Granted Utility, a Proposal for the Rhetoric of Nonprofit Wrongdoing

Abstract

This article explores the discourse of nonprofit wrongdoing through a thematic analysis of over 450 texts, including media coverage and organizational responses, surrounding four cases of nonprofit wrongdoing. These cases include theft, mismanagement of funds, lying about 9/11, and administering unintentional yet lethal doses of medication. The findings extend prior work on organizational rhetoric and propose the notion of granted utility – an assumed foundational view of the usefulness and underlying benefit of nonprofit organizations – as key for understanding nonprofit rhetoric. The findings suggest that recognizing granted utility allows organizations to focus on answering responsibility-focused questions of organizational legitimacy while maintaining utility-focused messages that reinforce granted utility when wrongdoing occurs.

Violent Enactments and Erasures: A Western Capitalist Ontology of Labor in Organizational Rhetoric About Resettled Syrian Refugees

“…Differing in mission and regulations from for-profit corporations, nonprofit, nongovernmental, or “altruistic” organizations present a unique context as institutions that intervene in complex societal issues by creating awareness, raising funds, or influencing public opinion. These organizations are driven to serve the public good in a variety of sectors (Iannacone, 2021b; Jones-Bodie, 2022); the UNHCR, notably, aims to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people (UNHCR., 2022a). Despite operational differences, these organizations also develop discursive resources that manifest distinct meanings, including those that define the organization, establish values with which people may identify, and mobilize an audience for social change (Meisenbach & Feldner, 2011; Mynster & Edwards, 2014; Peruzzo, 2009).…”