Visiting Scholars
Independent Sector's Visiting Scholars Program
Independent Sector’s Visiting Scholar program ensures that our work on behalf of our members and the broader sector is deeply informed by the best of nonprofit research. The program, which typically connects a scholar and the IS team for approximately a year, has helped facilitate a deeper integration of both the research and lived experience of academics and practitioners – all in service of a healthier, more equitable sector that is better equipped to serve our respective missions.
This ongoing collaboration between IS and the academic community has delivered new tools and new insights for our sector, including: the Health of the US Nonprofit Sector Report; the development of the National Survey of Nonprofit Trends and Impacts; and critical insights into nonprofit engagement in public policy advocacy.
Scholar Spotlight:
“Diversity in Nonprofit Entrepreneurship”
This new Independent Sector research paper led by Visiting Scholar Dr. Mirae Kim, raises an important question around how we can encourage the growth of strategies and tools to enable more people with lived experiences to start nonprofits that meet their communities’ needs for healthy and equitable places to live. It discusses what we currently know about the factors that influence the creation, growth, and survival of new nonprofits. More importantly, this paper discusses what else we need to know and the data we need to have in order to better understand and address the unequal opportunities that exist in creating nonprofits.
Meet our Current and Former Scholars
Visiting Scholars support the development of a research agenda to fill information gaps in sector-wide policy work, conduct research or lead a data-focused project, and educate nonprofits about topics relevant to the scholar’s experience and expertise.
2023 – Present
2021 – 2023
2020 – 2021
2019 – 2020
University of Massachusetts–Boston
George Mason University
American University
George Mason University
For more information on this program, please contact publicpolicy@independentsector.org.
