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O'Neill School Undergraduate Thesis Blog Indiana University Bloomington

To Fundraise or Not To Fundraise: Which Nonprofit Boards Are More Engaged?

Posted on by becsamue

When you think of the Red Cross, the Boys & Girls Club, and Girls Who Code, what do they have in common? They are all nonprofits organizations that rely on fundraising as part of their revenue to accomplish their missions. In the United States, about 50% of nonprofit revenue is donated or granted. Many organizations rely on their boards to secure these resources, and other than representing their organization ethically, securing resources is the most important role of a nonprofit board. Boards can take two different structures: working and governing. A working board has significant involvement in their organization’s daily operations, such as running programs and coordinating volunteers, while governing boards focus on strategic planning and oversight. With this knowledge, I evaluated the engagement of each structure of nonprofit board in their organization’s fundraising.

I explored data from the Indiana Nonprofits Project to understand the overall climate of Indiana nonprofits. Then, I interviewed staff and board members in two Evansville, Indiana organizations. I chose these two for a few reasons. First, I am familiar with many Evansville organizations, so I was able to get connected easier. Second, the Lilly Endowment has established Community Foundations in every Indiana county which has significantly increased the vibrancy of the sector throughout the state. Lastly, both organizations have children as the target population of their mission, so the most significant difference between them is the structure of their board—one has a working board and the other has a governing one. I asked questions to understand the differences in fundraising engagement between the two types of boards.

My data showed a variety of differences within the boards, including but not limited to board composition, strategic planning, relationship building, and technology. Figure 1 shows a difference in the two boards’ engagement in strategic planning which can include their fundraising goals. After speaking with the Executive Directors of both organizations, I learned that the governing board organization has a subset of their board responsible for identifying problems that require a board solution; in the working board organization, the staff is responsible for identifying issues and then bringing it to their board. This difference in initiative is important because the fundraising responsibilities are more distributed with a governing board, while the staff with a working board are more engaged in these tasks than their board.

Figure 1. Strategic Planning Observations

Strategic Planning

 Governing Working
Initiative in Problem Solving “A subset of the board looks at developing systems and approaches that work.” – ED

“I bring a need to the Executive Committee, and we talk about next steps.” – ED

 

Beyond strategic planning, I observed a significant difference in the relationship building and networking of each organization and their board. In the governing board organization, their board is involved from the first donor contact to the final ‘thank you’. Figure 2 demonstrates this commitment from invitations through stewardship. There is a great board-staff partnership in building donor relationships. In the working board organization, the board heavily emphasizes invitations.  Once the invitation is made, the Executive Director follows up to cultivate the relationship and solicit a gift. This difference speaks again to the distribution of fundraising responsibility between each organization’s staff and board members.

Figure 2. Relationship Building Observations

Relationship Building

 Governing Working
Involvement in Invitation “We try to get everybody involved in invitations with their sphere of influence.” – Chair of Board Development Committee

“Building the relationship is more about invitation opportunities.”– Board Member
Involvement in Follow Up “We ask all of our Board Members to be involved in cultivating, soliciting, or stewardship.” – ED

“The board member focuses on contact, and I focus on cultivating.” – ED

 

With these two data sets, I compared my interview findings to statistics about nonprofits across Indiana. I found that the challenges and patterns in my organizations were consistent with those of responding Indiana organizations. While each organization expressed a number of challenges in regard to securing resources, the governing board organization had more structure and policy in place to address those challenges. This supported my initial hypothesis to a certain extent, but I was surprised to find that my working board organization was not that far off from the governing one.

Figure 3. Nonprofit Board Continuum

The two board structures seemed to operate as more of a continuum than a dichotomy. In Figure 3, younger organizations may begin with a working board, which is first establishing how to achieve their mission. As time progress and the organization grows in time and impact, they may enter a growing phase as they work through challenges and scale their impact. Their board might look to expand their focus to strategic planning in addition to daily operations, with both working and governing characteristics. As organizations continue growing, they may have enough financial and staff resources for their board to focus only on fundraising and strategic planning, which looks and operates more like a governing board. At any point, boards can be flexible in their structure to best fit their organization’s needs.

This continuum idea speaks to the flexibility and adaptability of the nonprofit sector—a characteristic that makes it so critical in combination with the public and private sectors. Nonprofit organizations, from the ones we all know like the Red Cross and the Boy and Girls Club to small, grassroots organizations, all have the power to create the change that gets all of our attention. Their boards, regardless of structure, are one way they can ensure the resources to create that change.

Becca Samuel is a junior honors student from Evansville, Indiana. She is studying Nonprofit Management and Leadership at the Indiana University Bloomington O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. On campus, she works at the O’Neill Career Hub as a Peer Educator, the Teter Quadrangle Center Desk, and as a Teaching Assistant for V261 Using IT in Public Affairs. She is looking forward to graduating in December and starting a career working in fundraising at a small nonprofit.

Late to the Party: Analyzing the First Supreme Court Ethics Code

Posted on by fxramire

What are you gonna do about it? 

If you were offered a $100,000 all-paid-for exclusive vacation by a multibillionaire, would you take it? It is certainly a hard offer to turn down, so difficult that when two US Supreme Court Justices, Justice Alito and Justice Thomas, were put in this exact “hypothetical,” they took the vacation without a second thought. Was this ethical, given their role on the Court? Well, have no fear, for they are not alone. Eight out of nine Justices have found themselves in some situation in which the ethical nature of their behavior was questionable at best. Now you might be saying, “But surely there is some way to hold these Justices accountable for using their positions of public service for private gain?” The answer is a resounding no.

Supreme Court Justices are the only federal judges in America not bound by any sort of enforceable ethics code, and they can only be held accountable via impeachment from the legislature. However, in principle, this reality shifted when the Supreme Court released its first-ever ethics code on November 13th, 2023. With history made, I sought to understand the inner workings of ethical principles embraced by the high court. In other words, I sought to find out exactly how this code functions, what behaviors it permits, and ways it can be enforced.

Methodology and Hypothesis:

My research is best classified as a phenomenological analysis with added legal conjecture. Since the Supreme Court’s code is based on an already existing and enforceable ethics code titled the “Code of Conduct for United States Judges” (or C.O.C.), my analysis compares it to key lines of the Supreme Court code. I note changes from the C.O.C. in the Supreme Court code, and offer an explanation as to why they might have made the changes.  My research question(s) asked why the code was published now and what problems it actually solves. I hypothesized that the code was published now to increase sociological legitimacy, and solved the issue of enforcement mechanisms for Justice unethical behavior.

Findings: 

My findings may surprise many readers, as I found that the Supreme Court code lacks teeth, and, while seemingly a way for Justices to be held to ethical standards, the reality is that the language prevents such enforcement. My evidence of this can be broken down into two main areas for the purposes of this blog, being changes made to recusal standards and financial disclosures.

1) Recusals 

The data surrounding the changes to recusal standards is the most compelling within this analysis. Recusal refers to when a judge or justice should remove themselves from a case because someone may suspect they are no longer impartial. There were four changes made to the Supreme Court’s code that cannot be found in the C.O.C counterpart. They read:

SCOTUS

 

Canon 3 Section B (1): A Justice is presumed impartial and has an obligation to sit unless disqualified

 

Canon 3 Section B (2): A Justice should disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the Justice’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, that is, where an unbiased and reasonable person who is aware of all relevant circumstances would doubt that the Justice could fairly discharge his or her duties.

 

Canon 3 Section B (3): The rule of necessity may override the rule of disqualification

 

Canon 3 Section B (4): Neither the filing of a brief amicus curiae nor the participation of counsel for amicus curiae requires a Justice’s disqualification

 C.O.C.

 

No equivalent

 

 

 

Canon 3 Section C (1): A judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned…

 

 

 

No equivalent

 

 

No equivalent

 

 

This may appear to be confusing, but the results of these changes are straightforward. The Justices have made it incredibly difficult to find any of them impartial, and this creates a situation where there is no need for recusal even if the situation appears compromising. This conclusion can be drawn from a step-by-step analysis of the additions. Section B(1) blatantly states a Justice is presumed impartial, which means that they are not held to the appearance standard, which relies on an assumption of guilt. This one line has already fundamentally set Justices at a different standard than their lower-level colleges. Section B (3) goes a step further, stating that even if a Justice may be compromised, the overall need for them to sit in on a case may triumph over their questionable circumstances. The Justices themselves defend these changes by arguing that the unique exchange of minds justifies this, however in reality it sets forward a troubling schema in which engagement is valued to a greater degree than ethical behavior.

2) Financial Disclosure 

SCOTUS

 

No equivalent

 

 

 

 C.O.C

 

Canon 4 Section D (3): As soon as the judge can do so without serious financial detriment, the judge should divest investments and other financial interests that might require frequent disqualification.

For this section, the Justices have removed a line originally included in the C.O.C, which states that a judge is responsible for divesting their financial holdings that may interfere with their ability to sit in on a case. This removal again follows the pattern outlined in which Justices are protected from behavior that they should be engaging in. Disclosing and abandoning financial holdings that could cause issues of appearance is the standard ethical principle for public officials, and yet here the Justices seem insulated from it.

Takeaway: 

There are many more sections of the code that were changed, however, the point of all of the edits is the same. The code actually protects the Justices from being held accountable in nearly every way. On top of this, even if they were to somehow break this code, it includes zero discussion on how it actually be enforced, instead stating it will be internally managed. These facts go against both of my original hypotheses: while the code was successful in ending the public discussion surrounding Supreme Court ethics, if it were to become public knowledge that the code actually protects the Justices it is very unlikely sociological legitimacy would increase. Similarly, the code doesn’t solve the issue of enforcement or provide any clarity for future reference.

Overall, citizens should be very concerned that their judicial officials will not be held accountable for their behavior, and should call their legislatures to push for greater measures of accountability.

Xavier Ramirez is a graduating senior studying law and public policy and human resources management at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. On campus, he has been involved with the IU Funding Board and the 102nd Board of Aeons. Post graduation, he hopes to begin his career and gain experience before returning to further his education in the law.

Everyone watches women’s sports – especially if they consume it on Instagram

Posted on by daorth

Dawn Staley and Caitlyn Clark at a press conference
image credit: The Spun

Anyone notice how women’s basketball kind of ate in 2024? An average of 19 million people tuned in to the women’s tournament this year compared to 15 million for the men’s tournament. You know what else is interesting? The women’s tournament wasn’t even branded as March Madness until 2022. As far as the NCAA was concerned, there was no women’s March Madness before then. Isn’t that weird? 

Inequities like this are rampant in the marketing and promotion realm of women’s sports. Algorithms tend to make things worse, not better: when looking up “March Madness viewing figures” on Google for the numbers I used above, I had to scroll through 5 or 6 links before realizing I was going to need to insert the word “women’s” into my search, and that’s post-Caitlyn Clark, not to mention all the Google searches I’ve done of women’s basketball in the past few months. Instagram has finally learned that I like women’s sports and has started putting Lauren James highlight reels on my explore page, but for the average Instagram user, the trend of proportionally tiny women’s sports exposure is maintained.  

But what effect does this disparity have, if any, on our perceptions of women’s sports? Could there be what scholars sometimes describe as a “positive” feedback loop with respect to media coverage, where poor and minimal coverage leads to less engagement and investment while less engagement and investment leads to worse coverage? These questions I hoped to address with my research. 

I surveyed people from Bloomington and on campus (n = 255 usable responses), covering a wide range of demographics, to answer my question: how does women’s sports content on Instagram affect users’ perceptions of women’s sports? I select Instagram content as my media source because Instagram is widely used in the United States by a very wide range of demographics in a way that, for example, Tik Tok (younger user base) and Facebook (older) aren’t.

I gave respondents two sets of 5 Instagram posts to scroll through, and after each set they respond to prompts intended to gauge their perceptions of women’s sports (henceforth women’s sports perception or WSP). I manipulated the proportion of women’s sports content in each set of posts (either all men’s or all women’s sports) and the quality of the women’s posts. I manipulated “quality” through two different positive frames, one of gender equity advocacy and the other a task-relevant frame mimicking men’s sports coverage generally. I divided WSP into 6 separate aspects, ranging from physical ability of women in sports to the entertainment value of women’s sports, and assigned each aspect its own prompt in my survey. 

As it turns out, Instagram posts do impact our women’s sports perceptions as users. In terms of women’s sports content proportion, I find some noteworthy results for both frames. For each of the two frames tested, I observe a significant and positive relationship of an increased proportion of women’s sports content with at least one WSP aspect. Not all frames are created equal however: the gender equity advocacy and task-relevant frames each impact different aspects of WSP. 

The gender equity advocacy frame positively impacts the WSP aspects relating to entertainment value and non-gender appropriate sports (I use basketball to represent this category, alternatively defined as traditionally masculine or traditionally inappropriate for female participation). These are aspects that also happened to return the second and third lowest average WSP values of the six. In other words, according to my survey data, the advocacy frame is targeting aspects of user WSP that are particularly low, where people are more likely to have a negative perception of women’s sports. 

In contrast, the task-relevant frame positively affects only the WSP aspect relating to gender appropriate sports (I use tennis to represent this category, the inverse of the non-gender appropriate category). This aspect returned the third highest average WSP value, but its average WSP was much closer to the top two aspects than the bottom three, marking it as an aspect with a relatively high baseline WSP. Thus, with the task-relevant frame only impacting the gender-appropriate aspect of WSP, the data indicates that a task-relevant frame really only affects WSP where it’s already high.  

WSP aspects 1-6, values on a five-point scale.

With these observations in mind, I conclude that both frames are effective in increasing WSP in Instagram users, especially considering the fact that my treatments consisted of only 5 posts each. Imagine if Instagram gave its users the same amount of women’s sports content as men’s by default? For some users that what be 10, 20, even 40 posts possibly even if our hypothetical user doesn’t like women’s sports at all and remains unaffected by exposure to women’s sports content online. But as the data indicates, even 5 posts is enough. If this finding matches reality, then we have the potential to kickstart a positive feedback loop in a positive direction: more coverage = more engagement and investment = more coverage, etc. Instagram and sports media broadcasters win more of our attention. We as consumers get more sports. Female athletes get to eat on ever bigger stages.  

Changing a platform’s content policies is admittedly a daunting task, but we can at least start with already existent policies such as Title IX, under which high school and college athletics accounts for men and women should produce the same quality and quantity of content. A positive feedback loop needs to be kickstarted, and making all schools compliant with this legislation could be enough to get the ball rolling. 

 

David Orth is an environmental science major who loves the outdoors. Outside of school, he has an unreasonably strong passion for soccer, especially for the US men’s and women’s teams, his hometown youth club Cutters, and the professional club Chelsea FC. 

From the Pulpit to the Womb: The Role of Clergy in Abortion Discussions

Posted on by sbmahone

In the wake of the recent Supreme Court Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the subsequent rise of the Evangelical pro-life movement, I sought to answer just how influential clergy members are. I hoped that researching abortion attitudes of clergy members could reveal how these individuals balance their personal experiences and opinions, and their religious teachings.

Hypotheses

I started my data collection process with three hypotheses:

  1. Clergy members’ opinions on abortion will align with their religious teachings. Clergy members are individuals that have specifically chosen to devote their life to their religious text and living in accordance with that text.
  2. When advising members of their congregation about abortion, clergy members will focus on providing moral guidance as opposed to offering specific solutions. Historically, clergy members exist to provide religious guidance to members within their congregation, not offer clear cut solutions, typically offering support through open dialogue and prayer.
  3. Cultural differences and different lived experiences will impact an individual’s relationship with their faith an abortion. It is widely accepted that an individual can be influenced by many things, such as the culture that they have surrounded themselves with, or even the structure of their congregations. 

Data

For my data collection, I interviewed three Bloomington clergy members. Bloomington is unique because it is a politically Democratic city within a staunch Republican state. In the context of my thesis, individuals within Bloomington are multifaceted, offering unique perspectives that could challenge each hypothesis of my thesis, due to external environmental factors such as income, upbringing, education, and peer influence.

 

After many, many emails, the three clergy members I interviewed were a Catholic Priest, Seventh-Day Adventist Pastor, and a Reformed Jewish Rabbi. Interviews ranged from thirty minutes to an hour. Clergy members were asked a multitude of questions, ranging from their relationship with their congregations to current political issues. This qualitative method of data collection allowed each clergy member to produce in-depth answers, based on their personal experiences, religious beliefs, and emotions.

 

Results 

The interview results support my first hypothesis, that clergy members’ opinions on abortion will be aligned with their religious teachings. The strongest evidence in support of this hypothesis comes from my interviews with the Catholic Priest and Rabbi. In his interview, the Priest stated that as a Priest he has an obligation to uphold the traditions and teachings of the Church, in which all Priests must be opposed to abortion. In her interview, the Rabbi stated that Jewish law teaches that abortion is not only allowed but recommended in the case of extreme emotional distress, or if a pregnancy is not viable. This conclusion could be complicated by the answers of the Seventh-Day Adventist Pastor, who did not seem to take a strong stance either way. However, in reflecting on my conversation with the Pastor, it seemed as though he would not choose to have an abortion due to his view on the sanctity of human life but understands and respects an individual’s choice to have one.

Regarding my second hypothesis there is some conflicting evidence. This again comes from my interview with the Catholic Priest, as he explicitly stated that in addition to providing moral guidance, he would highlight Project Rachel Ministry or Bloomington’s Women Care Center, depending on what the individuals needed. Both the Rabbi and Seventh-Day Adventist Pastor also stated that their job in any given situation is to provide an individual with comfort and guidance. The answers given by all clergy members support this hypothesis however, the additional answers provided by the Catholic Priest reject the hypothesis.

I believe that differences in each clergy member’s answer, specifically between the Catholic Priest and Seventh-Day Adventist Pastor, stem from cultural differences. While Catholicism is regarded as having a stricter interpretation of the Bible, the deviations in answers from each clergy member were followed by examples from their life experiences, not just the Bible, that made them reach these conclusions. This evidence supports my third hypothesis that cultural differences and different lived experiences will impact an individual’s relationship with their faith and abortion.

Implications

When looking further at the answers given by each interviewee it was obvious to me that clergy members are not politically neutral beings. Each clergy member I interviewed is a politically active private citizen. In their public role, they may not openly identify with the Republican or Democratic party, but each clergy member showed consistency within their answers about current political turmoil in the United States, spotlighting that they believe that our current polarization is unsustainable for our country. Each stated that communities must begin to bridge the gap and come together, and not let the current political divide continue to tear communities apart. 

Despite the limitations within this thesis this research can be used as a reference within discussions surrounding religion and abortion. Additionally, the research conducted can serve as a valuable starting point for further exploration into the role of clergy members in shaping public opinion and policy debates.

 

Shauna Mahoney is graduating May 2024 from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs with a B.S. in Public Affairs, minoring in History, and Media Law & Ethics. Following graduation, Shauna is moving back to the D.C metro area. Connect with her on LinkedIn!

Consumers are in the Dark About Social Media Privacy

Posted on by mlaroian

In 2021, 91% of Americans used social media. That means that if you’re reading this, you’ve likely created a social media account at some point. If we’re being honest, when you were opening that account, you probably clicked “I agree” to a privacy policy before reading a single word. Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Privacy policies explain to users how a platform collects, stores, and uses personal data (ex. name, birthday, search history) as well as what rights users may exercise over their data. While privacy policies are mandated by U.S. law, their contents are not. The lack of regulation has led to privacy policies becoming long and difficult to understand. It’s no surprise that users tend to scroll through privacy policies without reading them. However, this goes against the very reason for showing the policy—prior awareness of how one’s online data is being used.

With this in mind, understanding the true extent of consumers’ awareness of social media data privacy policies is extremely relevant and important. My study aimed to answer the question: to what extent are consumers aware of social media privacy policies? Drawing upon prior studies on online consumer awareness, I surveyed Indiana University students about their awareness of privacy policies they’d previously agreed to.

Respondents were first asked about what social media accounts they had out of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X (Twitter). Respondents were only shown question blocks related to platforms for which they have accounts. For example, if a respondent reported only having a Facebook and Instagram account, they would only be given questions about those two platforms. The survey also looked at respondent’s social media usage for each platform and awareness of the privacy policies they agreed to when creating their accounts. By measuring the accuracy at which respondents could answer quiz-like questions about policies they’d agreed to, I measured awareness.

The results revealed a staggering lack of engagement with privacy policies. 80% of respondents said they scroll through without reading the privacy policy for every platform. Not a single respondent reported reading all of one policy.

Awareness was based on the percentage of correct answers out of all questions answered. I found the accuracy of individual platform blocks as well as the survey as a whole. As seen in the graph below, there was a noticeable variation in awareness amongst platforms, with TikTok having the highest accuracy level of 40.3% and Snapchat having the lowest at 10.4%.  One reason for this variation may be the publicity TikTok has had in the past two years. Studies have shown changes in online behavior and awareness after public data breaches. In 2022 and 2023, TikTok received a hailstorm of public scrutiny toward its data privacy practices. Overall awareness was measured to be 27.9% —an exceptionally low metric.  This means that, on average, respondents answered just more than a quarter of questions correctly.

An interesting trend in responses was that many incorrect responses tended towards the more extreme answer choice. For example, given a choice of how long a platform retains its data, users most often chose “indefinitely” compared to “retained for up to 3 months”—the correct answer.  This indicates a potential lack of trust or skepticism in social media platforms.

The results of this study not only indicate a concerning lack of awareness about social media privacy policies but also the need for specific action by legislators and educators. The absence of U.S. laws regulating the content of privacy policies presents an opportunity for policymakers to mend the awareness gap. Data privacy legislation overseas, such as the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union, offers valuable examples of successful regulatory efforts to better protect consumers. Legislation could focus on platform transparency and the creation of user-friendly privacy policies. Furthermore, the low level of awareness underscores the need for educational initiatives aimed at improving users’ understanding. Educational programs could target general digital literacy, how to safely navigate online spaces, and specific knowledge on understanding privacy policies.

You can act too. Next time you’re signing in and an updated policy agreement comes up, take a second. Skim the policy. Even if you end up clicking “I agree,” that quick read will make you a more informed consumer who isn’t in the dark about where your data is going.

 

Maria Laroia-Nguyen is a senior at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She studies Law and Public Policy with minors in French and Communications in Public Advocacy. In the fall, Maria will be heading west to study at the University of California Berkeley School of Law.

 

The Value of a Vote: Gerrymandering Analysis

Posted on by johnno

When Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry drew the state’s Congressional districts in a way that would benefit the Democratic-Republican Party in the year 1812, he couldn’t have anticipated that his last name would go down in history through the use of the term gerrymandering. Gerrymandering, according to a 2019 study led by researcher Alex Keena, is “a form of voting manipulation whereby electoral district boundaries are drawn to produce a partisan or political bias in elections.” Essentially, while all Congressional districts are required to have roughly equal populations, these districts can be drawn up in such a way to benefit one political party or another.

It is important to understand the impacts that these congressional district boundaries can have on elections in order to see if voters respond to these manipulated maps. My research question was: to what extent does gerrymandering and the redistricting process of each state relate to voter turnout? My hypothesis was that higher rates of gerrymandering would lead to lower rates of voter turnout, because if voters feel that elections are rigged for or against their party of choice, as a result they may feel that their voices would not make a difference and their time is better spent elsewhere. 

 

Methods

In order to answer this research question, I examined the relationship between my independent variable – gerrymandering – and my dependent variable – voter turnout. While experts cannot agree on how to mathematically measure gerrymandering, one common method is by using the Polsby-Popper score, which is a measure of a district’s compactness. Polsby-Popper scores range from zero to one; the higher the score, the more a district has been gerrymandered. My academic advisor, Dr. David Good of the O’Neill School, ran software which used a similar equation to assign each state a numeric value based on the compactness. I will refer to this value as the state gerrymandering score. In order to measure voter turnout, I collected data from a website called The Election Project, which in turn collected its data from the American Community Survey, which is administered by the US Census. 

 

Results

When using the equation noted above, the top five most gerrymandered states are Alaska (a note on that later), Maryland, Louisiana, Hawaii, and West Virginia. The least five gerrymandered states are Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Delaware, and Montana. The correlation between state gerrymandering score and voter turnout was very weak for the four election years of interest: 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022. Presidential election years were excluded due to the federal nature of those elections. The correlation between these two variables can be examined in the following graphs. The far outlier to the right is the state of Maryland, which is considered to be one of the most gerrymandered states in the country.

 

Limitations and Discussion

The equation used to assign each state a numeric gerrymandering score is flawed due to the nature of the United States. Some states, such as Alaska, are more oddly shaped (less compact) while other states, such as Wyoming, are more compact. Despite the fact that both Alaska and Wyoming have only one Congressional district, and as a result should each have a gerrymandering score of zero, these two states had radically different gerrymandering scores when using the equation described in the methods section. Alaska was calculated to be the most gerrymandered state in the country with a score of 13.8, while Wyoming was calculated to be the least gerrymandered state in the country with a score of 4.0. The compactness of each Congressional district may be impacted by external factors such as natural boundaries (rivers, mountain ranges) or the shape of individual states. Gerrymandering often causes a lack of compactness, but simply because a district is not compact does not mean it has been intentionally gerrymandered. None of the results collected are statistically significant given the low number of datapoints. Further research should examine voter turnout at the district level rather than at the state level, and the analysis of presidential election years could yield additional results. 

 

Noah Johnson is a senior at Indiana University Bloomington majoring in law and public policy with minors in business and psychology. Noah is originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana and hopes to pursue a career in… he’s not sure yet. 

 

Unveiling the Impact: Chinese and Canadian Mining in the DRC

Posted on by lhamid

Throughout the world, there is growing pressure to lower global carbon emissions and implement cleaner energy systems. While the development and implementation of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and more is encouraged by various stakeholder groups as a key piece to addressing environmental concerns, supplying the necessary mineral inputs to build these technologies is culminating in poor outcomes where mining is occurring. Copper and cobalt are two critical materials in many renewable energy solutions, and today most of the world’s supply comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC’s mining industry includes some foreign actors who have been questioned for their adherence to proper environmental, social, and governance standards when mining these minerals. This study will focus on the role of Chinese and Canadian firms in the DRC and evaluate the role they play in shaping human rights and economic development outcomes.

 

China and Canada are key foreign actors in the Congolese mining sector. I studied two Chinese firms and one Canadian firm to assess the impacts these countries have on human rights and economic development in the DRC, and to compare them. The Chinese firms and projects include China Nonferrous Mining Corporation, which owns the Deziwa Mine and a consortium of Chinese state-owned companies which own the Sicomines Mine. The Canadian case in Ivanhoe Mines, which owns the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex. Data was collected from various secondary sources, including reports, government documents, and case studies. I hypothesized that Chinese firms will see better economic development outcomes and Canada will contribute to better human rights outcomes. 

 

The market for copper and cobalt in the DRC is incredibly complex. The interaction between various individuals, groups, institutions and countries is inevitable. The involvement of China is significant given the large stake the country has in the Congolese mining industry, including the billions of dollars of investments it has made within the past approximately decade. Canada’s involvement, although much more limited in terms of mine ownership and investment, is still significant given that the Canadian corporation owns the world’s largest high-grade copper discovery at its mine site. 

 

To explore the relationship between mining and human rights and economic development outcomes, I based my analysis on institutional economic theory (IET). This framework looks at the role of institutions in shaping economic behavior and outcomes. IET also considers two categories of institutions, formal and informal. Formal institutions are established rules, laws or organizations. For this analysis, formal institutions include legal regulation, labor laws, contracts, and mine financing. Informal institutions are unwritten norms, customs, or social conventions. For this analysis, informal institutions include corruption and social conflict. 

 

Formal or Informal Institution

 Institution and Description

Example
Formal  Legal Environment: Any law which governs the operation of a mine. Mining Code of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Formal Labor Laws: Congolese-based laws mandating the treatment of formally-employed workers. DRC Penal Code or Canada’s Responsible Business Conduct Abroad Strategy.
Formal Contracts: Legally recognized agreement between two parties involved in the operation of a mine. The Sicomines, the Somidez or Kamoa joint ventures.
Formal Mine Financing: Loans, grants, or other funds which are directed to the mine or the DRC. TSX financing or Sicomines loans.
Informal Corruption: Abuse of entrusted power for personal gain. Bribes to public officials.
Informal Social Conflict: Disagreement between individuals or groups due to differences in interests, beliefs, or goals. Conflict between mining companies and government.

 

Chinese mining firms observed in this analysis are state-owned corporations, meaning they serve the objectives of the Chinese government and receive funds from state-backed sources. Through the development of mining projects and subsequent contracts, the Chinese cases have awarded loans and grants amounting to billions of dollars to the DRC for the development of mines and infrastructure, a key component of the two countries’ mining relationship. Chinese mining companies play a huge role in developing mineral reserves in the DRC, but through government documents and human rights reports, corrupt practices have also come to characterize this relationship. The Deziwa and Sicomines mines have seen reports of labor-right abuses but have contributed to job creation. Additionally, both of these mines have contributed to infrastructure developments, but the nature and size of these loan agreements places heavy debt burdens on the DRC for long periods and concerns are arising about whether the country will be able to pay off these amounts. 

 

Canadian mining in the DRC currently occurs through corporate entities. Canadian mining operations serve the interests of company shareholders and adhere to the pertinent Canadian laws and stock exchange regulations to which they are subject. The Ivanhoe mine, Kamoa-Kakula, has seen public commitments to human rights and even the development of public works projects, but little is known about the long term impact of these commitments. While there are public commitments to human rights, the Kamoa-Kakula mine has negativley impacted human rights through the eviction of a nearby community to make way for its mine’s expansion. Lastly, the mine has made an effort to make all financial records publicly available, making it relatively easy to trace the impact the mine has on the Congolese economy. Currently, the Kamoa mine accounts for about 4% of the DRC’s GDP and generates $300 million in government revenue per year. 

 

This study shows that the role Chinese and Canadian firms have on human rights and economic development are complicated. While mining operations by both countries are creating jobs, developing some infrastructure, and increasing revenue for the country, labor-right abuses persist, and matters of corruption are constantly being speculated at. As the world continues to pursue mineral reserves in the DRC, more research is needed on the role of all actors and institutions in the Congolese mining sector. 

Changing the Past: Record Clearance Policy in California

Posted on by Ashley Culbertson

California is seen as an extremely progressive state, especially when it comes to marijuana policy. It was the first state to legalize marijuana for medical use and legalized marijuana for recreational use 8 years ago. Still, there are thousands of marijuana convictions in the state’s criminal history database. Even after a person has served their time for a criminal offense, their criminal 

A map of California counties by percentage of eligible cannabis cases expunged from 2019 to March 2024.
% the cases designated to be resentenced in 2019 that have been resentenced by March 2024 per county.

record is publicly accessible. Criminal records can limit a person’s ability to rehabilitate into society through discrimination in housing, education, and employment. Black Americans are 3.64 times more likely than White Americans to be arrested on simple marijuana possession charges nationwide, and this differs between states and counties. Erasing criminal records is one way to begin to correct systemic injustices. Other states have enacted record clearance programs specific to marijuana, but California has been one of the most proactive. Not only did Proposition 64 legalize marijuana in California, it also included a provision that allowed people to file a dismissal or expungement for marijuana offenses that were newly legal under the proposition. This provision was updated in 2018 with the passage of Assembly Bill 1793. AB 1793 changed the process for record clearance so instead of a person who held the record filing for a dismissal or expungement, the state of California would initiate and conduct the process itself. This is known as an automatic expungement system. The CA Department of Justice identified the eligible cases, and county prosecutors and courts were authorized to challenge or dismiss these cases. 

As a student majoring in Policy Analysis, I was interested in studying how the successes and failures of policy’s implementation could be used as an example for other states. I analyzed the implementation of AB 1793 in 2019, and the consecutive Assembly Bill 1706 that was passed in 2022 to guide AB 1793’s implementation. AB 1793 did not initially provide a date for the courts to actually change the sentences by, so there were wide variations in implementation across California’s 58 counties. AB 1706 required the publication of 6 progress reports issued quarterly from March 2023 to June 2024. This is where I was able to collect data on the expungement rates in each county based on the identified eligible cases. I combined this with data from the 2020 US Census and the 2020 presidential election vote shares of each county to create a predictive model. Specifically, I was interested in examining how the population size, percent of white, black, and hispanic residents, and the political makeup of counties impacted their likelihood to expunge identified cases. 

I ran a regression analysis in STATA using my above mentioned variables. I predicted that counties with a larger population would expunge more cases. Counties that voted for Biden in 2020 would expunge more cases because their democratic views would put them in line with the majority democratic legislature that passed the assembly bills. I also thought the percentage of Black residents in a county would have more impact than any other demographic factor. I hypothesized that if Black residents were more likely than their White counterparts to be arrested for low level marijuana offenses, more Black offenders would be eligible for record changes. 

My results were not what I predicted. The 2020 presidential votes from each county were not statistically significant, and neither was the percentage of Black and Hispanic residents. I did find that for every additional thousand people a county had, 5 more cases would be expunged. The only demographic factor that had a statistically significant effect on expungements was the percentage of white residents. For every additional 1% of white residents in a county 100 more cases were likely to be expunged. Although my findings were not what I predicted, the California policy still shows a relationship between race and expungement rates. 

As states continue to legalize marijuana, I recommend they pursue automatic record clearance policies while learning from California’s implementation. When the law gave strict deadlines for the Department of Justice and prosecutors were able to provide the needed information on time. The courts actually held the power to change the conviction classifications, but differed across all 58 counties. Some were in full compliance with the law, others had as many as 85% of cases left to be re-designated. The difference in compliance depended mostly on the percentage of white residents in each county and the population size.

Is Cutting Costs Costing Nonprofits?

Posted on by brennerg

Image courtesy of Charity Defense Council

In the United States, nonprofit organizations are often praised for spending high percentages of their budgets on program costs. Nonprofit watchdog organizations, such as Charity Navigator, even reward organizations that have higher program spending by giving them higher charity ratings. While seemingly harmless, this leaves nonprofits in a position in which they must compromise funding overhead needs – especially staffing – to fulfill their mission. Considering this phenomenon, I seek to answer the question, “How do staffing deficiencies in nonprofit organizations affect employee feelings of work-life balance?”

To begin to answer this question, I consider the variables of staffing levels and job support, job descriptions, and employee feelings of work-life balance. Further variables I explore are job enlargement (the addition of same-level tasks to an employee’s workload) and job enrichment (the addition of career-developing tasks to an employee’s workload). I hypothesize that job descriptions and job enrichment will increase work-life balance, considering that job descriptions can help to define the boundaries of an employee’s workload and that career-developing tasks are more well-received by employees. I hypothesize that job enlargement will decrease work-life balance, considering that adding more same-level tasks to an employee’s workload can make them feel more quickly burnt out. I also hypothesize that nonprofit organizations with lower staffing levels and job support will have employees who experience more poor work-life balance, considering that those employees may feel more overworked. To measure these variables, I use data from a web survey of 202 paid employees of nonprofit organizations that were almost all located in Indiana.

There was no evidence of a statistically significant relationship between job descriptions and an employee’s feelings of work-life balance, therefore not supporting my hypothesis that job descriptions will improve work-life balance. One explanation for this is that while people may look at their job description frequently when they are first hired, it is likely that they do not refer to it as much after their initial onboarding. However, employees who experienced job enrichment were more likely to have better work life balance. On average, 23% of respondents who experienced job enrichment reported poor work-life balance, in comparison to 58% of respondents who did not experience job enrichment, therefore supporting my hypothesis that job enrichment will increase work-life balance.

Employees who experienced job enlargement were more likely to have poor work-life balance. On average, 49% of respondents who experienced job enlargement reported poor work-life balance compared to 23% of respondents who did not experience job enlargement. These findings support my hypothesis that job enlargement will decrease work-life balance. Additionally, nonprofit organizations with lower staffing levels and job support had employees who were more likely to experience poor work life balance. On average, 55% of employees who felt overworked reported poor work-life balance, in comparison to 20% of employees who did not feel overworked. Similarly, on average, 54% of employees who felt unsupported at work reported poor work-life balance compared to 25% of employees who felt supported at work. Both of these findings support my hypothesis that nonprofit organizations with lower staffing levels and job support will have employees who experience more poor work-life balance.

Other interesting findings that were not directly related to any hypotheses were that managers and long-time employees reported experiencing more poor work-life balance than those in non-managerial positions or newer employees. Additionally, respondents with caregiving responsibilities were more likely to experience more poor work-life balance than those without caregiving responsibilities. These findings could be due to self-selection, as managers, long-time employees, and caregivers all likely have more responsibilities that would influence their relationship between their work and personal life.

This research finds that organizations that ensure additional responsibilities given to employees benefit their careers and professional development rather than being non-enriching additions to their plate can help foster better work-life balance. Similarly, organizations that ensure adequate staffing levels and proper allocation of training, materials, and help with completing required job tasks for employees are better positioned to support the work-life balance of their employees. Finally, staffing and resource support, along with the provision of enriching responsibilities, should not stop after the initial years of employment. Rather, nonprofits should provide resources and support throughout the lifetime of an employee’s career to ensure that they are supporting the work-life balance of more long-term and senior-level employees. These tangible actions that nonprofits can take are not only important because they can improve the work-life balance of employees, but they can also help organizations become more successful overall.

Grace Brenner is a junior at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs studying in Nonprofit Management and Leadership with minors in Human Resources Management and Social Welfare Advocacy. After graduation, she intends to work for an advocacy organization in nonprofit sector. 

Measuring Nonprofit Leaders’ Perception of State Grants

Posted on by mbenysh

Have you ever considered how exactly nonprofits stay in business? I mean, if the whole point is to *not* turn a profit, how exactly are they funded? And who’s job is that anyways?

This study takes a look at state grants, their requirements, and how they actually impact nonprofits on the daily. Many nonprofit leaders, especially at the local level, are not financial specialists, accountants, or even necessarily well-versed in spreadsheets. However, they are oftentimes the ones in charge of organizing, acquiring, and maintaining all funding sources for their organization. I conducted 5 interviews with nonprofit leaders in Monroe County, Indiana, in order to get a better understanding of how these nonprofit leaders feel about this system. 

When asked about the kinds of accommodations they usually have to make for state grants, all five interviews varied greatly. One of the interview respondents works for a state agency and reported that the funding they receive through the state is directly targeted at providing the services and supporting the work that they do. Another respondent, who works for a national level nonprofit, said they are often able to use the work they are already doing, possibly with minor changes, to fit the requirements of the state grants. However, since this is a national level nonprofit, there are certain indivieuals within the organization, outside of the Director, who have the responsibility of researching, applying for, and maintaining state and federal funding. This phenomenon actually contributes to a later finding that the size and management structure of the organization plays a huge role in how certain funding sources are perceived. 

Others reported that they struggle to keep up with the reporting requirements. Even though they already track a variety of measurements for their programs, grant administrators often ask for new or additional, unexpected data, and the organization must go back and further review that information.

The nature of the nonprofit’s mission or work can also lead to some administrative burden when it comes to state grants. Although it is possible in some cases for a nonprofit to take a different path from what the state wants, there is paperwork that comes with that and nonprofits must justify why they are not following the exact protocol. Another interviewee reported there was some burden with continued verification and eligibility.

When asked whether state grants directly help to fulfill the mission of the organization, almost all of the organizations reported that they find this funding directly helpful to pursuing their mission. One organization reported that state grants are helpful sometimes, but they do prefer other

 funding sources over state grants. This organization only serves a specific population and, in the words of the respondent, “some get it, some don’t.” When discussing preferences for other types of funding, one respondent emphasized a need for a “healthy balance” between needing specific grant requirements to ensure the appropriate use of funds, while also allowing nonprofits to fully utilize the funding.

One of the important findings from the data analysis highlights the relationship and history an organization or an individual has with a grant provider. Local funding that is essentially guaranteed is always appreciated, but nonprofit leaders do prefer to combine their local grant funding with both state and federal grant funding. While one respondent noted that they prefer fundraising over almost any other method of funding, they acknowledged that without other large grants it can be difficult to grow and pursue your mission.

In general, the findings that the relationship an organization has with the origin of the funding and the size of the organization are at the forefront of nonprofit leaders’ minds can serve as a strong starting point in understanding how nonprofit leaders perceive grant funding. While the working theory – that the more conflict nonprofit leaders perceive comes with government funding, the less likely they are to pursue this funding – is neither fully supported or contradicted throughout this study, it serves as an interesting development and lays a foundation to build upon in further research. 

 

Maya Benysh is a senior at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs studying Law and Public Policy, with minors in Spanish and International Economics.

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