Cryptoaltruism refers to the ways in which distributed ledger technologies, especially blockchains, are changing the nature of the nonprofit sector. This study specifically investigates how the blockchain technology has been used by Ukrainian nonprofits during the current Russia-Ukraine War. To link this to the more general literature on blockchains, we consider whether blockchains are used primarily as a general-purpose technology or as an institutional technology which redefines how nonprofits coordinate activities. Our analysis of Ukrainian nonprofits provides evidence supporting both perspectives. Widespread acceptance of cryptocurrency suggests blockchains are an efficiency-enhancing new technology. We also show that novel applications on nonfungible tokens to preserve art and culture and to raise funds, as well as uses of blockchains to address challenges with trust, lend support to the idea of blockchains as an innovative institutional technology that is transforming the nature of the nonprofit sector. This study intends to motivate further development of the emergent agenda on cryptoaltruism and its role in the nonprofit sector.

This Special Issue focuses on entrepreneurship education in rural areas and small towns, illuminating the dynamics of entrepreneurship education in these often-neglected contexts. The articles in the Special Issue examine the development and outcomes of entrepreneurship programs and initiatives in different parts of the world and aiming at different kinds of rural students. By doing so, they also raise questions about the effectiveness of applying one-size-fits-all approaches to entrepreneurship education regardless of the context, calling for a more nuanced approach to developing entrepreneurial mindsets, competencies and skills. The findings also identify new opportunities to improve pedagogical methods for entrepreneurship education in rural contexts. Among these, future entrepreneurship education should focus more strongly on the role played by place and community, the interplay between formal and informal pedagogical approaches, and the diverse support needs of rural students of different ages and backgrounds.

This paper examines and compares the funding distribution inequities in arts organizations across three different funding institutions-government grantmaking, charitable contributions, and crowdfunding-through different inequity measures. Based on three different datasets including the National Endowment for the Arts grants data, National Center for Charitable Statistics data, and Kickstarter crowdfunding data starting in 2009, we find that compared to non-arts funds on the same platforms, arts-related funds in these institutions are not more concentrated in the hands of a few, although the level of concentration is strikingly high. In addition, we find that nonprofit contributions are heavily concentrated, far more than government grants. However, contributions to arts nonprofits are not more concentrated than to other nonprofits. We also explore how the pandemic crisis impacted arts funding distributions.

The decades-long rise of economic inequality in the U.S. has led to a growing body of literature examining the role of policy in shaping income differences. We examine one such policy: occupational licensing regulations. Licensing can restrict employment and reduce market competition, which can then inflate wages for those in licensed professions. Existing research demonstrates that occupational licensure does increase wages in specific industries, leading some scholars to argue that licensing makes income inequality worse. We add nuance by arguing that the effect of licensing on inequality is dependent on which occupation classes experience the largest wage premiums. Using a comprehensive over-time database of state licensing regulations, we first demonstrate that medium- and low-wage jobs garner larger wage premiums than high-wage occupations. Second, consistent with this result we then show that the occupational licensing regulations have the overall effect of reducing state income inequality. This research contributes to our understanding of the causes of growing inequality and how public policy can shape economic disparities through sometimes unintended and indirect ways.

Purpose - Research has long lauded collaboration at work as one of the best management strategies to increase employee engagement, raise productivity and enhance innovation. In real life, many businesses also strongly encourage and enforce workplace collaboration. However, the purpose of this paper was to examine workplace collaboration from a practitioners' perspective who experienced collaborations firsthand. Design/methodology/approach - This paper takes a practical and ethnographic view and examines collaboration in three different organizations which varied in mission and size. Findings - The findings identify three major drawbacks of collaboration including repetitive meetings, slowed business process and a reduction of recognition and accountability. Practical implications - Three practical suggestions for leaders and managers to improve their collaboration strategies are discussed. Originality/value - This article is one of the first to examine collaboration from a practitioner's point of view while providing detailed examples. It is also amongst the first to provide actionable suggestions to practitioners that can be implemented immediately.

Purpose- Social ventures have been reported to have a hard time obtaining funding. A growing number of social ventures have used crowdfunding as a viable alternative fundraising tool. This paper aims to investigate among social ventures, what makes some more successful than others in crowdfunding.Design/methodology/approach- Theoretically, this study builds upon three streams of literature: nonprofit fundraising literature, crowdfunding literature and social entrepreneurship literature. Empirically, it obtains data with a novel Web-crawling approach from the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform and analyzes them with a variety of statistical modeling.Findings- This study finds that social ventures that have greater internal resources including team size and venture age, stronger partnerships with other entities and more frequent communications with backers via social media and updates have a higher tendency to successfully raise funds from the crowd than those social ventures that do not.Originality/value- This study seeks to understand social ventures' crowdfunding performance and identify the specific factors that have led some social ventures to be more successful than other social ventures. It builds a novel data set and uses different statistical models to explore the intersection of social entrepreneurship and digital crowdfunding. In addition, this study provides actionable strategies for social ventures to improve their crowdfunding performance while providing practical implications for increasing people's knowledge of and participation in social entrepreneurship through education and public policy. Overall, this study contributes to both social entrepreneurship and crowdfunding literature while offering practical implications.

This policy brief proposes a tax credit with related qualifying conditions that address the serious deficiencies related to abuse and neglect found in the current for-profit long-term care space. It also seeks to address the lack of government accountability for huge outlays of taxpayer dollars in the form of Medicare and Medicaid payments to these facilities, much of which results in maximizing profits for wealthy investors at the expense of vulnerable individuals with limited voice. Our proposed policy arrangement alters the organizational DNA of the for-profit organization, including the moderation of profit, to circumvent the existing financial incentives that are driving the mistreatment and malpractice so evident in the system. It aims to achieve this through four policy components including social financing, a sliding dividend cap, employee-ownership, and limits on complex corporate structures which are tied to a tax credit. This multi-faceted policy idea is intended to start the discussion around a possible path forward.

Public managers and administrators confront the increasing scale and prevalence of crises. Despite some deployments, blockchain applications by governments for emergency management and response management have only begun to scratch the surface. To facilitate greater awareness of the promises and challenges of blockchain applications to the public sector, we consider the ways in which distributed ledger technologies can improve emergency and crisis management across the dimensions of transparency, public trust, and social equity. The article ends with a call for a public administration research agenda on blockchains for emergency and crisis management.

Despite the importance of technology entrepreneurship, we know little about what factors lead to a tech entrepreneurial career. Based on the biographies of “black swan” tech entrepreneurs, this paper first inductively identifies the adolescent tech entrepreneurial learning ecosystem that is shared by them. We then empirically test the impact of the adolescent tech entrepreneurial learning ecosystem on individuals’ tech entrepreneurial career by using a large longitudinal dataset tracing 3116 individuals over 20 years from adolescence through adulthood. We find that the adolescent tech entrepreneurial learning ecosystem impacts individuals’ tech entrepreneurial intentions, commitments, and ultimately careers. This study ends with detailed policy implications. This paper identifies the adolescent tech entrepreneurial learning ecosystem and finds that it has a significant impact on individuals’ tech entrepreneurial career. Many are fascinated by tech entrepreneurs who have not only led breakthrough innovations but also greatly influenced human life. Relying on both biographic data of “black swan” tech entrepreneurs and a large longitudinal dataset following individuals for over 20 years, this study shows that many key elements including family background and school education are strong predictors of individuals’ tech entrepreneurial career. Put differently, those whose families cannot afford tech learning resources would suffer from losing at the starting line. This study, therefore, suggests that more policy initiatives should be developed to help underprivileged students to enhance technology-related afterschool activities where they can develop their interests in tech projects.

The issuance of disaster declarations has become a politicized matter. Prior research has demonstrated that presidents are more generous in awarding disaster relief in federal election years, and that there is a prevalence to award governors from the opposing political party. Additionally, voters tend to reward presidents seeking re-election to a greater degree for disaster response assistance rather than funding preparedness. The original research for this paper explores the impact of natural disasters on re-election rates and analyzes voter trends during presidential election years in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region 3 states for congruence with existing literature covering a national scope. Evaluations of the behaviors and (re)election margins of Presidents Bush and Obama are explored, and implications for President Trump's re-election effort are based on quantitative data and qualitative comparisons.

It is well documented that startups struggle to obtain funding. Despite the emergence of online crowdfunding which is a financial tool that allows entrepreneurs to receive funds from a large group of individuals, startups have to gain legitimacy to overcome liability of newness and smallness in pursuit of financial resources. Building on the theory of organizational legitimacy with a focus on four different types of legitimacy, this study creates a unique dataset and investigates the effects of each type of legitimacy on projects’ crowdfunding performance. The findings suggest that various types of legitimacy are critical in crowdfunding efforts to help entrepreneurs obtain higher pledge amounts and stronger crowd support and to reach their initial goal amounts. However, some types of legitimacy are more effective than others in a crowdfunding context. This study not only contributes to the crowdfunding and organizational legitimacy literature but also provides practical strategies for startups to improve their crowdfunding success. Trying to use crowdfunding to start a business? Building legitimacy is the key. My new study “Crowdfunding: Different types of legitimacy” explores the strategies necessary to be successful on crowdfunding. With a novel data collection method, this study extends current legitimacy theory to the crowdfunding setting which requires entrepreneurs to gain legitimacy from the public through an accelerated process. Based on the in-depth examination of the effects of different types of legitimacy on crowdfunding performance, this study shows that moral, pragmatic, associational, and consequential legitimacy play significant roles in ventures’ crowdfunding performance. This research makes one of the earliest attempts to investigate legitimacy theory in a broader sense. It is also the first study to connect legitimacy with crowdfunding. Furthermore, the findings provide entrepreneurs with actionable strategies to succeed in crowdfunding.

Purpose This article examines the relationship between stakeholders and shareholders and identifies the key lessons from the B Corp movement that serve as practical tools for businesses – not just B Corps – to be more stakeholder focused. Design/methodology/approach This article uses an in-depth interview with the author of Better Business: How the B Corp Movement Is Remaking Capitalism . Findings This article focuses on the pros and cons of the B Corp movement. One key point of discussion is that because B Corps focus more on stakeholders in general, they are more likely to attract likeminded employees who also support the companies’ missions, which also leads to greater retention rates. There is also growing interest from the investment community in B Corps and stakeholder-driven companies generally. However, a big challenge for B Corps lies in customer awareness. While many consumers may be buying products from B Corps, they do not know about the certification that links them together. A further conclusion is that even if a company does not want to be a B Corp, they can still benefit from the different stakeholder management tools and processes the movement has developed. Practical implications The article argues that businesses can – and should – be responsible and accountable to any stakeholder beyond shareholders. While they do not necessarily need to become B Corps, they can use the accountability and governance tools - like the B Impact Assessment (BIA) and benefit corporation governance - as guides to better manage their businesses to be more sustainable and resilient and to contribute to a better society. Social implications The B Corp movement has emerged as a powerful voice calling for businesses to balance financial returns with environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. The B Corp model shifts conventional business from a shareholder primacy to a stakeholder focus, through novel corporate governance and accountability mechanisms. This article investigates the key lessons that all businesses can learn from the B Corp movement to make the world a better place to live. Originality/value This article takes a pracademic approach using academic research on the B Corp movement to generate actionable lessons for businesses.

The root of urban poverty and inequality often results from limited economic opportunity. Yet, often this perception of lack of opportunity is centered on the early stages of new venture formation, with only limited attention to venture growth and expansion. In this study, we explore the intersection of social venturing and community economic redevelopment to address this gap in the literature. We examine how venturing under conditions of limited economic opportunities occurs not just at the formation stages but also throughout the venturing life cycle. Specifically, we examine how ventures formed in distressed, urban neighborhoods face unique challenges when scaling up their operations. These challenges relate to securing and leveraging four types of capital: financial, physical, human, and social. We employ a case study methodology to examine these scaling challenges and the strategies the organization employed to overcome location disadvantages.

In recent years, social finance has gathered significant, and increasingly global, scholarly and policy interest. This chapter provides a brief review of the concepts, history, forms, and policies related to social finance, with a primary focus on the United Kingdom and the United States. Debates around social finance are often focused on commercial or financial dimensions, in which nonprofits are typically not centrally involved. In this chapter, we focus on three key forms of social finance as examples to show how social finance benefits or engages with nonprofit organizations. The three forms of social finance are impact investing, social impact bonds, and crowdfunding, which all have advantages and barriers in serving nonprofits and social enterprises.

Universities have fully embraced academic entrepreneurship, transforming their structures, systems, and processes to generate licensing revenues and create new ventures. While prior research has mainly focused on the relationship between public policy and entrepreneurial activities, this study examines a major gap – the performance implications of regional politics on academic entrepreneurship. We use a unique data set of U.S. universities and their regional governments to test how the influence of two elements of a region's political climate – consensus and stability – affects entrepreneurial and commercial performance. Our results suggest that political consensus and stability are positively associated with higher licensing revenues, while political stability is negatively associated with new venture creation. Our results reveal how regional politics influence university commercial outcomes, which suggests that entrepreneurship-enhancing public policy is intimately linked to the regional political process. We discuss the implications for theory and practice, and suggest possible future research directions.