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Distinguishing Providing Public Services from Receiving Government Funding as Factors in Nonprofit Advocacy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Itaru Yanagi Open the ORCID record for Itaru Yanagi [Opens in a new window] ,
Yohei Kobashi ,
Robert J. Pekkanen  and
Yutaka Tsujinaka
Itaru Yanagi*
Affiliation:
College of Law, Ritsumeikan University, 56-1 Toji-in Kitamachi, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8577, Japan
Yohei Kobashi*
Affiliation:
Watashiha Corporation, 3-7-21-504, Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0023, Japan
Robert J. Pekkanen*
Affiliation:
Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Box 353650, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Yutaka Tsujinaka*
Affiliation:
School of Political Science and Economics, Tokai University, 4-1-1, Kitakaname, Hiratsuka-shi, Kanagawa 259-1292, Japan
*
i-yanagi@fc.ritsumei.ac.jp
kobashi@watashiha.co.jp
pekkanen@uw.edu
ty807039@tsc.u-tokai.ac.jp
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Abstract

This study innovates by introducing a conceptual distinction between the provision of public services and the receipt of government funding. The study also provides empirical analysis to show that public service provision, independent of government funding, is associated with greater nonprofit advocacy. There are implications for previous studies of nonprofit advocacy, our understanding of the mechanism of nonprofit advocacy, and the role that organizational mission may play in leading organizations to engage in advocacy. Previous studies exploring the effect of government funding on nonprofit advocacy have perceived the provision of public services as being identical to the receipt of government funding. In contrast, our analysis distinguishes between providing public services and receiving government funding. Empirically, the study also uses survey questions differentiating the two in the JIGS international datasets to investigate the relationship. This study examines the effect of the provision of public services by nonprofit organizations on nonprofit advocacy in Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, and the USA. We conducted a logistic regression analysis using nonprofit advocacy as the dependent variable. The analysis revealed two key points. First, public service alone and distinct from government funding enhances nonprofit advocacy. Second, public service provision had positive effects on advocacy, not only in the USA but also in Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, which each feature a different institutional context. In conclusion, we suggest that organizational mission could be a more important driver of nonprofit advocacy than previous studies have found.

Keywords

AdvocacyNonprofit organizationsProvision of public servicesGovernment funding

Information

Type
Research Papers
Information
Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , June 2021 , pp. 534 - 547
Copyright
Copyright © International Society for Third-Sector Research 2020

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Footnotes

Electronic Supplementary Material The online version of this article (doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-020-00206-9) contains supplementary material, which is accessible to authorized users.

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