Viviana Chiu Sik Wu

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Viviana Chiu Sik Wu is an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy and the Principal Investigator of the Community For Impact (C4I) Lab. As a nonprofit scholar, she employs a diverse methodological toolkit—including quantitative, qualitative, and computational methods—to investigate how nonprofits, foundations, and communities drive social and policy change. Her research focuses on three main themes:

• Philanthropy: The role of place-based giving and how communities shape and are shaped by philanthropic giving.
• Community Leadership: Leadership strategies within nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to catalyze social change.
• Social Media Advocacy: How nonprofits use online platforms for advocacy and public engagement.

A critical aspect of her work examines the inequalities of philanthropic resources and the distribution of power within the nonprofit sector. Collectively, her work draws on an interdisciplinary perspective to advance theoretical development and fosters a critical understanding of how inequality manifests in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, alongside endeavors to democratize power and promote social change.

Her publication, "Community Leadership as Multidimensional Capacities," won the Editors’ Prize for Best Scholarly Paper in Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Volume 32. Additionally, Wu has been awarded the RGK-ARNOVA President’s Research Award for her ongoing project, titled "The ‘Matthew Effect’ in Generosity: Examining the Impact on Nonprofit Capacity Across Place and Time," which investigates the philanthropic gap in the United States, focusing specifically on the challenges faced by nonprofits serving disadvantaged communities. 

Her work has been featured in leading nonprofit and public management journals, including Public Management Review, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Voluntas, Nonprofit Management and Leadership, and Academy of Management Proceedings.  Throughout her career, Wu has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Editors’ Prize for Best Scholarly Paper in Nonprofit Management and Leadership, the ARNOVA Best Conference Paper Award, the Emerging Scholar Award, and the RGK-ARNOVA President’s Research Award. Her work has been funded by the RGK Foundation, the Institute for Humane Studies, the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), and the University of Pennsylvania.

Wu holds a PhD in social welfare from the University of Pennsylvania, a bachelor’s degree in public administration and laws and a law (LL.B.) degree from the University of Hong Kong, and a master’s in nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.