“He Who Has the Gold Makes the Rules”: Does Donor Control Crowd out Community Leadership?

Abstract

Foundations increasingly value community leadership capacities for addressing public problems and catalyzing change in local communities. However, scholars have cautioned that the proliferation of donor-advised funds (DAFs) might undermine foundations’ commitment to community leadership. While a burgeoning line of research has begun to examine the use and trends of DAFs, empirical analysis of the relationship between DAF sponsorship and community leadership remains underexplored. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective, this study discussed the logics of donor services and community leadership, and explored the extent to which foundations combined the two by exercising DAF sponsorship and community leadership simultaneously. Using an original dataset that combined annual report data and IRS 990 data of 253 community foundations, we found consistent evidence on the positive associations between DAF sponsorship and various community leadership aspects. These findings contribute to understanding the power dynamics between donors and foundations, showcasing a possible blending of the two logics in the community philanthropic field.