Dr. Richard Clerkin & others featured in the New York Times

Dr. Richard M. Clerkin, Executive Director of the Institute for Nonprofits 

New research by Dr. Richard M. Clerkin, a professor of public administration, was featured in the New York Times on November 3, 2018. The research article entitled “The Politics of Donations: Are Red Counties More Donative Than Blue Counties?” studied the relationship between political ideology and charitable contributions. The analysis from the study revealed that Republican voting counties had higher levels of charitable giving than other counties. However, the authors noted that the relationship was nonlinear because they observed a decrease in the levels of charitable giving by Republican voters in counties that are dominated by other political parties. In contrast, the researchers found that the Democratic-leaning counties had higher levels of wealth redistribution in the form of higher taxes, and those counties tax burdens may explain lower levels of charitable contributions in these areas. Overall, the research article revealed that a relationship exists between political ideology and charitable contributions.  

In addition to Dr. Clerkin, Dr. Laurie E. Paarlberg of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, Dr. Rebecca Nesbit of the University of Georgia, and Robert K. Christensen of Brigham Young University contributed to the research presented in this article. All of these distinguished researchers also had their work published in the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly journal.