Publications Database
Welcome to the new Schulich Peer-Reviewed Publication Database!
The database is currently in beta-testing and will be updated with more features as time goes on. In the meantime, stakeholders are free to explore our faculty’s numerous works. The left-hand panel affords the ability to search by the following:
- Faculty Member’s Name;
- Area of Expertise;
- Whether the Publication is Open-Access (free for public download);
- Journal Name; and
- Date Range.
At present, the database covers publications from 2012 to 2020, but will extend further back in the future. In addition to listing publications, the database includes two types of impact metrics: Altmetrics and Plum. The database will be updated annually with most recent publications from our faculty.
If you have any questions or input, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Search Results
Michelle Benson, Chao Guo, Daniel G. Neely, and Gregory D. Saxton (2025). "Dirty air, empty coffers? Nonprofit donations and volunteering in the context of severe air pollution", Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, 37(6), 324–353.
Abstract
Purpose
Poor environmental conditions pose profound societal challenges, yet their impact on the nonprofit sector, particularly in terms of financial and organizational sustainability, remains largely unexplored. To address this concern, we investigate how hazardous air quality influences donations and volunteering in nonprofit organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Combining county-level US EPA air quality data with 1.63 million IRS Form 990 filings by 248,749 nonprofits between 2010 and 2022, we examine the impact of air pollution on organizations across time and space. Instrumental variables regression and entropy-balancing techniques are employed to address potential endogeneity concerns. Additional analyses examine the roles of industry sub-sector, service orientation, donor sophistication and government funding in conditioning the relationship between air pollution and our two outcome variables.
Findings
Organizations in areas experiencing more hazardous air quality days are associated with lower levels of donations but higher levels of volunteering. Additional cross-sectional analyses suggest that environmental, health and human service nonprofits experience increased donations in the context of severe air pollution while arts and mutual benefit organizations see increased volunteering. Additional analyses on the conditioning effects of donor sophistication, service orientation, and government funding provide further insights into the empirical relationship between air pollution and nonprofit engagement.
Originality/value
This study provides one of the first large-N examinations of the organizational impact of localized environmental factors on charitable activity. In providing evidence for how air quality appears to be a robust, but underexplored factor affecting donor and volunteer behavior, our study underscores the importance of understanding how environmental challenges influence civic engagement.
Tahmina Ahmed, Mohammad Maruf Hasan, Xing Huan, and Gregory D. Saxton (2025). "Climate Risk and Donations to Nonprofit Organizations", Journal of Business Ethics, 1–22.
Abstract
This study investigates the overlooked, yet critical, impact of climate risk on nonprofit organizations. Leveraging data from the IRS and the Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States (SHELDUS), the study analyzes the relationship between climate risk and donations to nonprofit organizations across a sample of 1.23 million IRS Form 990 filings by U.S. nonprofits from 2010 to 2021. The findings show a significant positive relationship between climate risk and donations that is robust to alternative specifications incorporating organization fixed effects, alternative climate risk measures, instrumental variables, entropy balancing, and difference-in-differences analysis. Additional subgroup tests reveal that hospitals and human service organizations see the largest increases in donations under elevated climate risk, while others, particularly mutual benefit organizations and international-focused nonprofits, experience declines. Additional analyses also indicate that donor-oriented organizations in high-risk areas are more likely to benefit from increased donations. Finally, cross-sectional analyses suggest that government funding, in the context of heightened climate risk, appears to partially “crowd out” private donations. The results underscore the importance of understanding how environmental challenges influence donor behavior and provide ethical implications and practical insights for nonprofit financial planning in an era of increasing climate risks.Harris, E. E., Neely, D. G., and Saxton, G. D. (2023). "Social Media, Signaling, and Donations: Testing the Financial Returns on Nonprofits’ Social Media Investment", Review of Accounting Studies, 28, 658-688.
Abstract
Social media outlets provide nonprofit organizations the opportunity of opening new communication and disclosure channels. Organizations must decide whether to set up these channels. They – and in turn their target audiences – must also decide how much to use social media. In this study we test a novel multi-level signaling theory framework to examine the relationship between social media investments and financial returns. Employing both cross-sectional and cross-temporal samples of 427 of the largest US non-hospital charities, we look at the association between donations and three dimensions of organizations’ social media efforts: 1) whether the organization has a social media presence, 2) how much the organization uses social media, and 3) the level of engagement of the organization’s audience. The findings support our conjecture that financial returns result from establishing a particular communication channel, from using that channel, and from having channel-specific audience engagement. We also consider how our three social media signaling dimensions condition the core donations demand variables, finding that social media substitutes for traditional fundraising expenditures. These results carry implications for the signaling and donation demand literatures and further our understanding of how these new media are changing the rules of donor engagement.Saxton, G. and Wang, L. (2014). "The Social Network Effect: The Determinants of Donations on Social Media Sites", Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 43, 850-868.
Keywords
Abstract
Social networking applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Crowdrise offer new ways for nonprofits to engage the community in fundraising efforts. This study employs data from Facebook Causes to examine the nature and determinants of charitable giving in social networking environments. Our findings suggest donations on these sites are not driven by the same factors as in “off-line” settings. Instead, a social network effect takes precedence over traditional economic explanations. Facebook donors do not seem to care about efficiency ratios, their donations are typically small, and fundraising success is related not to the organization’s financial capacity but to its “Web capacity.” Moreover, online donors are prone to contribute to certain categories of causes more than others, especially those related to health. Given the growth in social media-driven fundraising—and the increase in crowdfunding, slacktivism, impulse donating, and other new practices this entails—these findings carry notable theoretical and practical implications.Saxton, G., Wu, H. and Zhuang, J. (2014). "Publicity vs. Impact in Nonprofit Disclosures and Donor Preferences: A Sequential Game with One Nonprofit Organization and N Donors", Annals of Operations Research, 221, 469-491.
Keywords
Abstract
Charitable giving is one of the essential tasks of a properly functioning civil society. This task is greatly complicated by the lack of organizational transparency and by the information asymmetries that often exist between organizations and donors in the market for charitable donations. The disclosure of financial, performance, donor-relations, and fundraising-related data is thus an important tool for nonprofit organizations attempting to attract greater donations while boosting accountability and public trust. There are, however, varying payoffs associated with such disclosure depending on the nature of donor preferences and the relative openness and effectiveness of competing organizations. To help understand the interplay between nonprofit organizational disclosures and individual donations, we present a novel game-theoretic model of disclosure–donation interactions that incorporates the predominant forms of both donor preferences and “value-relevant” information.Bae, K., Kim, S. and Kim, W. (2012). "Family Control and Expropriation at Not-for-Profit Organizations: Evidence from Korean Private Universities", Corporate Governance: An International Review, 20, 388-404.
