| This dissertation examines the various nonprofit organizational forms which support the socio-political construct of civic engagement. Relying on interview data from eighty membership-based nonprofit organizations, ranging from traditional service nonprofits, public-service nonprofits, to various types of advocacy organizations, an assessment of the organizational venues for the cultivation of a civically engaged citizenry is offered. The results add a more nuanced critical response to the work of Robert Putnam and others who point to the limitations of advocacy organizations in providing meaningful opportunities for civic engagement. To that end, this work points to innovative strategies that advocacy organizations utilize to engage their membership base which differ in interesting and important ways from the traditional model of nonprofit organizational engagement. |
