumate

Founding Director

Kate Cooper

Affiliated Faculty

Amy O'Connor

Affiliated Faculty

Marwa Tahboub is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Media, Technology, and Society (MTS) program. As a Research Assistant for NNSI, she has worked on projects studying veteran referral networks and individual help-seeking behaviors. Her research interests surround nonprofit community organizations’ social media engagement with marginalized communities, with a focus on social activism. Marwa received her B.A. in professional communication and psychology at the University of Michigan-Flint.
Yeha Kim is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Media, Technology, and Society program. He is interested in exploring how creativity and new media can help nonprofit organizations, governments, and corporations achieve a more significant social impact, with a focus on sustainability. Yeha holds a B.S. in Television, Radio, and Film, an M.A. in International Relations, and an M.S. in Public Relations from Syracuse University. He has several years of experience working in advertising (BBH/Publicis), where he closely worked with global clients such as Samsung, UNICEF, AB InBev, and more.
Anne-Marie Boyer is a seventh-year doctoral student in the Media, Technology, and Society Program (MTS) at Northwestern University, and is currently working on the Army Research Office project at the Network for Nonprofit and Social Impact. She has several years of experience working in environmental nonprofits as a communicator and as a science journalist in public media. Her research interests include nonprofit communications, nonprofit organizations, and funder-nonprofit collaboration. Anne-Marie has an M.S. degree in Science Journalism from Boston University and a B.A. in English Literature from Delhi University, India.

Marwa Tahboub

Graduate Research Assistant

Yeha Kim

Graduate Research Assistant

Anne-Marie Boyer

Graduate Research Assistant

Qiwen Zhang provides data analytical support for all ongoing projects in the lab, with a focus on the Trajectories of Care and VSC projects. She is interested in using data analytical skills to discover statistical information and trends, and promote public policy changes that improve people's wellbeing. Qiwen holds a B.A. in International Liberal Studies from Waseda University, Japan, and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago.
Tatum Thomas is a second-year undergraduate student studying Data Science, Global Health and Economics. As a Research Assistant at NNSI, she has actively contributed to projects focusing on veteran referral networks, care trajectories, and predictive analytics. Whether it's crafting literature reviews, performing data analysis, or conducting interviews with clients, she loves the lab's collaborative and impact-driven environment. She is passionate about harnessing data analytics to drive social impact, aiming to enhance efficiency across the nonprofit sector.
Maia Sporn is a third-year undergraduate student studying Economics, Data Science, and Managerial Analytics. As a Research Assistant at NNSI, she has contributed to projects focused on veteran referral networks, exploring how acute needs change over time. In particular, her work involves using data analysis methods to examine the outcomes of repeated referral sequences in order to improve access to care services.

Qiwen Zhang

Research Data Analyst Associate

Tatum Thomas

Research Assistant

Maia Sporn

Research Assistant

Yasmin Zaiani is a second-year undergraduate student studying Learning and Organizational Change, Cognitive Science, and Business Institutions. As a Research Assistant at NNSI, she has contributed to projects focused on predictive analytics and improving outcomes for help-seekers. Through conducting literature reviews, investigating research, and carrying out interviews, she is interested in learning how policy can be leveraged to maximize social impact across organizations.
Lucia Koo is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Economics and Communication Studies, with a minor in Data Science. As a Research Assistant at NNSI, she has contributed to projects focused on veteran referral networks and trajectories of care through conducting literature reviews, in addition to assisting with qualitative and quantitative data analysis of survey responses.
Courtney Kim is a second-year undergraduate student studying Psychology, Business and Data Science. As a Strategic Communication intern at NNSI, she oversees the lab’s social media content, writes blog articles featuring NNSI’s original research, and organizes its monthly newsletter, Impact Insights. She is interested in exploring the dynamics of team collaboration and studying the processes through which effective change is implemented within and across organizations.

Yasmin Zaiani

Research Assistant

Lucia Koo

Research Assistant

Courtney Kim

Strategic Communication Intern

Alison Casler is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying Communication Studies, Psychology, Legal Studies, Marketing, and Design. As a Strategic Communication intern at NNSI, she creates marketing campaigns to promote ongoing work, writes blog articles featuring NNSI’s original research, and oversees publicity of lab procedures. She enjoys learning about the analytics behind marketing in an effort to understand how to connect with people to create a positive experience and beneficial impact.
Kate Walter is a third-year undergraduate student studying Journalism, Political Science, and Integrated Marketing Communications. As a strategic communications intern at NNSI, she develops content to publicize the lab’s research studies, creates publicity campaigns in coordination with the team, and writes monthly blog posts. Kate is interested in exploring the intersection of policy and nonprofit work in addressing social needs. She also enjoys learning about and sharing the benefits of sustained collaboration.
Matilda Le is a second-year double majoring in Communication Studies and Economics and minoring in Business Institutions. As one of NNSI’s Strategic Communication Interns, she writes blog posts featuring the latest research insights, designs the website interface, and creates graphics for social media. She is passionate about community initiatives related to education, sustainable development, and poverty and hope to launch a social fund focusing on these areas in her home country - Vietnam.

Alison Casler

Strategic Communication Intern

Kate Walter

Strategic Communication Intern

Matilda Le

Strategic Communication Intern

Current Projects

Help Seeking and Navigation Support

Technology and human-centered navigation solutions have emerged in the last decade as ways to support individual help-seeking. The key idea behind these interventions is that it is confusing for individuals to identify which organizations offer benefits, programs, and services that they are eligible for and that the enrollment processes for these benefits, programs, and services may be a barrier. This pilot project examines the experiences of individuals who have received help or sought help but didn’t receive help. We will interview individuals about their experiences with help-seeking during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Examining the Outcomes of Repeated Client Referrals Based on the Trajectories of Care

The proposed study aims to introduce and validate a system-derived measure of the quality of client outcomes based upon trajectories of care. The focus will be on network performance, defined as “the longitudinal improvement of client well-being across multiple service episodes.” We will analyze data from Combined Arms, a collaborative network that provides support for veteran transition. This study will then aim to answer three questions: 1) What is the effectiveness of different pathways in the network over time? 2) Which referrals should be made first? 3) Which providers are most effective at each stage along the trajectory of care?

Predictive Analytics with the Veterans Services of the Carolinas

Veterans Services of the Carolinas (VSC) provides supportive services to veterans and military-connected individuals across North Carolina. Recently, VSC has been using a predictive analytics product developed by UniteUs to identify veterans and military-connected individuals with high social needs scores who do not currently have a relationship with social services or a medical home. Research questions include: 1) What services do clients identified through predictive analytics request and receive? 2) How similar are these services to clients who enter NCServes through other means? 3) What combination of services improves social needs scores for clients identified through predictive analytics? 4) How similar are the social needs scores of clients who enter NCServes through other means?

Improving Veterans Referrals by Optimizing Network Design in Response to COVID-19

AmericaServes is the United States’ first coordinated system of public, private, and nonprofit organizations working together in communities to serve veterans, transitioning service members, and their families. We will analyze data collected in their shared referral management and analytics platform. First, the study will examine how referral networks adapt to a substantial increase in the number of cases as a result of the secondary impacts of COVID-19 (i.e., economic downturn, disruption of service delivery mechanisms). Second, this research will utilize high-level analytics to understand how different network structures perform in the face of a surge of cases.