Current NNSI research projects include the following:

The Nonprofit Capacity Project. This project focuses on the various ways that nonprofit networks, including relationships with other nonprofits, businesses and government agencies, influence nonprofit capacity. It is emblematic of NNSI’s perspective about organizing around social problems.

Nonprofit-Corporate Partnerships. Working with Prof. Amy O’Connor, NNSI has been developing a model to understand the patterns of partnerships between corporations and nonprofits. In general, this work suggests significant differences across economic industries and that many social issues are left out of corporate social responsibility efforts.

Planned and Emergent Networks. Nonprofits engage in a variety of interorganizational arrangements in their efforts to achieve social change. This research examines “planned,” or highly structured networks alongside emergent (or more loosely organized networks) in communities across the United States. This research, consisting of surveys and social network analysis, to explore how interorganizational structures influence organizational, network, and community-level outcomes.

Additional Projects
NNSI researchers work on a number of additional projects across different types of nonprofit organizations, various methodologies, and both domestic and international contexts. Current research projects headed by NNSI personnel examine the following:

• Corporate-nonprofit partnerships in response to the global refugee crisis.
• The use of shared technology to coordinate nonprofit services.
• The role of religious nonprofits in collaboration.
• A longitudinal study of participation in a collective impact partnership.
• The impact of prior nonprofit relationships in post-merger nonprofits.