Transnational Nonprofit Action: Diaspora Giving, Collective and Social Remittances, and the Provision of Public Goods and Services

This article explores transnational nonprofit action through diaspora-led nonprofit organizations in the United States (U.S.) and their funding and support of public goods and services in the home country. Diaspora communities around the world make contributions to their homelands in various ways that have impact on public governance. Specifically, diaspora members engage in philanthropic giving behaviors towards their countries of origin, including via collective and social remittances. How does this diaspora giving contribute to the provision of public goods and services in the country of origin? This research uses a multi-sited, comparative case study design that included extensive fieldwork in the U.S. and Colombia, and the transnational space between these settings. Building on theory about public governance and nonprofit organizations, the research generates and further explores empirically a framework of three sets of resources that condition transnational nonprofit action—material, relational, and institutional. Material resources illuminate how diaspora-funded projects directly support public service delivery. Relational resources capture how trust, credibility, and embedded community ties via diaspora-led organizations provide access to both networks and funding sources. Institutional resources, namely norm-setting, explain how collective and social remittances have the potential to shape expectations, standards, and practices about the nonprofit sector, philanthropic giving, and public governance more broadly.