Dr. Jessica Berrett Recognized with the 2025 Emerging Scholar Award
Dr. Jessica Berrett, assistant professor at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, has been recognized with the 2025 Emerging Scholar Award.
Selected by members of the AFP Foundation's Research Council, the award honors an individual who is emerging as a contributing scholar or scholar-practitioner to the discourse on philanthropy and fundraising. The purpose of the award is to recognize those who are pursuing research agendas congruent with the mission and interests of AFP Foundation and the AFP Research Council.
This year Dr. Berrett was chosen for her highly productive research and publication record. Dr. Berrett’s work challenges how academics and practitioners generally understand and measure nonprofit efficiency. Using various financial ratios from nonprofit IRS 990 tax forms, her research explores how organizations turn inputs into actual outputs and how executive directors perceive their own organizational efficiency.
Dr. Berrett has received two Levis research grants from the AFP Foundation for her projects: “Exploring the Impact of the Legalization of Marijuana on Nonprofits in Colorado” and “Framing Nonprofit Overhead and Performance: Understanding the Influence of Messaging on Donor Decisions”.
Dr. Berrett published an article on her research in the January 2025 issue of Advancing Philanthropy entitled "Research: The Complex Relationship Between Nonprofits and Cannabis Philanthropy".
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The AFP Foundations for Philanthropy champion philanthropy and volunteerism by strengthening the nonprofit sector’s current and future leaders, welcoming diverse new voices into the charitable world, and rigorously upholding the highest standards of ethics. The Foundation currently focuses on developing fundraising leadership programs, supporting research on critical issues in the profession, building a stronger sector through a more diverse workforce, and renewing public trust in charitable organizations. More information about the Foundation can be found at https://afpglobal.org/USFoundation
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