Doctoral Student Lindsey McDougle Featured on Perspectives from the Pipeline Blog
Recently, the Caster Family Center for Nonprofit Research’s very own Lindsey McDougle was featured on the Perspectives from the Pipeline Blog. Below is the story.
“Lindsey McDougle is currently a doctoral student at the University of San Diego pursuing a degree in Leadership Studies with a specialization in Nonprofit and Philanthropic Studies. She is a doctoral research assistant at the Caster Family Center for Nonprofit Research at the University. Research wise, Lindsey is interested in race, class, and gender differences in public expectations of nonprofit organizations, as well as in leadership and social media.
I “met” Lindsey online after she started reading my blog. A few months later, I was delighted to see she had started her own blog sharing her expertise on leadership studies. Her writing and advocacy for higher education in philanthropy is part of what inspired me to pursue a PhD in that field myself. If you’re trying to navigate the nonprofit PhD scene, Lindsey’s knowledge will certainly prove useful to you as well.
Lindsey McDougle, Blogger at Leadership as a Field of Study, Doctoral Research Assistant at the Caster Family Center for Nonprofit Research
Age: 27
Lives in: San Diego, CA
How did you become interested in doing the work of social change?
My interest in social change has been pretty continuous since I started college. Although I have not always been interested in the area of nonprofit and philanthropic studies, I have always been interested in a variety of socially related issues.
As an undergraduate student, for instance, I was heavily interested in environmental justice and issues of equity with regard to environmental concerns. The minimal amount of environmental resources (and environmentally focused education programs) invested into rural areas and communities of color led me to pursue a degree in Human Dimensions in Natural Resources. I continued this interest into graduate school, but I also became interested in corporate social responsibility and corporate philanthropy, and the role that corporations can play in helping to alleviate social disparities.
Why did you decide to pursue a PhD in Nonprofit and Philanthropic Studies?
I think that many people who study, or even work in, the nonprofit sector have a belief that there is something that they can do… something that they can contribute… to help make the world (if only in a small way) a better, more equitable place. And, I think that nonprofit organizations allow people a means of turning that belief into reality.
For me, then, I was really interested in studying how nonprofits-these organizations that often act as conduits for so much good-could effectively leverage their resources to achieve the greatest societal benefit.
Tell me about some of the nonprofit research you’ve done so far.
There are not very many academic centers that focus specifically on nonprofit research. So when I began the process of looking into Ph.D. programs, the University of San Diego (USD) immediately stood out to me. I think that I have been extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to be involved in the Caster Family Center for Nonprofit Research at the University. Through the Center I have not only been able to lead major research projects, but I have also been able to develop practical consulting skills through several applied projects.
My most recent research project focused on public confidence in the San Diego County nonprofit sector (a project that was funded by the San Diego Foundation). With my team of colleagues, we designed an in-depth survey instrument that assessed the level of confidence San Diegan’s had in a variety of nonprofit services, their confidence in different nonprofit sub-sectors, their perceptions of executive compensation in the sector, and their preferences for nonprofit services over the services provided by other sectors.
My dissertation research uses this same data set and I am focusing on how race, class, gender, and individual values may affect a person’s perceptions of, and preference for, nonprofit organizations in industries where nonprofit, for-profit, and government organizations coexist and compete for customers (e.g., education and health care industries).
What lessons have you learned from your consulting work in the nonprofit sector?
Every nonprofit organization is different. However, just like in the for-profit sector, leadership, strategy, and accountability are elements that all organizations, regardless of sectoral affiliation, must value. Nonprofit organizations often provide the services and goods to those most in need. Without effective leadership, deliberate strategy, and sound accountability nonprofits run the risk of not only damaging public image of the sector, but also of letting down those who most rely on, and need, their services.
For the rest of the interview click here.