We wish to thank our reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions in the production of this first ACSIA NGO Community Report. We wish to thank the students from the American Graduate School in Paris NGO Course who helped identify the NGOs operating in Paris, France.
What does the NGO community look like in Paris? Beginning in August 2020, we set out to answer that seemingly simple question using a novel quantitative approach that combines privileged access to Facebook servers with social network analysis to map the nonprofit community across Paris.^[Data from CrowdTangle, a public insights tool owned and operated by Facebook.] What follows is the first publication of its kind. We build upon early social science research and classification strategies to bridge the information gap between theory and practice. Our results provide new opportunities to unpack the dense layers of nonprofit networks operating across Paris, Europe, and internationally using state-of-the-art tools and methods. But it's more than that—we demonstrate how our results can be extrapolated to learn features about other communities, regardless of location or interest. We utilize standardized OECD taxonomies that are tailored to the NGO sector and a common lexicon to describe key features in the data.
So how can you use this report? Our intent is to provide more than an understanding about the grassroots NGO community within Paris. In section three, we provide valuable insights about the usage of social media content. As a small NGO with limited resources perhaps you are interested in Facebook ad-buys. What type of content is most engaging? What day of the week should I time my ads? What are other nonprofits doing in my particular sector? Each are important questions to ask as you look to increase the reach of your work with a wider audience.
Perhaps you are more interested in learning about emerging themes that are spurring greater civic participation and activism? In the educational sector, you will see evidence of the growing importance of identity in French society. In the health sector, we can observe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its growing significance at the intersection of Global Health and International Relations. What role are religious organizations serving in the delivery of humanitarian aid abroad? All relevant questions that provide puzzles for future research.
In the years ahead, we will expand our NGO sector report to include other locations, beginning with New York City in 2021. Our intent is to map NGO communities on both sides of the Atlantic to identify key actors, their relationships, and most importantly—future opportunities for collaboration. In 2021, global challenges are myriad and require collective action to address the greatest threats to humanity including climate change, human rights, political corruption, health and poverty. At ACSIA, we believe that a strong, independent and diverse NGO sector is an essential component of a healthy, functioning society. Our mission is to create globally empowered communities of knowledge to make collaboration easier. This small report is a step in that direction.