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.