Research
I investigate the factors that influence an organization’s ability to achieve its mission, with a focus on how organizations and their leaders actively shape and manage these factors to their advantage. Using historical and qualitative methods, my work conceptualizes organizational capacity broadly, examining it through three core lenses:
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Individual Capacity – how nonprofit professionals develop skills, knowledge, and expertise.
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Built Environment – how spatial design and physical infrastructure influence service delivery, staff well-being, and client experience.
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Organizational History – how historical narratives are strategically used for management, fundraising, and public engagement.
My scholarship explores how nonprofits create spaces for individuals and communities to influence political, social, and economic outcomes, framing capacity building as both a technical process and a strategic, context-driven endeavor.
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As a member of Auburn University’s Global Development Solutions (GDS) Lab, I extend this capacity-focused research into global contexts, particularly in Africa. The GDS Lab examines how civil society organizations build and sustain the capacity to:
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Act as civic intermediaries, connecting citizens to the state and facilitating civic engagement.
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Deliver essential services that supplement the state to advance local, sustainable development.
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This work emphasizes that civil society’s effectiveness in these roles depends on the same types of capacity I study in other contexts—access to resources, professional expertise, and strong local connections—all of which are shaped by organizational leadership, history, and environment. By integrating these capacity dimensions, my research offers a unified framework for understanding how nonprofits and civil society organizations strengthen their impact across diverse political, cultural, and geographic settings.
My
Projects
My research relies on historical methods to better understand today’s philanthropic practices and enhance the efficiency and impact of organized philanthropy.
Capacity Building, Nonprofits, and Philanthropy
This project broadens the definition of organizational capacity by studying how design choices influence mission achievement, service quality, and staff well-being. It focuses on spatial design factors—2D plan-view, 3D room-view, and boundary-spanning elements—across human-centered nonprofit organizations.
Global Development Solutions
The Global Development Solutions Lab researches civil society, focusing on its roles as a civic intermediary that connects citizens to the state and as a service provider that supports local sustainable development. Our approach emphasizes the factors that influence civil society's effectiveness: access to resources, professionalization, and localization.
Institutionalizing Nonprofit Studies
The project investigates the contributions of US philanthropic foundations to the growth of the field in the United States and beyond. The project aims to stimulate a reflection on how academia, the nonprofit sector, and philanthropy have worked together over the past three decades to increase the capacity and quality of the many and varied organizations committed to the public good.
