There are profound differences within the nonprofit sector, and research benefits from the ability to group nonprofits by substantive focus. Researchers typically rely on the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) codes to categorize nonprofits, but we argue that mission statement text offers a better information source for nonprofit researchers to create categories of organizations. Harnessing advances in data availability and machine-reading technology, this article introduces a new method whereby mission statement analysis drives research and analysis of “like” organizations. Using an automated dictionary method to analyze mission statements, we draw a sample of housing and shelter nonprofits in Washington State. Compared with the corresponding sample based on NTEE classification, our results find roughly double the number of housing and shelter nonprofits based on their mission statements. Our method also proves more accurate than NTEE codes when applied to a sub-sample of nonprofits known to provide shelter for the homeless.

The dramatic increase in public funding for nonprofit organizations has raised concerns about the potential disadvantages of a nonprofit sector that is too reliant on government funding. Using nonprofits to deliver public programs also presents risks for the public sector, but the question of nonprofit policy influence is largely absent from discussions of public–nonprofit service collaborations. The motivation for this article stems from the contradiction between the perceived weakness of publicly funded nonprofits and their potential for policy influence. This research asks, how do nonprofits exert policy influence? Using a grounded theory approach, the research draws on the attitudes and experiences of professionals and elected officials involved in policy making and policy implementation in the area of low‐income housing. The findings indicate a variety of mechanisms through which the government–nonprofit relationship can strengthen the power of nonprofit organizations, sometimes while weakening their government counterparts.

As nonprofit organizations have become more essential to public service delivery, their representatives increasingly seek to influence the public policy process. In spite of this tendency toward advocacy, research often overlooks the nuanced perspective of nonprofit representatives who undertake such activity through coalitions. The analysis presented here offers an accounting of the struggles faced by nonprofit professionals as they pursue the myriad activities that constitute an advocate’s portfolio. The work is guided by a reconsideration of the dichotomies prevalent in nonprofit advocacy research and is presented through the eyes and words of nonprofit advocates. The research uses the context of a particular network of coalition organizations and service providers in the area of affordable housing. Drawn from a grounded theory approach, the findings offer emergent themes that deserve attention when designing new studies on nonprofit advocacy.

While nonprofit organizations are frequently understood as influencing policy through advocacy, the policy influence of nonprofit service provision has not been widely acknowledged within the context of the policy process. In spite of this oversight, nonprofit organizations have significant discretion over the publicly funded services they provide, and public policy is continuously shaped through nonprofit service delivery. Furthermore, nonprofit organizations frequently embody the roles of interest group and policy implementer simultaneously. The advocate-provider framework presented here situates these concurrent nonprofit functions within the policy process context. This framework connects research and theory across policy process, public management, and nonprofit management scholarship. The advocate-provider perspective challenges assumptions from existing scholarship while highlighting the need for future research that jointly investigates nonprofit advocacy, public service provision, and policy processes.

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