Research & Publications
Fifteen years of research. Over $2.5M in competitive funding. Three books. Work published in the Washington Post, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, and The Conversation alongside leading academic journals. Applied frameworks now in use across government and nonprofit governance.
BOOKS
How Mission-Driven Organizations Work with AI: A Cointelligence Framework
With Abhishek Bhati · Edward Elgar Publishing · Forthcoming
A structured approach for organizations trying to figure out where AI can genuinely help, where it introduces risk, and how to build governance that accounts for both. The Cointelligence framework gives leaders a way to evaluate AI tools against their own values and build the institutional capacity to govern AI adoption over time — not just react to it.
Nonprofit Collaborations in Diverse Communities
Collaboration across difference is harder than it looks. This book examines what it actually takes for organizations to build and sustain cross-sector partnerships in diverse communities — the trust work, the power dynamics, the conditions under which coalitions hold or fall apart. It's a study of what genuine civic cooperation requires when the partners don't share the same political standing, public legitimacy, or institutional history.
Understanding Muslim Philanthropy
Most philanthropy infrastructure was built around a particular image of the American donor — and Muslim Americans don't fit it. This book uses original data to examine how Muslim Americans give, what drives that giving, and why the existing frameworks for understanding charitable participation consistently undercount and misread a significant dimension of American civic life. The implications go beyond Muslim philanthropy: any institution that assumes it knows who its constituents are and what they value is taking a governance risk.
AI GOVERNANCE & PUBLIC VALUE
How do mission-driven organizations adopt AI in ways that actually serve their mission? What governance structures keep automated systems accountable to the people they affect? How do leaders evaluate whether AI tools are working — not just technically, but in terms of the values the organization exists to advance?
Sandberg, B., Wasif, R., & Hand, L. (2025). Addressing the promise and peril of AI for nonprofit management through a data feminist pedagogy. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 31(2), 123–140.
Hand, L., Wasif, R., & Sandberg, B. Reconsidering public value creation of artificial intelligence in the public sector: A data feminist approach. Revise & Resubmit, Public Administration.
Bhati, A., & Wasif, R. Who's using AI? Exploring determinants of AI usage among nonprofit organizations in the United States. Under review, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.
Ebrahim, T., & Wasif, R. (In Press). Innovation Originators. Michigan Technology Law Review.
CIVIL SOCIETY, TRUST & INSTITUTIONAL LEGITIMACY
How do organizations build and sustain public trust when they operate under political suspicion? How do stigmatized communities maintain civic capacity? What happens to institutional legitimacy during crisis? This research provides the foundation for the AI governance work. The organizational pressures are the same; the technology is new.
Wasif, R., Paarlberg, A., Siddiqui, S., & King, D. (2025). Racialized minorities, discrimination, and support for civil rights during crisis. Nonprofit Policy Forum. Advance online publication.
Siddiqui, S., Samad, A., & Wasif, R. (2025). Collaboration through trust building: Building trust among racialized and stigmatized nonprofits. Nonprofit Management and Leadership. Advance online publication.
Siddiqui, S., Wasif, R., & Paarlberg, A. (2025). Broadening the definition of philanthropy: Understanding US citizens' embrace of Muslim philanthropic traditions. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. Advance online publication.
Umarji, O., Wasif, R., Noor, Z., & Siddiqui, S. (In Press). Philanthropy under uncertainty: Religious giving during a pandemic. Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs.
Siddiqui, S., Samad, A., & Wasif, R. (In Press). A year of learning: Educating the philanthropic community about racialized and stigmatized nonprofits. Foundation Review.
Noor, Z., Wasif, R., & Siddiqui, S. (2024). Volunteering in the middle of crisis and politicization. Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 53(2), 345–372.
Wasif, R., Siddiqui, S., & Noor, Z. (2024). Navigating identity through social media: Twitter use of Muslim-American nonprofits. Voluntary Sector Review.
Siddiqui, S., Samad, A., & Wasif, R. (2024). Building partnerships through third-party facilitation. Voluntary Sector Review.
Siddiqui, S., Wasif, R., & Samad, A. (2023). Building collaboration using the community collaboration initiative model. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 29(4), 1–10.
Siddiqui, S., Wasif, R., & Noor, Z. (2023). Muslim philanthropy in the United States. In S. Siddiqui & Z. Noor (Eds.), Philanthropy in the Muslim World. Edward Elgar.
Wasif, R. (2023). Did 9/11 affect donations to Islamic charities in the United States? Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 52(5), 1475–1495.
Noor, Z., Wasif, R., Siddiqui, S., & Khan, S. (2022). Racialized minorities, trust, and crisis: Muslim-American nonprofits, their leadership and government relations during COVID-19. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 32(3), 341–364.
Wasif, R. (2021). Terrorists or Persecuted? The Portrayal of Islamic Nonprofits in US Newspapers Post 9/11. VOLUNTAS.
Wasif, R. (2020). Does the Media's Anti-Western Bias Affect its Portrayal of NGOs in the Muslim World? VOLUNTAS.
Wasif, R., & Prakash, A. (2017). Do government and foreign funding influence individual donations to religious nonprofits? Nonprofit Policy Forum, 8, 237–273.
PUBLIC WRITING
Research that stays in journals doesn't reach the people making decisions. These pieces bring the same rigor to audiences who need it now.
Wasif, R., & Prakash, A. (2022). Pakistan is seeking flood assistance — but not from foreign NGOs. Washington Post.
Hughes, M., Wasif, R., & Siddiqui, S. (2022). How Muslim Americans meet their charitable obligations. The Chronicle of Philanthropy & The Conversation.
Wasif, R., & Siddiqui, S. (2021). US Muslims gave more to charity than other Americans in 2020. The Conversation.