Nonprofits for Nonprofits: Three Essays on Nonprofit Infrastructure Organizations

Nonprofit infrastructure organizations (NIOs) are critical for the sustainability of the nonprofit sector. They support the sector by providing training and consultation, facilitating network building, developing performance measures to ensure accountability, and advocating on behalf of the sector. Despite their prominence, they are among the least researched nonprofits. Most existing studies are qualitative, leaving important facts about NIOs unknown. This three-article dissertation aims to accomplish three tasks: Identify NIOs and report descriptive statistics, examine factors that influence their advocacy effectiveness, and explore ways NIOs can finance themselves more successfully. The first part of the first study attempts to overcome the fundamental challenge of NIO research – identification. So far, there is no ready-to-use method to identify NIOs. This study proposes a novel solution to the challenge. I first use Dictionary-Based Text Analysis to assign an index to all mission statements in 2016 e-filed form 990 data, based on their likelihood of being NIOs. I then generate a sample of 909 NIOs by reading over 6,000 mission statements with high indices. The second part of the study presents descriptive findings of an original survey on the identified NIOs, including their sizes, income portfolios, geographic focus, functions performed, advocacy involvement, etc. The second study examines determinants of NIOs’ advocacy effectiveness. While most existing studies focus on service delivery nonprofits’ advocacy activities, these nonprofits increasingly rely on NIOs to defend their interests in the political arena. Informed by absorptive capacity theory, I explore how NIOs’ connectedness, knowledge, and learning capacity affect their advocacy effectiveness, measured by overall effectiveness and six advocacy impacts. Drawing on the survey data and the 990 data, ordered logistic regressions suggest that different absorptive capacities matter for different advocacy impacts. This is the first study that investigates the advocacy effectiveness of NIOs – a critical but largely ignored participant of nonprofit advocacy. The findings call for more comprehensive measures of nonprofit advocacy effectiveness and have important practical implications for NIO’s advocacy activities. The third study explores ways NIOs can finance themselves more successfully. While scholars and practitioners have noticed NIOs’ financing challenges, no study has yet been conducted to explore ways they can improve. Using the original survey data and form 990 data, I test whether constructing a benefits-based revenue portfolio leads to better financial health, measured by solvency, profitability, margin, and revenue concentration. I found that although there is a positive correlation between benefits activities and benefits revenues, the match between the two does not necessarily lead to improved financial health. Specifically, I found that only private match improves some aspects of NIO financial health. Group match has no impact on the financial indicators and public match harms NIO’s financial sustainability. The findings imply that the nature of different revenues, such as transaction costs and volatility, may matter more for nonprofits’ financial health than the benefits match between activities and revenue streams

Contribution of increasing CO2 and climate change to the carbon cycle in China\u27s ecosystems

Atmospheric CO2 and China\u27s climate have changed greatly during 1961–2000. The influence of increased CO2 and changing climate on the carbon cycle of the terrestrial ecosystems in China is still unclear. In this article we used a process-based ecosystem model, Biome-BGC, to assess the effects of changing climate and elevated atmospheric CO2 on terrestrial China\u27s carbon cycle during two time periods: (1) the present (1961–2000) and (2) a future with projected climate change under doubled CO2 (2071–2110). The effects of climate change alone were estimated by driving Biome-BGC with a fixed CO2 concentration and changing climate, while the CO2 fertilization effects were calculated as the difference between the results driven by both increasing CO2 and changing climate and those of variable climate alone. Model simulations indicate that during 1961–2000 at the national scale, changes in climate reduced carbon storage in China\u27s ecosystems, but increasing CO2 compensated for these adverse effects of climate change, resulting in an overall increase in the carbon storage of China\u27s ecosystems despite decreases in soil carbon. The interannual variability of the carbon cycle was associated with climate variations. Regional differences in climate change produced differing regional carbon uptake responses. Spatially, reductions in carbon in vegetation and soils and increases in litter carbon were primarily caused by climate change in most parts of east China, while carbon in vegetation, soils, and litter increased for much of west China. Under the future scenario (2071–2110), with a doubling CO2, China will experience higher precipitation and temperature as predicted by the Hadley Centre HadCM3 for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment. The concomitant doubling of CO2 will continue to counteract the negative effects of climate change on carbon uptake in the future, leading to an increase in carbon storage relative to current levels. This study highlights the role of CO2 fertilization in the carbon budget of China\u27s ecosystems, although future studies should include other important processes such as land use change, human management (e.g., fertilization and irrigation), environmental pollution, etc

An Overview of the Financing of National Social Sector Infrastructure Providers

In this report, we provide an overview of the financing of national social sector infrastructure providers incorporated as nonprofits by exploring their overall size, revenue structures, and financial health from 2014 to 2019, which constitutes the most recent six-year data released by the Internal Revenue Service. We also make initial observations about the gifts that MacKenzie Scott made to national social sector infrastructure providers in 2021. We hope our findings will help social sector infrastructure funders, providers, and users learn more about infrastructure financing and the steps they can take to strengthen infrastructure providers' financial health

Construction of a dinuclear silver(I) coordination complex with a Schiff base containing 4-amino-1,2,4-triazole ligands

The new ligand 1-(1,2,4-triazol-4-ylimino­meth­yl)-2-naphthol (L) and the title silver(I) complex, namely bis­[μ-1-(1,2,4-triazol-4-ylimino­meth­yl)-2-naphthol]bis­{[1-(1,2,4-triazol-4-yl­imino­meth­yl)-2-naphthol]silver(I)} dinitrate monohydrate, [Ag2(C13H10N4O)4](NO3)2·H2O, were synthesized. Each silver center in the dimeric complex (related by an inversion centre) is coordinated by two bridging L ligands and one additional L ligand in a monodentate fashion, exhibiting a distorted trigonal-planar coordination. The discrete dimers are further linked through O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds and weak π–π stacking inter­actions [the shortest atom–atom separation is ca 3.46 Å between the parallel stacking pairs]. Intramolecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds are also present

Evaluating water stress controls on primary production in biogeochemical and remote sensing based models

Water stress is one of the most important limiting factors controlling terrestrial primary production, and the performance of a primary production model is largely determined by its capacity to capture environmental water stress. The algorithm that generates the global near-real-time MODIS GPP/NPP products (MOD17) uses VPD (vapor pressure deficit) alone to estimate the environmental water stress. This paper compares the water stress calculation in the MOD17 algorithm with results simulated using a process-based biogeochemical model (Biome-BGC) to evaluate the performance of the water stress determined using the MOD17 algorithm. The investigation study areas include China and the conterminous United States because of the availability of daily meteorological observation data. Our study shows that VPD alone can capture interannual variability of the full water stress nearly over all the study areas. In wet regions, where annual precipitation is greater than 400 mm/yr, the VPD-based water stress estimate in MOD17 is adequate to explain the magnitude and variability of water stress determined from atmospheric VPD and soil water in Biome-BGC. In some dry regions, where soil water is severely limiting, MOD17 underestimates water stress, overestimates GPP, and fails to capture the intraannual variability of water stress. The MOD17 algorithm should add soil water stress to its calculations in these dry regions, thereby improving GPP estimates. Interannual variability in water stress is simpler to capture than the seasonality, but it is more difficult to capture this interannual variability in GPP. The MOD17 algorithm captures interannual and intraannual variability of both the Biome-BGC-calculated water stress and GPP better in the conterminous United States than in the strongly monsoon-controlled China

Time-dependent asymptotic behavior of the solution for evolution equation with linear memory

In this article, by using the operator decomposition technique, we discuss the existence of a time-dependent global attractor for a nonlinear evolution equation with linear memory within the theory of time-dependent space. Furthermore, the regularity and asymptotic structure of the time-dependent attractor are proved, which means that the time-dependent attractor of the evolution equation converges to the attractor of the limit wave equation when the coefficient $\varepsilon(t)\rightarrow0$ as $t\rightarrow \infty$

Staphylococcus cohnii infection diagnosed by metagenomic next generation sequencing in a patient on hemodialysis with cirrhotic ascites: a case report

BackgroundPatients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) often just receive empirical antibiotic therapy, as pathogens can be identified in only few patients using the techniques of conventional culture. Metagenomic next generation sequencing (mNGS) is a useful tool for diagnosis of infectious diseases. However, clinical application of mNGS in diagnosis of infected ascites of cirrhotic patients is rarely reported.Case presentationA 53-year-old male with cirrhosis on regular hemodialysis presented with continuous abdominal pain. After treatment with empiric antibiotics, his inflammatory parameters decreased without significant relief of abdominal pain. Finally, based on ascites mNGS detection, he was diagnosed as infection of Staphylococcus cohnii (S.cohnii), a gram-positive opportunistic pathogen. With targeted antibiotic treatment, the bacterial peritonitis was greatly improved and the patient’s abdominal pain was significantly alleviated.ConclusionsWhen conventional laboratory diagnostic methods and empirical antibiotic therapy fail, proper application of mNGS can help identify pathogens and significantly improve prognosis and patients’ symptoms

Fermentation optimization of maltose-binding protein fused to neutrophil-activating protein from Escherichia coli TB1

Background: The fermentation conditions of recombinant maltose-binding protein fused to neutrophil-activating protein (rMBP-NAP) of Helicobacter pylori were optimized from Escherichia coli TB1 with varying medium, inoculum age and size, time, inducer, pH and temperature in batch fermentation. Results: It was revealed that the optimal conditions for the production of rMBP-NAP in shake flask were as follows: M9 medium (with 3% yeast extract powder added), inoculum age of 19 h, inoculum size of 6%, initial pH of 6.6, temperature of 37\ub0C, and 0.7 mmoL/L IPTG inducted 21 h in a 50 mL/250 mL shake flask. The recombinant protein yield was increased from 59 to 592 mg/L after optimization. Fermentation process conducted in a 10 L fermenter with similar conditions could get 30 g/L wet cell and 1.738 g/L soluble protein with the rMBP-NAP expression level of 11.9%. Conclusion: The results improve the expression level of rMBP-NAP, and it is expected that these optimized conditions can be well applied for large scale production of rMBP-NAP

Poly[hemi(ethyl­enediammonium) [di-μ-oxalato-indium(III)] dihydrate]

In title compound, {(C2H10N2)0.5[In(C2O4)2]·2H2O}n, the unique InIII ion is coordinated by eight O atoms from four oxalate ligands in a distorted square-anti­prismatic environment. The doubly bis-chelating oxalate ligands act as bridging ligands connecting symmetry-related InIII ions and forming a three-dimensional open framework structure. Ethyl­enediammonium cations and water mol­ecules occupy the voids within the structure. The unique ethyl­enediammonium cation and one water mol­ecule both lie on a twofold rotation axis. One of the other two water mol­ecules residing on general crystallographic sites was refined as disordered with half occupancy. In the crystal structure, cations and water mol­ecules are linked to the anionic framework via inter­molecular O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds