Geographic space or location is an important aspect of many research topics in the third sector. Methodological advances have made it possible for scholars to better identify, assess, and account for the spatial aspects of their data. Such advances include Geographic Information System descriptive mapping of items such as density and location, Explorative Spatial Data Analysis, and Spatial Regression Analysis. This paper reviews a range of third-sector research questions that can be addressed with spatial analysis. We then briefly summarize social science and nonprofit scholarship as they relate to spatial analysis. We conclude by describing an exploratory spatial statistic as well as a spatial regression that can be used to illustrate the usefulness of these techniques.
