An analysis of nonprofit board interlock networks

Abstract

Nonprofits are a key element of civic infrastructure in cities, creating social capital through their networked relations with each other. One such network is that of board interlocks, which occur when people serve on multiple boards of directors. In this thesis, I investigate the structures of these board interlock networks and how they relate to their local communities. I gather names of nonprofit board members from the Internal Revenue Service's form 990 filings, and graph networks for each city in the United States. I find evidence for greater community social capital in more distributed and less concentrated networks.