Jung Ho Choi, MPP

Jung Ho Choi is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice (SP2). His research focuses on uncovering how private funding drives social impact. He draws on organizational theory and uses both traditional causal inference methods and computational text analysis techniques, including Large Language Models.
His dissertation tackles a fundamental question in the philanthropic ecosystem: How can philanthropic funding decisions translate into real-world social change? Through three interconnected studies, he examines the key mechanisms that drive philanthropic impact. The first essay analyzes whether concentrating grants among fewer nonprofits versus distributing funding more broadly relates to different societal outcomes. The second essay investigates the organizational and institutional conditions that lead corporate foundations to support progressive social movements. The third essay examines strategies community foundations use to increase public donations and strengthen their funding base. This project has been supported by several competitive fellowship programs, including the Oxford-Penn Social Impact Fellowship Program.
Prior to joining SP2, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Public Administration from Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. He also holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota with the generous support of the Korean Government Scholarship Program for Study Overseas. His work has been published in VOLUNTAS and other peer-reviewed journals.
He will be on the academic job market in Fall 2025.