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Religious non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are active in development efforts, yet the role faith plays in these organizations-and its effects on programs-remains unclear. Drawing on evidence from a study of Kenyan NGOs, I find that faith rarely emerges in the programs of Christian religious NGOs. I argue that both secular and religious NGOs are constrained by donor restrictions and a need for legitimacy that simultaneously remove religious elements from religious NGOs and promote minimal religious practices within secular organizations. The second half of the article discusses the nuanced ways in which faith does manifest within the organizational characteristics and practices of NGOs.

Kony 2012, a film released by the nonprofit Invisible Children in the spring of 2012, drew a flurry of Facebook “shares” and “likes.” However, critics expressed a concern that the film offered a distorted portrayal of Africans and African politics. In this article, we test these criticisms by asking what effects the film had on college students’ perceptions of Africa and Africans. To address this question, we draw on a survey and an experiment conducted at a small liberal arts college whereKony 2012enjoyed popularity. The results show that the film did affect students’ perceptions of Africa; specifically, it led many to perceive Africans as lacking agency and autonomy. We argue that whereas the film did have initial negative effects on students’ perceptions of Africa, these effects seem to fade over time. Future research should explore the compounding effects of exposure to images that misrepresent the African continent.

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How much can a celebrity’s involvement with a charity campaign change minds and shape political opinion? We explore this issue in the context of an appeal by Benedict Cumberbatch regarding the Syrian refugee crisis. We find that while the emotional, vivid images of the video did elicit a statistically significant increase in students’ positive feelings toward Syrian refugees and efforts to help them, surprisingly, Cumberbatch’s plea had no effect at all on these political views. Post-experiment focus groups allowed us to further probe these findings, and we suggest that viewer skepticism reduces celebrity influence, but that celebrity may be more effective as a “hook” in grabbing viewers’ attention, than in actually swaying their views. We also find that participation in a charity plea has the potential to benefit celebrities themselves by dramatically improving viewers’ perceptions of them.

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