Three theses are principally competing in nonprofit organizations literature concerning the patterns and impact of government funding on nonprofit organizations in an age of governance. According to the cooptation thesis, government funding suppresses autonomy of recipient organizations and, it disproportionately goes to elite organizations (Roelofs 2005). According to the capacity building thesis, government funding helps recipient organizations build their capacity, and it relatively spreads across nonprofit organizations according to their expertise (Brown and Troutt 2004; Evans 1996; Langley et al. 1996; Salamon 1995). Channeling thesis describes the way elite grantors steer nonprofit organizations toward moderate goals and institutionalized tactics without the direct control of recipient organizations (Jenkins 1998). This study aims to test which thesis properly explains the patterns and impact. The three theses are conceptualized in terms of two core notions that political and organizational theorists teach us: (1) centralization of resource flow and (2) agency autonomy. Elitism and pluralism in the political science inform us the patterns of resource flow, but from the polar positions. Pluralists assume decentralized resource flow while their critics assume the opposite (Dahl 1982; Frumkin 2002). Similarly, new institutionalism and resource dependence theory in organization studies leave us in dilemma. New institutionalism theorists underscore that organizations commonly accede to external pressures (Meyer and Rowan 1977), while resource dependence theorists contend that organizations actively manage and control environmental demands (Pfeffer and Salancik 1974). Based on the two notions, I put forth the main propositions. (1) If government funds are selectively distributed among NGOs and agency autonomy of funded NGOs is lower, cooptation thesis is more valid than other theses. (2) If government funds are distributed relatively evenly among NGOs but agency autonomy of funded NGOs is higher, capacity building thesis is more valid than other theses. (3) If government funds are selectively distributed but agency autonomy of funded NGOs does not weaken, channeling thesis is more valid than other theses. I primarily rely on the grant data from the national Korean government, which awarded grants to environmental NGOs during 1999 - 2005. I will also collect primary data from survey questionnaires which will be completed by NGO officials. This study includes a network analysis and a statistical analysis on the population level, and an organizational level analysis by which to investigate the perceived impact of government funding on NGOs. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]