Nonprofit organizational legitimacy and government grants under authoritarianism: evidence from Chinese foundations

The literature on NGOs under authoritarian rule largely attributes NGOs' receipt of government grants to their political connections. This article presents an alternative explanation by asking the question: Does nonprofit organizational legitimacy influence the receipt of government grants under authoritarianism? Applying logit regression to 2,021 Chinese foundations, this article proposes that passing the nonprofit evaluation, which is one of the major certification programs in the country's nonprofit sector, is positively related to the probability of receiving government grants. Subsample analysis reveals that nonprofit evaluation is influential for the receipt of government grants primarily among foundations formally affiliated with government agencies. This article provides for the first time evidence that contemporary authoritarian regimes appreciate nonprofit organizational legitimacy, albeit still in a highly politicized manner.