Factors characterizing the most effective nonprofits managed by volunteers

This article reports on an empirical study of thirty-nine volunteer-managed nonprofit organizations (voluntary associations, not paid staff nonprofits) in a small suburb of Boston. Reputation for effectiveness in achieving goals has been found to be significantly associated with nonprofit nature, governance, and formalization. Many hypotheses suggested by others for nonprofit organizations with paid staff do not seem to transfer to volunteer nonprofit groups. Practitioners can utilize the present findings to improve volunteer nonprofits.