“Put me in,Coach”: A pilot evaluation of executive coaching in the nonprofit sector

The use of executive coaching within the nonprofit sector has received increased attention over the past decade as a mechanism to build capacity and address issues of burnout and turnover among executives. This article presents the results of an evaluation of a pilot six‐month executive coaching program that was implemented in 2005 in an urban metropolitan area. The evaluation collected data through surveys and semistructured interviews with nine executive directors and five coaches who participated in the pilot and analyzed the data to assess the effectiveness of the delivery and usefulness of the experience. The coaching experience was rated as very helpful and supportive of the development of executive directors as nonprofit leaders.     

“Don't you want to stay?” The impact of training and recognition as human resource practices on volunteer turnover

Managing volunteers is a difficult undertaking. This study draws on human resource (HR) management theory and literature to investigate the effect of two HR practices—training and recognition—on volunteer turnover. We use longitudinal administrative data collected by an Indiana nonprofit organization, which contains individual volunteer characteristics, organizational HR practices, and information on actual turnover behavior. We found that recognizing volunteer contributions with awards predicted volunteer retention in the following year. Training did not have a direct effect on volunteer turnover, but interacted with gender; men who received training were more likely to stay than women. The study contributes to the literature on HR management in the volunteer context, adds to the emerging literature on awards as incentives for volunteers, and addresses the common method bias by using longitudinal data.     

BRAC: Anatomy of a “poverty enterprise”

Management of the poverty alleviation process has created a new form of poverty enterprise. This enterprise provides poverty‐production‐market linkages, and in the process, it combines three features: a nonprofit nongovernmental organization, a for‐profit nongovernmental organization that has established an internal market, and a profit‐making industrial and business concern. This article explains how BRAC (Building Resources Across Community) in Bangladesh has used poverty to transform itself from a tiny relief distribution organization into the world's largest poverty enterprise. This enterprise is characterized by contradictions between its public claims and actual practices.     

“Corporate” governance in nonprofit organizations

The economics‐based theoretical and related empirical literature on the governance of nonprofit organizations is brought together and integrated in a way easily accessible for noneconomists. This literature is scattered in academic journals covering economics, health economics, management, and accounting, and in the more nonprofit‐geared research publications. After defining corporate governance, I present in a nontechnical way the most appropriate economic framework for studying governance problems: the principal‐agent theory. Most of the economic literature deals with the role and influence of the board and its relation to the organization's management and performance. This is reflected in the article's structure. The board's functioning, composition, and committee structure are first discussed, followed by a review of the literature on incentive‐based remuneration schemes, disclosure of financial information, and the use of debt to mitigate agency problems between the board and management. The literature dealing with donors and subsidizing authorities in governance relations is then presented. The article concludes with a number of practical implications of the scholarly obtained results to date, as well as some suggestions for further theoretical and empirical research.     

Tweet, tweet, tweet: A content analysis of nonprofit organizations’ Twitter updates

Many of the relationship cultivation strategies and the dialogic principles assume symmetrical communication is taking place. However, significant amounts of information are shared in a one-way manner. Although they have fallen out of favor with many academics, the four models of public relations can provide significant insights into how organizations communicate. Using the models as the guiding framework, this brief study examines how nonprofit organizations from the Philanthropy 200 communicate on Twitter. The findings reveal that the organizations are more likely to use one-way models despite the potential for dialogue and community building on the social networking site.     

Engaging stakeholders through social networking: How nonprofit organizations are using Facebook

Since social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, began allowing organizations to create profiles and become active members, organizations have started incorporating these strategies into their public relations programming. For-profit organizations have used these sites to help launch products and strengthen their existing brands; however, little is known about how nonprofit organizations are taking advantage of the social networking popularity. Through a content analysis of 275 nonprofit organization profiles on Facebook, this study examines how these new social networking sites are being used by the organizations to advance their organization's mission and programs. Solely having a profile will not in itself increase awareness or trigger an influx of participation. Instead careful planning and research will greatly benefit nonprofits as they attempt to develop social networking relationships with their stakeholders.     

“To be a business and to keep our humanity”

In recent years, the political nature of nonprofit funding has been well established, with research focusing on increased demands for accountability (Eikenberry and Kluver, 2004), difficulties in selecting accountability measures (Reed, Jones, and Irvine, 2005), and the shift from organizational mission that can occur while trying to adhere to funding requirements (Adcroft and Willis, 2005; Parsons and Broadbridge, 2004). This article examines the dynamics between a funder and the nonprofit organizations it funds within an evolving accountability process. Specifically, we use qualitative methods to examine the negotiations between the funder and the nonprofits. Both sides in the funding relationship face tensions as they attempt to work within the constraints of this specific funding regime while trying to maintain their focus on social justice outcomes.     

Understanding workplace deviant behavior in nonprofit organizations

Workplace deviant behavior has traditionally been studied with respect to business or for‐profit organizations. In this article, we argue that nonprofit organizations also experience deviance, and due to their unique characteristics, they deserve special attention for extending the understanding of workplace deviant behavior to other types of organizations. Based on a review of the literature on deviance, we develop a general model of workplace deviance that we apply to nonprofit organizations. Based on the integrative conceptual framework, we advance relevant propositions for understanding and explaining deviance in nonprofit organizations.     

Human resource management,employee engagement,and nonprofit hospital performance

Human resource management (HRM) has been shown to impact organizational performance, but more research is needed on particular human resource (HR) practices in nonprofits and their effect on performance. In this article, we explore one HRM practice argued to influence performance, employee engagement in decision‐making, examining whether involving staff at different levels of a nonprofit affects nonprofit organizational performance. Drawing on data from a 2011 study of nonprofit hospitals, we find employee engagement has a positive influence on managerial and stakeholder perceptions of organizational performance. Employee engagement in decision‐making is also related to objective nonprofit performance measures, although the effects are less consistent. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for nonprofit research and practice.     

Identifying Attributes of Relationship Management in Nonprofit Policy Advocacy

Relationship management has been identified as an important activity for policy advocacy, but little is known about the strategies that human service administrators use to develop and maintain relationships with policymakers. This exploratory study aimed at identifying attributes of relationship management strategies that are associated with policy advocacy outcomes. Data were gathered from a sample of 333 nonprofit human service providers in Florida. Controlling for organizational size, the findings indicated that several established dimensions of relationship management were associated with policy advocacy success: networking, sharing of tasks, and assurances. Post hoc analyses found that the relationship between policy advocacy success and the domains of access and openness were respectively mediated by networking and sharing of tasks. Implications for nonprofit administrators and researchers are discussed.     

What Influences the Growth of the Chinese Nonprofit Sector: A Prefecture-Level Study

The nonprofit sector in China has experienced unprecedented growth in its scope and impact over the past four decades. Despite the significant growth, the distribution of nonprofit activities across localities is not well understood. This study combines administrative and census data to examine the size of the Chinese nonprofit sector across 334 prefectures. The study demonstrates a significant variation in nonprofit sector size across prefectures. The study further shows that population heterogeneity, government social spending, and government fragmentation have positive effects on boosting nonprofit sector size in a prefecture. Although diverse service needs affect the growth of the Chinese nonprofit sector, government activities play a more important role in mobilizing nonprofit activities and driving nonprofit sector growth.     

Reputation spillover effects from grant‐providing institutions

There is a broad academic discussion about the impact of funding grants from a foundation or a government department on individual support intentions toward the nonprofit organization receiving the grant. However, the role of the grant provider's reputation has frequently been overlooked. In this study, we experimentally tested whether there is a reputation spillover effect of a grant‐providing organization. Based on a real‐life example, we asked citizens to rate their willingness to donate to a nonprofit organization, and we experimentally manipulated the available information on funding sources. We test this for both a government department and a foundation as a grant provider. Our results suggest that not the act of receiving a grant, but the citizens' awareness about the funding organization—at least in the case of a foundation—has an impact on support intentions. In contrast, for a prominent government department as a grant provider, we did not find support for a reputation spillover effect.     

Leading a Large‐Scale Distributed Social Enterprise

Distributed social enterprises with national or international footprints face unique management challenges. To cast a lens on these challenges, we analyze the case of the US‐based social enterprise Goodwill Industries, a century‐old, hybrid nonprofit organization with annual business‐related revenue of more than $5.5 billion. The economic benefits that accrue from this business are used to support a social mission that has continued to evolve for more than 100 years. We explore how Goodwill is organized and how its management works to continually balance economic and social objectives to facilitate long‐term success.     

Nonprofit organizations in between the nonprofit and market spheres: Shifting goals,governance and management?

In spite of the belief instilled by the New Public Management reforms that nonprofit organizations (NPOs) can benefit from more management, more measurement and more market practices, systematic knowledge on the organizational effects of NPOs incorporating business practices in their day‐to‐day functioning remains absent to date. This research note addresses this limitation by reviewing 49 research articles. The focus lies on the redefinition of nonprofits' mission and income streams, changing governance arrangements and shifting management practices. We find that, despite numerous detrimental effects cited in the literature, (a) generating commercial income can contribute to the financial stability of NPOs, and (b) hybridization towards the market domain can strengthen the organizational legitimacy of NPOs, suggesting that imitating for‐profit enterprises might contribute to nonprofit functioning in perception, rather than in practice.     

Managing amidst mosaic: Integrating values and rationalization in the nonprofit arts

This ethnographic study of visionary art environment Philadelphia's Magic Gardens (PMG) draws on theories of rationalization in nonprofits to explore factors that influence the impact of this process on organizations. Responding to theories that rationalization attenuates expressive drivers of nonprofit activity, an analysis of PMG is used to explore and contextualize a literature‐derived theoretical framework that suggests variables that may influence the outcome of rationalization processes in organizations. The PMG case supports and adds nuance to a notion that the strength of expressive and rationalizing impulses and the convergence or divergence of intra‐organizational values influence whether growing nonprofits are able to integrate instrumental structures and expressive motivations.     

Resource Constraints or Cultural Conformity? Nonprofit Relationships with Businesses

Nonprofit interactions with businesses have become increasingly diverse, but which nonprofits establish relationships, and to what extent do relationships depend on the form or type of tie? Focusing on nonprofit collaboration with businesses and donations from businesses, we test arguments based on sociological institutionalism and resource dependence theory. We find that nonprofits relying on earned income, nonprofits led by individuals with management degrees, and rationalized nonprofits all are more likely to report collaborations with businesses, aligning with expectations from institutional theory. For donative ties between businesses and nonprofits, we find that rationalized nonprofits are more likely to have charitable gifts from businesses. However, nonprofits with earned income are less likely to have business donations, and funding diversity has a salient positive effect. These results reveal important but paradoxical institutional and resource dependence effects. We conclude with a discussion of our divergent findings and set an agenda for additional research on the topic.     

The crowding‐out effect within government funding: Implications for within‐source diversification

The benefits and risks of revenue diversification lead scholars to propose within‐source diversification as a possible compromise. Although this revenue strategy sounds promising, no scholarly attention has been devoted to empirically examining it. This study explores within‐source diversification across government funding, specifically whether nonprofit receipt of support from a major government funder affects support from other government funders. Using a panel dataset of U.S.‐based international development nonprofits from 1995 to 2014, we find that nonprofits with more funding from the major funder are associated with significantly less funding from other funders. This crowding‐out effect weakens as organization size grows. The findings imply that the within‐source diversification strategy might be more desirable for larger organizations with the capacity to manage multiple funding relationships.     

External environmental change and transparency in grassroots organizations in China

As the nonprofit sector emerges in China, so too do the concerns about nonprofit transparency. In response to calls for increased nonprofit information disclosure and the lack of related research, this study examines changes in transparency of Chinese grassroots nonprofit organizations. Using the first national Survey of Transparency on Grassroots Organizations (2013–2015), this study finds that Chinese grassroots nonprofit transparency has increased in the past few years. Applying resource dependence theory in China‐specific social contexts, this study highlights the importance of external resource to nonprofit transparency. These findings contribute empirical evidence to the nascent literature on nonprofit transparency and provide implications for enhancing nonprofit transparency in China and beyond.     

Networking Modes and Performance in Israel's Nonprofit Organizations

The present article examines the relationship between networking modes and performance for 138 nonprofits in Israel. We draw upon the bridging and bonding concepts and social exchange theory and introduce the sharing and consulting networking modes to predict performance in terms of organizational growth in resources. We suggest that differences in networking modes (1) reflect variations in organizational size and age and (2) affect organizational growth in resources. We show that (1) the consulting networking mode is more frequent among managers of smaller and younger nonprofits, (2) sharing is characteristic of managers in older and larger nonprofits, (3) sharing has a strong effect on organizational growth, and (4) the sharing and consulting modes are better predictors of organizational performance than those of bonding and bridging. The results indicate that nonprofit growth in organizational resources is possible with networking when managers aspire to higher involvement in the networking process due to the scope and extent of goals.