Non-profits, Tweets, and Social Well-Being

• In Event: 138 - Regular Session. Civil Society Solidarity and Boundaries

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations are a large and growing sector in the United States and span a diverse array of fields including education, youth development, employment, healthcare, and the arts. Yet little is understood concerning their impacts in the lives of individuals. Since nonprofits are often explicitly oriented toward building and helping communities, they should be associated with increased well-being on the part of citizens. This study explores whether communities with higher numbers of nonprofits per capita exhibit greater social well-being in the form of more positive relationships, emotions, and engagement and fewer negative relationships, negative emotions, and disengagement. We use novel measures of social well-being -- positive and negative tweets in a county -- and relate them to per capita nonprofits in relevant fields, such as the arts, derived from the National Center for Charitable Statistics. We find that most categories of nonprofit organizations (e.g., education, recreation/sports, and human services) decrease the expression of negative emotions, negative sentiments about relationships, and disengagement on Twitter. A few categories of nonprofits, those focused on the arts, education, philanthropy, and the environment, also increase the proportion of tweets in a county that indicate engagement and positive emotions. This study broadens the discussion regarding what nonprofits may be accomplishing in the communities in which they are located.

Authors

• Robert Wayne Ressler, University of Texas at Austin

• Pamela M. Paxton, University of Texas

• Lilla Pivnick, University of Texas at Austin

• Kristopher Velasco, University of Texas-Austin

• Inbar Weiss, University of Texas at Austin