Representation in Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations: A Conceptual Framework

It is held that nonprofit and voluntary organizations contribute to democratic governance by representing the interests of their constituents to the state. Yet little is known about the capacities of these organizations to represent effectively their constituents and the larger community. This study proposes a framework for understanding the varieties of representation in nonprofit and voluntary organizations. The authors argue that the nature of representation within an organization is indicated by five dimensions: substantive, symbolic, formal, descriptive, and participatory representation. Formal, descriptive, and participatory representation are different means of achieving substantive and symbolic representation; the latter being measures of the extent to which organizations “act for” and “stand for” particular constituencies. They further suggest that this conceptual framework serves as a useful first step toward examining the representational capacities of nonprofit organizations. Two illustrative cases of community-based organizations are presented to tease out the complexity of representational mixes found in nonprofits.

[1]  W. Brown.  Inclusive Governance Practices in Nonprofit Organizations and Implications for Practice , 2002 .

[2]  Julie Siciliano,et al.  The relationship of board member diversity to organizational performance , 1996 .

[3]  Rita Mae Kelly,et al.  An Inclusive Democratic Polity, Representative Bureaucracies, and the New Public Management , 1998 .

[4]  W. H. Newman,et al.  Managing Not-for-Prof it Enterprises , 1978 .

[5]  R. Herman,et al.  Multiple Constituencies and the Social Construction of Nonprofit Organization Effectiveness , 1997 .

[6]  The governance of nonprofit organizations: Law and public policy , 1994 .

[7]  Dennis R. Young,et al.  : Nonprofits for Hire: The Welfare State in the Age of Contracting , 1995 .

[8]  W H Newman,et al.  Managing not-for-profit enterprises. , 1980, Academy of management review. Academy of Management.

[9]  R. Cnaan.  Neighborhood-representing Organizations: How Democratic Are They? , 1991, Social Service Review.

[10]  John A. Booth,et al.  Civil Society, Political Capital, and Democratization in Central America , 1998, The Journal of Politics.

[11]  Richard C. Box.  The Administrator as Trustee of the Public Interest , 1992 .

[12]  C. Widmer.  Minority Participation on Boards of Directors of Human Service Agencies: Some Evidence and Suggestions , 1987 .

[13]  Do you See What I See? Nonprofit and Resident Perceptions of Urban Neighborhood Problems , 2004 .

[14]  S. White,et al.  The political parties , 2005 .

[15]  T. Bramble.  Leadership Representativeness in the Australian Union Movement , 2000 .

[16]  R. Spear.  Governance in Democratic Member-Based Organisations , 2004 .

[17]  B. Posner,et al.  Book Review: Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993, 332 pp. $24.95. cloth , 1994 .

[18]  Maggie Mort,et al.  Which champions, which people? Public and user involvement in health care. , 1998 .

[19]  Burton A. Weisbrod,et al.  The Future of the Nonprofit Sector: Its Entwining with Private Enterprise and Government , 1997 .

[20]  Robert Ehrlich,et al.  Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life , 1985, Telos.

[21]  Chong Lim Kim,et al.  Comparing the Representativeness of Parliaments , 1978 .

[22]  S. Verba,et al.  The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations, An Analytic Study , 1964 .

[23]  S. Verba,et al.  The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations , 1964 .

[24]  R. Putnam,et al.  Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. , 1994 .

[25]  Mark E. Warren,et al.  Democracy and Association , 2000 .

[26]  R. Putnam.  Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital , 1995, The City Reader.

[27]  R. Freeman.  Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach , 2010 .

[28]  Barbara K. Bucholtz.  Reflections on the Role of Nonprofit Associations in a Representative Democracy , 1998 .

[29]  P. Dreier,et al.  The rebirth of urban democracy , 1993 .

[30]  Membership and Morals , 1998 .

[31]  Paul DiMaggio,et al.  The Sociology of Nonprofit Organizations and Sectors , 1990 .

[32]  Chao-Yu Guo.  When Government Becomes the Principal Philanthropist: The Effects of Public Funding on Patterns of Nonprofit Governance , 2007 .

[33]  J. Habermas,et al.  The structural transformation of the public sphere : an inquiryinto a category of bourgeois society , 1991 .

[34]  D. Swindell.  Issue Representation in Neighborhood Organizations: Questing for Democracy at the Grassroots , 2000 .

[35]  Jerry T. Mitchell.  Representation in government boards and commissions , 1997 .

[36]  Rikki Abzug,et al.  Nonprofit Boards: Crucibles of Expertise or Symbols of Local Identities? , 2001 .

[37]  P. Berger,et al.  To Empower People: The Role of Mediating Structures in Public Policy , 1989, The Nature of the Nonprofit Sector.

[38]  P. Peterson.  Forms of Representation: Participation of the Poor in the Community Action Program , 1970, American Political Science Review.

[39]  Peter Frumkin,et al.  On Being Nonprofit: A Conceptual and Policy Primer , 2002 .

[40]  M. Zimmerman,et al.  Correlates of Participation in Neighborhood Organizations , 1993 .

[41]  H. Pitkin.  The Concept of Representation , 1969 .

[42]  M. Betz,et al.  Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare. , 1972 .

[43]  Daniel P. Forbes.  Measuring the Unmeasurable: Empirical Studies of Nonprofit Organization Effectiveness from 1977 to 1997 , 1998 .

[44]  B. Rosenberg,et al.  Democracy in America , 1961 .

[45]  J. Lansley.  Membership participation and ideology in large voluntary organisations: The case of the National Trust , 1996 .

[46]  Paul DiMaggio,et al.  Variations in trusteeship: cases from Boston and Cleveland, 1925–1985 , 1993 .

[47]  Vincent L. Bolduc.  Representation and Legitimacy in Neighborhood Organizations: a Case Study , 1980 .

[48]  S. Arnstein,et al.  Ladder of Citizen Participation , 2020 .