This research explores what roles nonprofits play in political representation, using the concept of representational styles and foci. Representational foci refer to those whom nonprofits aim to mainly serve: members, constituents, and the general public. Representational styles denote how nonprofits act on behalf of those people: the delegation, trusteeship, and educational styles. Survey and regression analysis results reveal that nonprofits aiming to mainly serve their members are most likely to directly convey their members’ voices to policy makers – the delegation style. In contrast, nonprofits that aim to advocate primarily for their constituents are likely to pursue what they independently identify as the best interests of their constituents – the trusteeship style. On the other hand, nonprofits that aim to speak chiefly for the general public are most likely to act on their own initiative based on their own assessment of policy issues and to work toward educating the general public – the trusteeship and educational styles.

We examine how organizational structure influences strategies over which corporate leaders have significant discretion. Corporate philanthropy is our setting to study how a differentiated structural element, the corporate foundation, constrains the influence of individual senior managers and directors on corporate strategy. Our analysis of Fortune 500 firms from 1996 to 2006 shows that leader characteristics at both the senior management and director levels affect corporate philanthropic contributions. We also find that organizational structure constrains the philanthropic influence of board members, but not senior managers, a result that is contrary to what existing theory would predict. We discuss how these findings advance understanding of how organizational structure and corporate leadership interact, and how organizations can more effectively realize the strategic value of corporate social responsibility activities.