Nonprofit organizations as franchise operations

This article examines the structural relationship between national nonprofit organizations and their local affiliates. For a substantial number of nonprofits, the national-local relationship can be modeled as a franchise relationship. The author considers ways in which the franchise system serves to mitigate a number of the organizational and economic problems facing nonprofits. Finally, particular devices used by franchises are examined, focusing on the ways in which national organizations tax their local affiliates and the extent of territorial restrictions placed on local affiliates.     

Reinventing a Large Nonprofit: Lessons from Four Voluntary Health Associations

This article describes attempts by four voluntary health associations to obtain their member organizations' consent to an emphasis on national rather than local goals and to new structures that centralized the members' management and governance functions while keeping service delivery decentralized. It argues that at three of the four associations, the member organizations agreed to a restructuring because the national organizations won their trust through a broadly inclusive decision‐making process and because the members were persuaded that the restructuring would increase resources available for local programs and services. Although the shift in focus to national goals risks diminishing local support, the reorganizations are evidence of a broadly felt need in nonprofit associations for a new decision‐making model and for new roles for volunteers that take better advantage of their community relationships.     

Understanding the Compensation of Nonprofit Executive Directors: Examining the Influence of Performance and Organizational Characteristics

In this study we aimed to provide a better understanding of executive compensation in nonprofit organizations. We examined factors including organizational size, market, subsector, organizational type, staffing level, and organizational performance as potential influences driving variation across the nonprofit sector. The models utilize data on the population of nonprofit organizations required to file Form 990 returns with the Internal Revenue Service in order to broadly examine compensation. The results indicate associations between various measures of performance and compensation in nonprofit orga‐nizations and also suggest that different types of nonprofits may be sensitive to different measures of performance.     

Patterns of governance structures in trade associations and unions

Most research on the governance of nonprofit organizations concentrates on welfare‐oriented organizations and disregards other types of nonprofits. This article examines the governance structures of trade associations and unions as a special type of nonprofit organization. Analysis is based on a qualitative case study survey of thirty Swiss trade associations. The results distinguish four categories of governance: satellite governance, delegate governance, executive governance, and inner‐circle governance.     

Understanding nonprofit missions as dynamic and interpretative conceptions

Missions are central to all nonprofit organizations, and establish their purposes. However, formal mission statements can fail to provide a true picture of a nonprofit’s mission. This article draws on prior scholarship on missions, including the role of interpretation and change, to propose two new concepts: personal and dominant mission conceptions that introduce a dynamic, socially‐constructed understanding of nonprofit mission. Personal mission conceptions are the interpretations that individuals within a nonprofit hold of the mission, while the dominant mission conception is the collective interpretation guiding a nonprofit during a specific time. Examples from two specific nonprofits are provided to demonstrate the conceptions, along with some guidance for how mission conceptions can inform future research and practice.     

Female Leadership in French Voluntary Associations

Drawing on a recent national survey, this article focuses on the female representation on executive committees in French voluntary associations. To begin with, we observe that this representation is very unequal according to the different officer positions. It is especially low among presidents while it is markedly higher among secretaries. Then, we study the relationship between the associations’ attributes and the likelihood of women being appointed as executive committee members. Our investigation bears out some findings from previous studies on nonprofit female leadership. For instance, we show that the proportion of female officers is higher in organizations whose activities pertain to social service, health, and humanitarian sectors. It is lower in the oldest associations and it decreases as their geographical area of activity increases and as their budget becomes larger. But we also emphasize new results. First, the probabilities that women hold president, treasurer and secretary positions are highly correlated to each other. Second, the likelihood that associations have female presidents is higher in associations with few volunteers. We consider possible explanations for the latter result.     

Community Foundations: A Growing Resource for Community Development

Like many nonprofit organizations, community development corporations (CDCs) rely on various sources of funding and support for their activities in poor and distressed neighborhoods. Funders often include the federal government, state and local government agencies, financial institutions, and philanthropic organizations. The author explains how community foundations are different from other philanthropic organizations and describes the various mechanisms that community foundations use to support community development. She suggests that there is a natural fit between the purpose of community foundations and the philosophy of community development, concluding that it is important for CDCs, as well as other nonprofit organizations, to understand how community foundations are different from other philanthropic organizations so that they may better position themselves to take advantage of the many resources that community foundations bring to their communities.     

The economics of performance management in nonprofit organizations

This article analyzes whether and how private‐sector notions of performance management apply to nonprofit organizations. To this end the author shows that each concept of performance management used in the private sector is based on a specific economic theory of the firm and its environment. Before transferring concepts and tools derived from a certain model of the firm and its environment to nonprofit organizations, one must determine whether the assumptions underlying this model are also adequate for nonprofit organizations. Otherwise, one must first adjust those assumptions and analyze whether the derived concepts and tools are still meaningful in the new context; if not, one must determine how to modify them accordingly. The analysis elaborates on the differences between for‐profit and nonprofit organizations that are important for applying performance management concepts. Moreover, the author discusses the practical implications for the use of balanced scorecards in nonprofits.     

Structures,Challenges, and Successes of Volunteer Programs Co‐managed by Nonprofit and Public Organizations

This article presents a mixed‐methods, multicase study and comparison of volunteer programs in US national parks that have evolved, in response to growth and fiscal pressures, to be co‐managed by national park staff and their nonprofit support partners. Findings detail why and how the expanded partnerships were formed; how they operate; challenges they face; ways in which they adhere to, stretch, and depart from theories of nonprofit management, collaboration, and program institutionalization; and the significant—even exponential—volunteer program growth that resulted in each case. These nonprofit?public volunteer program partnerships—at Acadia, Arches and ­Canyonlands, Cuyahoga Valley, Golden Gate, the National Mall, and Yosemite national park sites—employ many standard forms of interorganizational relations, even though in these cases the nonprofits give money to the government organization instead of the reverse. Their volunteer program and management structures also share similar elements because of coercive, normative, and mimetic pressures. At the same time, each volunteer program partnership is a distinct blend of collaboration and management practices because of the unique natural features, climate, needs, adjacent populations, and personalities of leaders at each site. The cases employ innovative strategies to substantially increase the number of staff who lead volunteer programs. Recommendations are offered for nonprofit management research and practice, and findings are instructive for organizations that utilize volunteers either as a single entity or as part of a collaboration.     

Using Social Network Analysis to Enhance Nonprofit Organizational Research Capacity: A Case Study

As donor agencies become more specific in funding requirements, research that can demonstrate the collaborative efforts of a nonprofit agency with its organizational neighbors and how those efforts pay off in terms of capacity and provision of services is highly useful. Recognizing these benefits, a local funding agency in Virginia commissioned a study to look at the ways in which social network analysis (SNA) can enhance the data resources available to nonprofits for funding and grant requests. In this article, we present a case study of a network of 52 nonprofit organizations to illustrate the viability of SNA in terms of funding and research needs specific to nonprofit organizations. We discuss the outcomes of the case study in terms of how the visual and metric outputs of SNA can be used by nonprofits to enhance the accomplishment of their organizational missions and strengthen their grant requests.     

The strategic restructuring of nonprofit associations: An exploratory study

In the past decade, many voluntary associations have reported experiencing tension and frustration in the relationships between central offices and local affiliates. The current challenge is how to maintain cohesion of the association and the utility of the central office while accommodating the desire of affiliates for autonomy. Based on an eighteen-month exploratory study of the evolution of two associations, this article explores these tensions and offers five propositions for the effective restructuring of the leadership and governance of associations over time.     

The Who,Why, and How of Reinvention in Nonprofit Organizations

Although reinvention of government agencies is being extensively discussed, relatively little is known about the reinvention strategies of nonprofit organizations. This article reports survey results for a randomly selected group of nonprofit organizations from across the United States. We conclude that reinvention is being used as a management tool by nonprofit organizations and that it is affecting day‐to‐day operations. Regardless of how reinvention was implemented, these organizations generally view their reinvention activities as successful for increasing productivity, enhancing services, improving performance, and managing costs.     

Nonprofit and for-profit home care in Israel: clients' assessments

Clients' assessments of differences between nonprofit and for-profit organizations delivering home care services to Israel's frail elderly were studied. No significant differences were found between nonprofit and for-profit providers with respect to organizational efficiency; speed of placement and replacement of home care workers; responsiveness to clients' complaints; and supervision of care plans, schedules, and service delivery. Systematic differences were found, however, in clients' perceptions of workers employed by nonprofit versus for-profit service providers. The differences related to the home care workers' adaptation to clients' needs and wants; how well workers delivered services; and how satisfied clients were with the services received. Indications are that the relatively high efficiency of nonprofit organizations can largely be attributed to the performance of their home care workers.     

Mission Impossible?: Measuring Success in Nonprofit Organizations

The difficulty of measuring performance in the nonprofit sector has long been recognized. This article begins with a case study detailing how one organization, The Nature Conservancy, tackled the challenge of moving beyond measuring activity to measuring mission impact. After several false starts, the Conservancy developed a model for measuring success, divided into three broad areas: impact, activity, and capacity. The article then presents data from interviews with leaders of thirty other leading nonprofits, who reveal how their organizations measure performance in these three areas. It concludes with some lessons learned about performance measurement in the nonprofit sector.     

MEDIATING CUTBACKS IN HUMAN SERVICES: A CASE STUDY IN THE NEGOTIATED ORDER

The nexus between the social world of private nonprofit service organizations (NPOs) and their environment is examined through data from a national study of reductions in fiscal support and through focused interviews with a sample of chief personnel in agencies in Maricopa County, Arizona. As a study in how some organizations adjust to changes in their funding environment, these data provide a basis for assessing the relative impact of fiscal restraint on organizations, as well as accounting theoretically for the impact of structure through interpretive process, social order through social control, and the construction of a negotiated order. When faced with reductions in federal support, NPOs took different courses of action in order to avoid negative impacts. Interpreting the data from a negotiated order perspective suggests that agencies' adjustments were mediated by an awareness of the national and local contexts, the services they offered, the clients they served, and their general capacity to maximize their resource mobilization potential . In some instances this adjustment amounted essentially to redefining their relevant environment, which was accomplished by integrating the format, logic, and criteria of the external world of business. The agencies survived and in some instances prospered, but their distinctive symbolic structure was compromised.     

Nonprofit and For-Profit Home Care in Israel

Clients' assessments of differences between nonprofit and for-profit organizations delivering home care services to Israel's frail elderly were studied. No significant differences were found between nonprofit and for-profit providers with respect to organizational efficiency; speed of placement and replacement of home care workers; responsiveness to clients' complaints; and supervision of care plans, schedules, and service delivery. Systematic differences were found, however, in clients' perceptions of workers employed by nonprofit versus for-profit service providers. The differences related to the home care workers' adaptation to clients' needs and wants; how well workers delivered services; and how satisfied clients were with the services received. Indications are that the relatively high efficiency of nonprofit organizations can largely be attributed to the performance of their home care workers.     

Organizational Culture in Civic Associations in Russia

The organizational culture of nonprofit organizations is affected by the context in which they are embedded. Based on a qualitative study of local civic associations in Novosibirsk, Russia, this article illustrates how nonprofit organizational culture has been shaped by historical and contemporary social and cultural conditions. The fluid situation for civil society in Russia has generated varied organizational culture across nonprofits. Interview data reveal different value orientations, distinct group identities, and different images of the ideal civic association: as a social establishment, as an outlet for self-expression, as a network of experts, or as a social startup. This resulting diversity of organizational culture has implications for the potential for partnerships among nonprofits, between nonprofits and government, between nonprofits and businesses, and also for the organizational survival of nonprofits in this setting.     

Doing Better While Doing Good: Motivational Aspects of Pay-for-Performance Effectiveness in Nonprofit Organizations

Management practices in the nonprofit sector have been changing over the last decade. Many nonprofit organizations are now mimicking the management techniques of for-profit organizations. Referring to prevailing economic, psychological, and management theories, this paper deals with pay-for-performance plans and specifies reasons for their introduction into nonprofit organizations. The determinants of pay-for-performance effectiveness are analyzed with special emphasis on the motivational determinants. The results of the analysis are incorporated into a model of pay-for-performance effectiveness. Referring to theoretical reasoning as well as empirical studies, this paper analyzes how the motivational determinants of pay-for-performance effectiveness are coined in different types of nonprofit organizations. The paper ends with a discussion in which the author presents an alternative explanation for the introduction of pay-for-performance plans into nonprofit organizations and some suggestions for future research.     

Inclusion and commitment as key pathways between leadership and nonprofit performance

Given the projected growth of workforce diversity in the United States and the fact that heterogeneous workforces result in both positive (increased retention and performance) and negative (increased conflict and turnover) organizational outcomes, nonprofit leaders are faced with the challenge of effectively managing their workforces. Findings ways to ensure positive workplace outcomes, such as employee commitment (an emotional attachment to the organization) and performance, is especially critical for the overall functioning of nonprofit organizations. Using longitudinal multilevel path analyses, this study examined whether transformational leadership influenced work group performance through both creating a climate for inclusion and increasing employee affective commitment in a diverse nonprofit health care organization. Results indicate that transformational leaders help increase perceptions of inclusion, which improves employee commitment to the organization, and ultimately enhances perceived work group performance. This suggests inclusion and affective commitment as key factors for how leaders can increase nonprofit performance.