Our Vision and Mission

The Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ) envisions a world in which we live in an active democracy whose values are fully grounded in human rights, economic and social justice, racial equity, and thriving communities. Our mission is to advance conversations and practice in civil society—as manifested in nonprofits, social movements, and philanthropy.

Our Work

NPQ uses a range of media channels to help advance critical conversations that can refine nonprofit and social movement policy and practice. In our work, we seek to be a challenging voice that helps to advance conversations in the sector, especially, as is too often the case, when they are “stuck.”

In so doing, we consciously seek out a wide range of voices. In addition to the work of NPQ editors and staff, we rely heavily on the contributions of volunteer writers, contributors, and advisers, who push us to think about ideas in new ways.

Our History

NPQ launched as a national print journal in the winter of 1999, with the objective of providing credible, research-based articles for nonprofits about nonprofit management and governance although its mission has always been to advance active democracy. NPQ’s quarterly magazine soon became the leading journal of the nonprofit sector. At the time, the divide between practitioners and researchers was particularly large. While a gap still exists, we like to believe that our work has helped generate greater two-way communications between researchers and practitioners, improving the quality of both research and practice. Over time, NPQ has expanded our work to also cover a range of issues related to the operating environment for nonprofits—specifically, public policy, philanthropy, racial equity, and economic justice.

NPQ has also expanded over time to engage our audience through a variety of digital media platforms. In 2006, we added the daily e-newsletter. More recently, we have added webinars and podcasts. Through all of our media channels, we aim to deliver a constant stream of well-analyzed, time-sensitive, and contextualized information to help practitioners negotiate their rapidly changing landscape filled with unprecedented opportunity and challenges.

NPQ is known for our rigor and grounded understanding of nonprofits, civil sector movements, and philanthropy, and we have always depended upon our readership to help guide our editorial agenda. We believe this interplay of ideas and conversation is what keeps NPQ a relevant and trusted source for hundreds of thousands of practitioners across the country and beyond.

To learn more about how the Nonprofit Quarterly uses its finances, please refer to our 2022 990.

NPQ would like to thank our funders and donors and contributing writers.