Research Highlights:
The Dissonance of 'Doing Good:' Fostering Critical Pedagogy to Challenge the Selective Tradition of Nonprofit Management Education
Nonprofit management classrooms are filled with students who yearn to 'do good' in the world and yet, in practice, they confront a dissonance between their vision of doing good and the realities of nonprofit work. This dissonance is in part created by contemporary nonprofit management education (NME) through the development and perpetuation of a selective historical tradition of the nonprofit sector which mythologizes the sector and its work. These traditions and myths of the nonprofit sector are based squarely in white American and Eurocentric values and downplay the histories of people of color and thus perpetuate whiteness as central to nonprofit norms and practice. We present a critical reading of these histories in an effort to help educators and students reclaim and reimagine the histories of the nonprofit sector and offer tenets of a critical pedagogy that emphasizes historical consciousness and a praxis of emancipation so that nonprofit educators and students can re-envision nonprofit theory and practice in the future.
Feit, M. E. & Sandberg, B. (2022). The dissonance of ‘doing good:’ Fostering critical pedagogy to challenge the selective tradition of nonprofit management education. Public Integrity, 24(4-5). https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2022.2034341
Download eprint
Tightrope of advocacy: Critical race methods as a lens on nonprofit mediation between fear and trust in the U.S. Census
In this study of nonprofit engagement with the census, we argue for an expansion of the research toolbox to include critical race methods as an essential lens on public and nonprofit administration. By foregrounding race and racism, illuminating power structures and discourses, and centering the knowledge and practices of nonprofit staff as street-level workers, critical race methods reveal the processes of construction that shape and influence a seemingly objective count and highlight the roles that staff play as mediators in the conflicts between fear and trust that are inherent to racial governance in the United States.
Feit, M. E., Philips, J. B. and Coats, T. (2021). Tightrope of advocacy: Critical race methods as a lens on nonprofit mediation between fear and trust in the U.S. Census. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 44(1), 23-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/10841806.2021.1944586
Download preprint
Academic Publications
Feit, M. E. & Sandberg, B. (2022). The dissonance of ‘doing good:’ Fostering critical pedagogy to challenge the selective tradition of nonprofit management education. Public Integrity, 24(4-5). https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2022.2034341
Feit, M. E., Philips, J. B. and Coats, T. (2021). Tightrope of advocacy: Critical race methods as a lens on nonprofit mediation between fear and trust in the U.S. Census. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 44(1), 23-45.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10841806.2021.1944586
Feit, M. E. (2018). Addressing racial bias in nonprofit human resources. In A. M. Eikenberry, R. M. Mirabella & B. Sandberg (Eds.). Reframing nonprofit organizations: Democracy, inclusion, and social change (66-75). Irvine, CA.: Melvin & Leigh.
Feit, M. E., Blalock, A. E., & Nguyen, K. (2017). Making diversity count: Critical race theory as a lens on the present and future of nonprofit education. Journal of Nonprofit Education & Leadership, 7(SI1).
Mirabella, R., Nguyen, K., & Feit, M. E. (2022). Critical pedagogy and nonprofit management education: Refocusing our classrooms towards transformation and liberation. In W. Brown & M. Hale. Preparing leaders of nonprofit organizations. Rutgers.
Forthcoming
Feit, M. E. (Under review). Displacing the burden of representation: Engaging with critical whiteness to expand the theory of representative bureaucracy.
Logan, A. & Feit, M. (In press). The racialization of philanthropic and nonprofit organizations: Applying a critical analysis to confront white supremacy & economic injustice in the sector. In R. Mirabella, T. Coule, & A. Eikenberry (Eds). Handbook of critical perspectives on nonprofit organizing and voluntary action: Concepts, applications, and future directions.
Mirabella, R., Feit, M. E., & Logan, A. (In press). Reimagining the future of the nonprofit sector. In N. Dolch & R. Mirabella (Eds.). Social change and management. Sagamore, Venture Nonprofit Book Series.
Public Reports
Feit, M. & Philips, J. (2021) Walking a tightrope of advocacy: Community organizations as mediators between voter suppression and voter participation. [Invited commentary for the 2021 ARNOVA/Independent Sector Symposium on Public Policy for Nonprofits and Philanthropy.]
Feit, M. E., Philips, J. & Coats, T. (2021) Bridge to democracy: Community organizations & US Census 2020.
Feit, M. E. & Kawai, A. (2019). You cannot pick up spilled water: Report on the Seattle Housing Authority & Seattle University Center for Community Engagement Collaborative.
Haberman, A., Knotz, S. & Feit, M. E. (2014). Vision and voice: The role of leadership and dialogue in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. D5 Coalition.