Mirae Kim, a 2013 participant in Dr. Frumkin’s summer Doctoral Fellows Program, was recently named a recipient of the award for Outstanding Article in Nonprofit and Volunteer Sector Quarterly (NVSQ) for her paper “The Relationship of Nonprofits’ Financial Health to Program Outcomes: Empirical Evidence from Nonprofit Arts Organizations.” She presented her research at the ARNOVA Annual Conference in Austin, TX in November. Kim teaches at Georgia State University, where her research focuses on interorganizational partnerships and the role of nonprofits in civil society, among other things. She reflected on her time as a Doctoral Fellow and told us about some of her upcoming projects.
For Kim, “the best part of the Fellow Program was its design; the program schedule incentivized us to spend enough time to improve our own research projects by sharing feedback [with] each other [but] still enjoy ourselves with many interesting outdoor activities.” In particular, she remembers taking a cooking class at a nearby museum with her cohort. The experience was “a lot more than simply working on a paper for four weeks”–she was able to make new friends, explore Philadelphia, and have “invigorating” discussions that sparked new interests and ideas. She has carried this lesson with her as a faculty member, and maintains a healthy balance between work and fun.
Kim’s vision of the research process has also changed since participating in the program. “[Peter Frumkin’s] advice to look for more provocative and really meaningful research questions, rather than simply focusing on publishable or manageable research work, has particularly inspired me to continuously re-evaluate my research work,” she says. She has fond memories of the other Fellows as well, whom she describes as “life-long friends.” They continue to support each other as their academic lives grow and change.
One of Kim’s current projects looks at “the dilemma nonprofit executive directors face between offering fair and competitive salaries for their employees and keeping their overhead costs low.” The objective of keeping overhead costs low has long been a debate within the nonprofit sector, with motivations ranging from reducing fundraising obligations, to funding more programs, satisfying donors, and of course maintaining competitive salaries. So far, Kim has conducted an online study of 500 nonprofit executives. She’s interested in how nonprofit leaders navigate the tension between reducing overhead costs and retaining talented employees.