New Study Reveals Corporate Directors on Charity Boards Drive Pro-Corporate Lobbying

CATONSVILLE, MD, Oct. 16, 2025 – A new peer-reviewed study in the INFORMS journal Management Science finds that public charities with corporate directors on their boards are significantly more likely to lobby on behalf of the connected firms’ political interests. More to the point, the research found that nonprofit governance structures can quietly serve as extensions of corporate influence into the political process, raising questions about transparency and accountability in the nonprofit sector.

The study, “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Role of Corporate Board of Directors in Public Charity Lobbying,” was authored by Changhyun Ahn of Lingnan University in Hong Kong, and Joel F. Houston and Sehoon Kim, both of the University of Florida

The researchers used IRS Form 990 tax filings, corporate board data and lobbying disclosures to examine thousands of connections between corporations and public charities.

They found that board overlap drives lobbying. Charities with corporate directors on their boards spend 12–14 percent more on lobbying for the same issues as their connected firms. The study authors found that corporate influence extends beyond donations. They found that as important as donations are to the lifeblood of any nonprofit, lobbying activity is driven more by board connections rather than donor-driven factors.

In some cases, corporations with people on charity boards tend to receive more government procurement contracts from government agencies that are lobbied by the connected charities. The researchers found that in some fields or industries that are more competitive, corporate board members from those industries are more active and involved in charity lobbying activities.

“As public charities work harder than ever to raise funds and advocate for their own stakeholders, our research couldn’t be more timely and relevant,” said Ahn. “We were able to draw a line from corporate directors to the lobbying activities of nonprofit organizations.

To conduct their research, the study authors analyzed data spanning 1999 to 2017, linking IRS Form 990 filings on charity finances and boards; BoardEx data on corporate directors’ outside affiliations; and U.S. Lobbying Disclosure Act reports on lobbying activities.

“We created measures of connected charity lobbying (CCL), tracking lobbying by charities on the same topics and bills as connected firms,” said Houston. “We tested the robustness of the data by excluding common issues (budget, tax, immigration), analyzing director turnover events, and matching nonprofit organizations’ positions on specific congressional bills.”

Kim added, “The results consistently showed that when corporate directors joined or left charity boards, lobbying by those charities shifted to align with the connected firms’ political interests.”

The research underscores how charitable organizations, though ostensibly mission-driven, can become vehicles for corporate political activity.

About INFORMS and Management Science

INFORMS is the world’s largest association for professionals and students in operations research, AI, analytics, data science and related disciplines, serving as a global authority in advancing cutting-edge practices and fostering an interdisciplinary community of innovation. Management Science, a leading journal published by INFORMS, publishes quantitative research on management practices across organizations. INFORMS empowers its community to improve organizational performance and drive data-driven decision-making through its journals, conferences and resources. Learn more at www.informs.org or @informs.

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