The Rationalization of Charity: The Influences of Professionalism in the Nonprofit Sector
基于2003-2004年旧金山湾区501(c)(3)慈善机构的随机样本数据，分析专业价值观和实践如何影响非营利组织的特征，发现付费人员和全职管理推动理性化，管理专业人士和半专业人士积极倡导商业式做法，而传统专业人士则无显著差异。
This paper analyzes how professional values and practices influence the character of nonprofit organizations, with data from a random sample of 501 (c)(3) operating charities in the San Francisco Bay Area collected between 2003 and 2004. Expanded professionalism in the nonprofit world involves not only paid, full-time careers and credentialed expertise but also the integration of professional ideals into the everyday world of charitable work. We develop key indicators of professionalism and measure organizational rationalization as expressed in the use of strategic planning, independent financial audits, quantitative program evaluation, and consultants. As hypothesized, charities operated by paid personnel and full-time management show higher levels of rationalization. While traditional professionals (doctors, lawyers, and the clergy) do not differ significantly from executives with no credentialed background in eschewing business-like practices, managerial professionals champion such efforts actively, as do semi-professionals, albeit more modestly. Management training is also an important spur to rationalization. We assess what is gained and lost and the tension that can arise when nonprofits become professionalized and adopt more methodical, bureaucratic procedures.