No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Surviving Mission Drift How Charities Can Turn Dependence on Government Contract Funding to Their Own Advantage
Abstract
The widespread contracting out to British charities of welfare services previously furnished by the state has resulted in many charities operating in fields well outside those specified by their original missions. Challenges connected with charity mission drift have received a great deal of (mainly negative and critical) attention in the nonprofit practitioner literature in recent years, yet no academic research has been completed into exactly how charities respond managerially and operationally to government-induced mission drift. This empirical study attempted to fill this important gap in knowledge about charity management through in-depth case studies of three charities known to have experienced substantial mission drift during the last decade, focusing on the styles and types of approach the organizations had adopted in their dealings with government funding agencies. It emerged that the three charities accepted mission drift as a fact of life. Rather than simply supplying contract services to government bodies, the charities were highly proactive in seeking to initiate, direct, control, and assume overall strategic responsibility for state-funded activities.
... Increasingly, governments are their main funders (Bennett & Savani, 2011). They differ from for-profit providers due to their nonprofit motive, and differ from Membership CSOs as members only weakly, or do not, direct operations (Ebrahim, 2003b;Weisbrod, 1988). ...
... Indeed, in another Service Provider CSO, Awio et al. (2011), p. 85) find 'strong community involvement in public services provision and management' with downwards accountability being appropriately discharged. Therefore, Tenbensel, Mays, and Cumming (2007) reason that government funders should encourage CSOs to develop downward accountabilities, by demanding additional ancillary services to aid beneficiaries (Bennett & Savani, 2011), close staff liaison (Christensen & Ebrahim, 2006) or requiring greater user involvement (Hyndman & McDonnell, 2009). ...
... Balanced, more downwards needed to offset upwards dominance (Bennett & Savani, 2011;Tenbensel et al., 2007) Mainly functional (Cribb, 2006;Ebrahim, 2003a) Retrospective including participatory mechanisms (Cutt et al., 1996) (Cordery et al., 2017). Our survey asked 'to whom' CSOs believed they were accountable (upward and downward), 'for what' they were accountable (functional and strategic) and the key mechanisms used (retrospective and prospective). ...
Civil society organisations (CSOs) comprise a diverse range of associations, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community groups, political parties and social networks. Nevertheless, despite heterogeneity, regulators, funders and donors often treat CSOs as homogeneous when demanding accountability. This paper highlights differences in to whom CSOs across different categories (or types) perceive themselves to be accountable, what for and the different practices they undertake to discharge accountability. It calls for stakeholders to acknowledge diversity in accountability across different CSO types. This survey-based research finds CSOs weight upwards and downwards stakeholders equally, and undertake voluminous reporting. They would benefit from negotiating multiple-use mechanisms, especially with dominant stakeholders. In combining stakeholder and accountability theory, the research highlights specific CSO types needing further study.
... Several studies have investigated the concept of mission drift (Bennett and Savani, 2011;Cornforth, 2014). This occurs when an organisation raises a significant part of its income either from commercial activities or more commonly from government contracts. ...
... Some organisations may feel unable to make decisions without their funder, while other charities were able to avoid mission drift by deploying strategies to 'cope' with funders' requirements (Henderson and Lambert, 2017). Bennett and Savani (2011) propose mission drift, if managed properly, can have 'positive consequences for a charity' as successful organisations evolve and adapt to changing market forces and opportunities when they occur. Cornforth (2014) asserts that an organisation can avoid the negative impacts of mission drift through good governance. ...
The voluntary sector provides specialist services to survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) though little research exists on how these organisations are funded. This research using a multi-method design explores the funding landscape of the CSA sector. Analysis of the financial returns of 48 charities supporting survivors was undertaken to ascertain income breakdown and to identify whether this has changed over time. Semi-structured interviews with ten organisations explore the attributes of the funding approaches taken. Findings highlight that funding has increased, and the sector, while providing a vital service, is dependent on the state to do so. Commissioning is inconsistent and is a relational process depending on the skills of and relationships between those involved, resulting in varying provision across the country. Findings contribute towards the growing knowledge base around funding of CSA charities and point towards the need for the state to improve its commissioning of such organisations.
... The nonprofit literature is full of examples of compliance with demands from powerful stakeholders giving rise to dysfunctional organizational practices that led to undesirable outcomes. For instance, powerful donors or institutional funders can pressure organizations to underinvest in infrastructure (Charles, Sloan, & Schubert, 2020;Lecy & Searing, 2015;Schubert & Boenigk, 2019), misreport financial data (Krishnan & Yetman, 2011;Parsons, Pryor, & Roberts, 2017), or incite mission drift (Bennett & Savani, 2011;Hersberger-Langloh, Stühlinger, & Schnurbein, 2020), resulting in the potential impairment of organizations' effectiveness and reputation. All such cases reflect situations in which priority is given to the power of resource providers while less powerful stakeholders, such as beneficiaries or the community at large, remain underrepresented in organizational decisions. ...
... Also, what stands out in Figure 2 is the high priority given to internal stakeholders, although extant nonprofit literature has strongly focused on the influence of private donors and institutional funders as powerful stakeholders driving organizational behavior (Bennett & Savani, 2011;Dunn, 2010;Krishnan & Yetman, 2011;Parsons et al., 2017). This calls for further reflection on whether powerful internal stakeholders articulate their own independent demands or whether they serve as powerful agents of external stakeholders' demands. ...
Nonprofit leaders face the challenge of making decisions within a complex environment of heterogeneous and often competing stakeholder claims. In such a setting, leaders not only make judgments about the power of their organization's stakeholders but they also make conscious choices about which stakeholders they personally represent while making organizational decisions. This study uses insights from stakeholder theory and agency theory to investigate (1) how nonprofit leaders' perceptions of stakeholder power and stakeholder representation are interrelated across a wide range of stakeholder groups and organizations, and (2) how perceptions of power and representation differ between board members and executive managers. Drawing on data from 491 nonprofit leaders, we find evidence of stakeholder representation surpluses and deficits for several stakeholders, although perceptions of these deficits and surpluses differ considerably between board members and managers. Our study holds important implications for nonprofit governance, the practice of stakeholder analysis, and the use of stakeholder constructs in future empirical research.
... Staff has feared that a managerial approach will undermine the ethos of their organisation, but government maintains that a managerial approach will improve performance. The government has been able to enforce this principle, certainly within a British context because of the funding it provides to the sector (Bennett & Savani, 2011). From this position, it is able to signal to potential claimants that funding must satisfy the political agenda, for example the need to demonstrate social inclusion (Bennett & Savani, 2011). ...
... The government has been able to enforce this principle, certainly within a British context because of the funding it provides to the sector (Bennett & Savani, 2011). From this position, it is able to signal to potential claimants that funding must satisfy the political agenda, for example the need to demonstrate social inclusion (Bennett & Savani, 2011). This process has arguably seen government emerge as the definitive stakeholder; because it controls access to financial resources, but also its salience is linked to its regulatory power regarding public goods and services e.g. ...
TV advertisements play a key role in the portrayal of
models, values and roles. Children may interiorize and
use them in the construction of their own identities.
Previous studies on body image portrayed by media
focused on the characters’ weight appearance, and
concluded that media strongly emphasize the ‘ideal
slim’. However, no studies have focused on the TV
advertisements consumed by children under 9. The
objective of this research is to describe the portrayal
of the characters represented in the television
commercials most consumed by 5-8 year-old Spanish
children. The body, intellectual and social features of
427 characters from the 133 most consumed
commercials by children is content analyzed. Results
show that these characters tend to be children or
young adults, white skin, brown hair and slender.
These characters tend to be portrayed alone, active
and happy, and dressed casually. The main
characters can only be further characterized by
being shown in body or medium shots with a
prominent use of sound effects. These results confirm
the physical, intellectual and social ideals and add to
the theory in this field.
... Previous studies have recognized this phenomenon (Copestake, 2007a;Getu, 2007;Arena, 2009;Iskenderian, 2010;Battilana & Dorado, 2010;Bennett & Savani, 2011;Serrano-Cinca & Gutiérrez-Nieto, 2014;Mersland & Strøm, 2010;Hartarska & Mersland, 2012) and provided empirical evidence on the capacity of some MFIs to avoid mission drift and keep their hybrid nature. For instance, Battilana & Dorado (2010) have shown how the different hiring system of two MFIs located in Bolivia affected their hybrid natures while Serrano-Cinca & Gutiérrez-Nieto (2014) have described the use of the long tail approach in the preservation of the hybrid mission of MFIs. ...
... Other hybrid organizations may work alongside governments, but tend to operate as subsidiary instances, offering services originally provided by the State. Examples of this are described in Bennett and Savani (2011), who explain that such an arrangement is itself a driver of mission drift. Banco Palmas, on the contrary, ties some of its services to government initiatives in such a way that it operates more cost-effectively without handing over any control of the organization to the State. ...
... But, if the charity pursued funding for housing services its OM practices must focus on beneficiaries' experiences of housing rather than community engagement. This presented a danger of mission drift (Bennett & Savani, 2011) whereby the charity's focus on following formal policies diverts attention from achieving intended outcomes via a means-ends decoupling process. ...
... For Charity B, the demands of upward accountability created concerns about 'ticking boxes' instead of focusing on the outcomes of their services for beneficiaries (identity accountability). While they adopted funders' formal OM policies in their daily practices, they perceived a disconnect between these OM practices and the achievement of outcomes that served the organizational mission, a form of means-ends decoupling that risks mission drift (Bennett & Savani, 2011). However, the IW performed by Charity B managers, to create OM practices in anticipation of future funder expectations, offers a counterpoint to the suggestion that upward accountability is usually discharged in a reactive and compliance-based manner (O'Dwyer & Boomsma, 2015). ...
Internationally, charities are grappling with the challenges of measuring their service outcomes for accountability purposes. This study employs recent developments in institutional theory to examine the role of identity accountability in shaping these outcome measurement practices. Semi-structured interviews with staff and managers in two New Zealand charities are drawn on to understand their perceptions and experiences of outcome measurement. The findings reveal that charity actors engage in institutional work aimed at discharging both identity accountability and upward accountability via their outcome measurement practices. However, they face challenges in achieving and balancing these two forms of accountability. Policy-practice and means-ends decoupling result, creating the potential for mission drift and other unintended consequences of outcome measurement practices.
... Failures or shortcomings are not mentioned. However, it should be noted that just like other organizations, CBOs can be spaces where inequalities and discrimination are reproduced (Amis et al., 2020); they can drift away from their missions in various ways (Ebrahim et al., 2014); and CBOs can develop overdependence on funding sources (Bennett & Savani, 2011) or become over-bureaucratized, pushing out participatory, and egalitarian practices due to perceived pressures for efficiency and stability (Rothschild et al., 2016). Acknowledging the realities and complexities of community-based organizing, this paper focuses on the positive outcomes that CBOs proved to be capable of generating. ...
This research supports the argument that community‐based organizations (CBOs) can be effective vehicles to shift societal norms and expectations in order to facilitate co‐creation and acceptability of new and sustainable ways of living. CBOs are conceptualized as meso‐level entities where sustainable behavior can be socialized through not‐for‐profit and socioecological‐oriented approaches, a unique position in a market society. To learn what roles CBOs fulfill when providing space for peer interactions influencing sustainable behavior, a qualitative research study was carried out based on 21 interviews with key stakeholders from CBOs working in different sustainability‐related fields (mobility, food, energy, etc.) in the urban context of Budapest, Hungary. The grouping and interpretation of interview data show that the sampled urban CBOs can impact sustainable behavior through (1) raising members' awareness; (2) influencing everyday practices; and (3) providing space for non‐consumerist peer interactions. These impacts can be exercised through the three roles of translation, reinforcement, and contribution. Translation covers the practical‐cognitive (why it is important and how to do it) dimensions of peer interactions, while reinforcement and contribution are psychological‐emotional factors, the former being directed toward adopting individual practices (through positive reinforcement), the latter pointing to the collective, the common good to which one feels one is contributing. These results imply that sustainability‐oriented policymaking could support the sustainability transition by co‐designing systems of provisions together with the affected communities.
... With greater dependence comes a risk that principals may abuse their power over the purse to take advantage of resource-dependent nonprofits. These abuses can take many forms, including delaying payments, shifting contract goals, and pressuring for mission drift (Bennett & Savani, 2011;Peng & Lu, 2021;Smith, 2008). Such actions on the part of the principal "could undermine nonprofits' incentives and willingness to act as capable and committed contractors" (Peng & Lu, 2021, p. 231). ...
As competition over grant funding increases, nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are increasingly likely to enter into contracts with government agencies to ensure funding stability and accomplish organizational goals. Public agencies seek to reduce the possibility of contractor performance problems. Unlike profit-seeking firms that may need constant monitoring, NPOs could be more likely to serve as stewards of public resources, delivering services consistent with shared goals. However, few empirical studies have assessed the comparative performance of private and nonprofit contractors to determine whether there are meaningful differences in practice. This study analyzes nearly 25,000 U.S. federal definitive contracts that concluded between 2005 and 2015. Using predictive statistical analyses, findings indicate that nonprofits deliver more complex work than their for-profit counterparts, are less likely to be terminated early, do not require additional contract modifications, and are treated similarly to other vendors. Taken together, the results suggest that there are mutual benefits when governments and nonprofits engage in contracts.
... With greater dependence comes a risk that principals may abuse their power over the purse to take advantage of resource-dependent nonprofits. These abuses can take many forms, including delaying payments, shifting contract goals, and pressuring for mission drift (Bennett & Savani, 2011;Peng & Lu, 2021;Smith, 2008). Such actions on the part of the principal "could undermine nonprofits' incentives and willingness to act as capable and committed contractors" (Peng & Lu, 2021, p. 231). ...
As competition over grant funding increases, nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are increasingly likely to enter into contracts with government agencies to ensure funding stability and accomplish organizational goals. Public agencies seek to reduce the possibility of contractor performance problems. Unlike profit-seeking firms that may need constant monitoring, NPOs could be more likely to serve as stewards of public resources, delivering services consistent with shared goals. However, few empirical studies have assessed the comparative performance of private and nonprofit contractors to determine whether there are meaningful differences in practice. This study analyzes nearly 25,000 U.S. federal definitive contracts that concluded between 2005 and 2015. Using predictive statistical analyses, findings indicate that nonprofits deliver more complex work than their for-profit counterparts, are less likely to be terminated early, do not require additional contract modifications, and are treated similarly to other vendors. Taken together, the results suggest that there are mutual benefits when governments and nonprofits engage in contracts.
... With adjustment, compared to a loyalty response, the NGO is also able to respond to external perceptions of mission drift, justifying its choices of how to satisfy the donor to retain resource flows. As Bennett and Savani (2011) explained, charities can operate outside their original missions to receive funding without sacrificing their ability to be proactive in directing and controlling their activities in a strategic fashion. If they have weak closeness centrality in the network and thus not much leverage as a member of the donor network, they may still find that it is worth their effort to adjust their activities given that they have few other donors to work with (resource concentration) and this donor provides a high percentage of their donor-provided funds (resource discretion) and funds overall (resource criticality). ...
The Strategic Response Model (SRM) integrates two constructs, an organization’s resource dependence and network centrality, to predict response to an external demand. This article puts the SRM to test to demonstrate its applicability as a management tool to help with decision-making. Using forty-nine Lebanese nongovernmental environmental organizations’ (NGOs’) responses to bilateral donors who changed funding interests, the results are consistent with the model’s prediction of three types of responses, exit, voice, and adjustment, regardless of which of three resource dependency variables are used. To add context to this test of the SRM model, the dynamics within a larger system of resource pursuit and allocation across sectors, especially for non-Western settings characterized by turbulence and uncertainty, are discussed. Donors and nonprofits need to consider short- and long-term strategic decisions, knowing that relationships created and fostered may be as important as resources provided and consumed.
... Research has identified the problems associated with concentrated or fewer funding streams (Bostock et al. 2018;Hartman and Kwauk 2011;Pfeffer and Salancik 1978); however, Hung and Hager (2019) have argued that the more concentrated the funding streams, the greater the ability of the non-profit/charitable organization to focus on their core mission. This is because the core mission is less likely to be "blurred" or compromised through complex social integrations of a diversified funding stream (Bennett and Savani 2020;Greer and Horst 2014). With less funding from partners, there are a lower number of social values needing to be considered for everyone to meet their goals (Jones 2007). ...
... Coaching involves shaping donor values, through some form of education, to condition the donor preferences (Henderson & Lambert, 2018;Mitchell, 2014;Batley, 2011). It works when the charity acts proactively, providing workshops for education and taking primary control of projects through strategic account management (Bennett & Savani, 2011). Coaching also involves co-optation. ...
In complex policy settings, charities exposed to multiple and interconnected external stakeholder influences can experience ‘mission drift’. This involves charities gradually adjusting their practices, services or products to serve purposes that are inconsistent with agreed intentions. Sachikonye et al. present the findings of a realist-informed study seeking to understand how, why and in what circumstances the boards of UK charities supporting Africa’s public health programmes respond to influential external stakeholders. They synthesise evidence from annual reports with the insights from governance and mission drift literature to identify a set of responses demonstrated by the charity boards. The authors propose a theoretical framework enhancing our understanding of mission drift and discuss practical implications for boards operating in multi-stakeholder policy settings.
... Not being able to control for types of government grants in this study limits the generalizability of its findings, as some governments grant accompany community engagement responsibilities. Studies report that nonprofit organizations receiving government funding face challenges in balancing their mission, the needs of the community and government requirements (Bennett and Savani 2011). Future research can examine how different types of grants affect civic engagement and community development activities by public charities, including arts organizations. ...
Although nonprofit organizations are expected to contribute to public interests, their tax exemption does not necessarily entail serving the broader public. What, then, makes nonprofit organizations orient their work externally, serving the broader public, instead of internally, pursuing private goals? This paper examines this question by studying the link between nonprofits’ board governance, with a specific focus on boards’ racial diversity, and their contribution to public interests. The analysis of the 2015 US Local Arts Agency Census reveals that boards’ racial diversity is closely related with nonprofit arts organizations’ participation in serving the broader public through civic engagement and community development activities. The findings offer insights on how nonprofit boards, which are neither publicly elected nor publicly accountable, can be trusted to attend to broader issues of the public interest.
... For example, Calabrese (2013) studies the impact of norms regarding minimal operating reserves, while Lecy and Searing (2015) examine the impact of continued pressure to minimize overhead costs to appear efficient. Furthermore, a great deal of scholarship is dedicated to managing possible drift due to monetary concerns at the expense of the mission (Jones, 2007;Bennett and Savani, 2011;Sawhill and Williamson, 2001). Though the for-profit literature has traditionally addressed the process of balancing product and service portfolios (such as Krishnan et al. (2004)), this is generally absent in the discussion around nonprofit mission drift, which both focuses on a single direction (from mission to monetary) and takes a normative stance on any detraction from mission focus (with notable exceptions by crosssubsidization scholars such as James, 1983). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to map the most influential literature in nonprofit finance and financial management. The second is to understand why the literature has evolved the way it has, including isolated silos developing in certain disciplines.
Design/methodology/approach
The review includes articles assembled from three sources: a core list, an expert list and journal archive searches on phrases that emerged. Using social origins theory as a guide, we coded 119 articles for traits such as root discipline, methodology and author characteristics.
Findings
Research tends to stay confined within the doctoral discipline of the author, who publishes in journals valued by their discipline. This has caused limited cross-referencing across disciplines, and it has allowed different understandings and judgments of the same phenomenon to exist in different fields. Data availability drives much of the research agenda, but author teams of mixed disciplines are promising.
Originality/value
Unlike a traditional literature review, this study identifies factors that have had a formative influence on the development of the diverse field of nonprofit finance and financial management. This diversity has resulted in a fractured field held in silos with few indigenous developments. Using social origins theory as a guide, this study provides an overview of the most consequential literature through the analysis of authors and institutional characteristics. This approach provides an evolutionary perspective and illustrates how this disciplinary adherence has created a research topography that limits progress for both scholars and practitioners.
... Consequently, NFP impact measurement is likely to be decoupled from organizational strategy and may even hinder service improvements when funder-stipulated measurement criteria are strictly followed (Moxham, 2010). Hence, while NFP impact measurement is mainly mandated by funders' requirements, it runs the risk of being ceremonial and counterproductive (Mueller-Hirth, 2012) and potentially creates danger of mission drift for NFPs (Bennett and Savani, 2011). ...
Purpose – The COVID-19 pandemic has forced not-for-profit organizations (NFPs) to look outside their organizational boundaries for collective impact. In this unprecedented and turbulent situation, the need to understand and articulate the effectiveness and impact of collaborative efforts is paramount.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviews key aspects of the NFP impact measurement and collaboration literatures and discusses the potential nexus between these two concepts. NFP collaboration refers to the collaborative arrangements that involve NFPs with other NFPs and/or businesses and government.
Findings - Based on a literature review, this paper argues that NFPs must acknowledge the significance of impact measurement when engaging in collaborative efforts and the mutually reinforcing relationships between the NFP impact measurement and collaboration to make a collective impact.
Originality/value – Research on the nexus of NFP impact measurement and collaboration is scant, but it is urgently needed due to the COVID-19 crisis. This paper is timely to review the extant knowledge base of NFP impact measurement and collaboration and attempts to draw meaningful connections between the two concepts. The paper also has significant implications for practice as it responds to the calls for more collaboration in the New Zealand NFP sector and will be of interest to NFP leaders, managers, funders and policymakers.
... As lateral accountability towards staff members, and downwards accountability, towards clients, is forced to stand back, organizational mission that involves participation and empowerment is harder to achieve. Others highlight how organizations relying on public funding may accept loss of autonomy, described as "mission drift", as they see opportunities to mitigate against this through an increased access to government policy makers (Bennett and Savani, 2011). ...
Purpose
For non-profit organizations (NPOs) external funding is an essential resource. Studies highlight how control is attributed to funders and so external funding threatens the autonomy of the recipient organization. The purpose of this study is to investigate how external control can be structured and exercised, and to explore how control interacts with organizational autonomy.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on interviews and participant observations with NPOs and their funders over a period of time. It reports from four different funding-relations: contract-based, social investment, gift-funded and civil society–public partnership. The concept of organizational discretion is used to analyse how control and autonomy are interconnected in these relationship.
Findings
The analysis illustrates the value in exposing the different discretionary boundaries related to external control and how control can become a sparring partner in the organization's striving for autonomy. A concluding argument is that control and autonomy are each other's companions rather than antagonists. The study leads us to question a general assumption that NPOs strive to avoid resource dependence and external control but instead may use such control to develop strategies for independence and self-realization.
Originality/value
The empirical material is unique as it includes voices of recipient organizations and funders, and offers a comparison of different controlling-relations. The study presents an innovative analytical framework based on the concepts of discretionary space and reasoning, which supports a critical discussion regarding the idea of external control as detrimental to the autonomy of NPOs.
... Competition could enhance mission and activity differentiation for nonprofits, leading to increased efficiencies in service provision for the community. However, this may be viewed by stakeholders as mission drift which occurs when a nonprofit prioritizes activities, often determined by external stakeholders, that differ from its stated mission (Bennett and Savani, 2011), leading to decreased stakeholder and donor support (Jones, 2007). This concept of mission drift may also occur when nonprofits overuse collaborative strategies by prioritizing collaboration with others, losing sight of their original goals and priorities. ...
Nonprofits compete with collaborators and collaborate with competitors regularly. Collaboration, a long-standing normatively preferred strategy for nonprofits, is utilized as modus operandi without thought to the potential unintended consequences. While competition is a dirty word for nonprofits, it is a necessary but undesirable reality and should not be avoided without consideration to the potential benefits. Nonprofit leaders may not be willing to explicitly acknowledge the use of competition as an operational strategy, which makes room for cognitive dissonance to impact the study of nonprofits. This piece identifies impacts of cognitive dissonance offering direction for future research exploring the interactive nature of competing with collaborators.
... Negative aspects of managerialism include a loss of legitimacy caused by the perception that organizations are acting in their own interest rather than for the public good (Eikenberry, 2009); higher costs, for example, caused by employee monitoring (Parsons & Broadbridge, 2004); and, most importantly, the fear of mission drift. Mission drift describes a diversion of time, energy, and money away from a nonprofit's original mission (Weisbrod, 2004), often caused by funders exerting influence over an organization's programs or services (Bennett & Savani, 2011). By focusing on commercial rather than mission-related activities, organizations tend to neglect their mission-related services and programs (Dart, 2004). ...
Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have increasingly adopted business‐like practices as a response to institutional pressures. Some researchers argue that this development leads to mission drift, whereas others find a positive effect on organizational performance. However, the institutional pressures responsible for shaping the nonprofit sector have remained hard to distinguish from each other. This study explores the consequences of mimetic, normative, and coercive pressures, and looks at how they affect managerialism, organizational performance, and mission drift. We link these concepts through a structural equation model based on survey data and find that one aspect of managerialism, strategic behavior, is a key construct in influencing the response to isomorphic pressures and can positively affect organizational performance while holding off‐mission drift. Normative isomorphism even has a direct positive effect on organizational performance. Mission drift can take place when organizations are under coercive pressure without having strategies or internal processes in place. These findings imply that organizations should invest in their strategy and the professional development of their staff to increase organizational performance and avoid mission drift.
... Warnings of mission change abound in the nonprofit/nongovernmental organization literature, usually concerning organizations shifting toward programs that bring in more critically needed revenue (e.g., AbouAssi, 2012;Bennett & Savani, 2011;Considine, O'Sullivan, & Nguyen, 2014;Cornforth, 2014;Minkoff & Powell, 2006). Mission change is often stated as mission "drift" or "displacement" to capture the sentiment that the mission is moving away from its intended course. ...
How much do foundations change their missions over time? Grant making emphases may shift due to the evolving preferences of trustees and directors, the changing needs of grant recipients, the location of the successor trustees, and so on. A countervailing force to this change is donor control. The founding donor’s stipulations and values figure prominently as legal and sentimental forces that could enhance mission permanence despite the passing of generations. This study first proposes a mission change theory framework designed for the long time span of endowed family foundations. Via changes in the stated location of the grant making and the field of the grants made (e.g., from grants for religious instruction to grants for arts), we then measure the revealed preferences of trustees and how their grant making practices change over the decades.
... The cognitive aspect of social capital is reliant in many ways on the effective information sharing among board members, as the frequent updating and transparent communication among members improves the probability of developing and retaining an accurate understanding of a common vision or collective understanding (Weick & Roberts, 1993). For governance, building a shared vision of organizational purpose and strategy among board members is essential (Fredette & Bradshaw, 2012;Hawkins, 2014), because without collective agreement on the scope and direction of the organization's activities, mission and focus may become obscured or contested, thereby increasing the chances of organizational drift (Bennett & Savani, 2011). This suggests that the association between board social capital, and the collective capacity to govern effectively, may rely on the board sustaining an uncontested -or shared -collective vision of the organization's goals and the paths to be followed to reach them. ...
This research examines the relationship among board diversity, social capital, and governance effectiveness by asking, “does board ethno-racial diversity moderate the relationship between social capital and governance effectiveness, and if so, how?” Exploring the direct and interacting effects of demographic diversity and social capital, and their relation to governing-group effectiveness using a two-sample field survey design, we illustrate whether heterogeneous or homogeneous group compositions amplify or attenuate governance effectiveness, and to what degree. Primary analyses find no support for board diversity moderating the social capital-governance effectiveness relationship, with secondary analysis revealing a more complex interaction for governance effectiveness, albeit inconsistently, across samples. Our investigation points to the value of social resources in understanding governance as an inherently socially complex activity or capability, predicated on truce or mutual agreement and shaped by the composition and connections of boards.
... However, recent trends show that an increasing number of organizations rely on collaborating with foundations or government departments to obtain financial resources (Andrews & Entwistle, 2010;Mendel & Brudney, 2014). Savani, 2011;Mosley, 2012), and likewise leads to interrelated funding, meaning a state in which income streams influence each other. Based on this assumption, many scholars have studied the interplay of government and foundation funding, that is, funding provided by government departments or foundations, with individual support. ...
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.
... In the case of mission drift, the concept has appeared only recently, most notably in the literature on social enterprises-namely, organizations seeking to solve social problems through commercial means (see Battilana & Lee, 2014 for review). According to this research, mission drift occurs when there is an emergent change in the organizations' actions that deviates symbolically or materially from that organization's original and perceived identity (Armendáriz & Szafarz, 2009;Bennett & Savani, 2011). Many related studies have thus been quick to highlight the problematic consequences of drift for social ventures, such as microfinance organizations. ...
The growing number of studies which reference the concept of mission drift imply that such drift is an undesirable strategic outcome related to inconsistent organizational action, yet beyond such references little is known about how mission drift occurs, how it impacts organizations, and how organizations should respond. Existing management theory more broadly offers initial albeit equivocal insight for understanding mission drift. On the one hand, prior studies have argued that inconsistent or divergent action can lead to weakened stakeholder commitment and reputational damage. On the other hand, scholars have suggested that because environments are complex and dynamic, such action is necessary for ensuring organizational adaptation and thus survival. In this study, we offer a theory of mission drift that unpacks its origin, clarifies its variety, and specifies how organizations might respond to external perceptions of mission drift. The resulting conceptual model addresses the aforementioned theoretical tension and offers novel insight into the relationship between organizational actions and identity.
... Goals, preferred means of intervention, supervision, and control as defined by the public sector take precedence over organizational value bases and structures that come from alternative ways of defining and addressing social needs. Research points to how competition for resources, bidding procedures, and funding that comes with requirements regarding the scope and content of services all force NPOs to change in ways that pose threats to organizational mission (Bennett & Savani 2012;Dolnicar et al. 2008;Eikenberry & Kluver 2004;Hasenfeld & Garrow 2012). New forms of collaboration that build on social investment aimed at the scaling up of successful non-profit-based operations require new organizational management with focus on output and efficiency rather than on fulfilling a mission to accomplish social outreach of services and specific aims to cater for the poorest of the poor, the hardto-reach and hard-to-engage (Copestake 2007). ...
Research on the relationship between non-profit organizations (NPOs) and the public sector has been dominated by predictions of isomorphism where change and tensions in NPOs are attributed an imposing institutional setting. This article argues that research represents a selective perspective on organizational life due to its portrayal of organizational change as synonymous with an isomorphic, linear trajectory. The purpose of this article is to illustrate different sources and characteristics of change and tension. The article presents an analytical framework comprising of four components: evolving change, episodic change, inherent dilemmas, and conflicting logics, facilitating an understanding of the organization as movement. The analysis of a case study organization suggests that by identifying different dimensions of changes and tensions we can gain a richer understanding of the complexity of processes underpinning the organization as movement. The analysis reveals how multiple, parallel processes related to change and tensions generate reflections that drive integrity and identity formation at individual and organizational levels.
... Although the existing literature has identified the negative outcomes of mission drift, very few empirical studies explored what factors lead to mission drift. As mission drift is difficult to operationalize and quantify, most of these studies, are qualitative case studies or conceptual papers (Bennett & Savani, 2011;Hawkins, 2014;Jones, 2007;Weisbrod, 2004). In response to the paucity of quantitative research on this critical topic, this paper develops an innovative approach to quantify "mission alignment" based on data science methodology and examines to what extent different revenue sources influence the mission alignment of nonprofit organizations. ...
Activities of nonprofit organizations do not always align with their missions, a managerial problem termed as “mission drift.” Mission drift is difficult to operationalize and quantify; thus, as a critical issue, only a few conceptual pieces or empirical case studies have explored this topic. This paper develops innovative measures to operationalize “mission alignment” using data science methodology, and examines the impact of revenue sources on mission alignment. By using the cosine similarity of text between a mission statement and program description, four measures of mission alignment are devised: the sum cosine similarity, average cosine similarity, weighted sum cosine similarity, and weighted average cosine similarity. Text analysis indicates that a majority of the programs evidence educational purposes, and for-profit business plays an important role in foundations’ projects and funding. The regression analysis shows that personal donation and service revenue can increase mission alignment,while organizational donation and membership dues decrease mission alignment.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11266-023-00577-9
The article examines how nonprofit organization staff navigate organizational mission as they encounter complex systems problems outside their area of expertise, focusing on environmental organizations encountering homelessness in river watersheds. Drawing on surveys from seventy-three individuals from forty-three organizations and interviews with seventeen nonprofit staff, I find that staff who demonstrate systems thinking are more likely to describe integrating complex systems problems into their mission and activities in meaningful ways. Not interacting with systems issues due to lack of skill is most often explained with language of mission adherence and avoiding mission drift.
Nonprofit organizations are not only different entities in terms of their mission and values, but they are also arguably different kinds of organizations in every way. .The effectiveness and competitive capabilities of nonprofit organizations depend to a significant extent on the strengths of the interactions with stakeholders especially employees. Since employees and volunteers are the human capital of nonprofit organizations and a core factor in their social capital, the interactions that are required for the mission, the formulation, and implementation strategy are inextricably linked to the degree of employee engagement. Therefore, for nonprofit organizations to be effective, to achieve their community problem-solving outcomes, and adapt to change in the fast-paced competitive environment, employee engagement is a core process in their human resources strategy and employment relations.
Despite the popularity of not-for-profit organizations (NFPs) as a research topic, existing comprehensive reviews are rather limited, resulting in a large body of literature that lacks integration. In this review, we summarize prior research on NFPs, focusing on four key differences between for-profit organizations and NFPs: organizational goals, financial resources, human resources, and leadership and governance. Our aims are to delineate the major inroads that have been made—not only in theory testing, but also in theory building—and to identify fruitful avenues for continued inquiry.
The nonprofit sector strives to be a virtuous and transparent space, one that is diverse, inclusive, and welcoming. Still, inappropriate and exclusionary behaviors can and do occur in nonprofits—one of which is sexual harassment (SXH). Currently, little research on SXH in the nonprofit sector exists, and even less is known about the steps taken by nonprofits to protect their employees and stakeholders from SXH. This study examines rates of SXH policy adoption among nonprofits and the relationship between SXH policy adoption and organizational characteristics. Drawing from a state‐wide survey, we find that there is wide variation among nonprofits in their adoption of a written SXH policy. Organizations that have full‐time employees, more revenue, and greater capacity are more likely to have a policy. Organizations that serve women are no more likely to have a policy; however, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender‐serving organizations are more likely to have a policy. We discuss the implications of these results, including the conceptualization of SXH as part of the broader issues of discrimination, harassment, and bullying in nonprofits.
Community gardening is increasingly framed and promoted as a way to foster healthful behaviours, as a wellbeing practice, and as a public health tool. This paper draws on semi-structured interviews with community gardening organisers (n = 9) in the North East of England, who were engaged in translating and transforming discourses and ideas about community gardening into places and practices that people can draw benefit from. Here, community gardening can be understood as a bricolage of ideas, resources, and skills at the nexus of several influences and movements, assembled to produce a localised, everyday sort of social change. We conclude that framing community gardening as a simple solution to be harnessed in the promotion of health and wellbeing undermines the richness that sustains it and may lead to disenchantment within health services and community gardening organisations that could threaten the future of ‘green social prescribing’.
Today, nonprofit leaders operate in a context of blurred boundaries between the nonprofit and for‐profit sectors, prompting them to engage in managerialism. Managerialism has advantages but is also among the many sources of mission drift. Philip Selznick once proposed a style of leadership, called institutional leadership, that directly addresses the risk of mission drift. Despite the importance of institutional leadership in today's era of managerialism, the concept has been underexamined in the literature. Through ethnographic fieldwork with a cohort of nonprofit leaders, I develop a framework of practices leaders can use to maintain mission integrity. My findings reveal that institutional leadership can be a collective endeavor enacted not only by the board and executives but also by staff and other stakeholders. To prevent mission drift, leaders in the study used practices related to mission reflexivity, involvement gatekeeping, enabling stakeholders, building constraints, and encouraging resistance.
This research examines the relationship among Board Diversity, Social Capital, and Governance Effectiveness by asking, “does board ethno-racial diversity moderate the relationship between Social Capital and Governance Effectiveness, and if so, how?” Exploring the direct and interacting effects of demographic diversity and Social Capital, and their relation to governing-group effectiveness using a two-sample field survey design, we illustrate whether heterogeneous or homogeneous group compositions amplify or attenuate Governance Effectiveness, and to what degree. Primary analyses find no support for Board Diversity moderating the Social Capital-Governance Effectiveness relationship, with secondary analysis revealing a more complex interaction for Governance Effectiveness, albeit inconsistently, across samples. Our investigation points to the value of social resources in understanding governance as an inherently socially complex activity or capability, predicated on truce or mutual agreement and shaped by the composition and connections of boards.
This article explores which interest groups, political parties and service-oriented organisations – membership-based voluntary organisations constitutive for civil society – experience the accessing and maintenance of state funding as a major challenge and why. Building on resource dependency theory, hypotheses are presented on how different financial dependencies (public and private) and the diversity of organisational income affect how intensely membership-based organisations are exposed to state funding pressure. Testing these hypotheses with new data from four organisation surveys in Germany, Norway, Switzerland and the UK indicates that different types of state funding dependencies (e.g. grants, contracts) as well as funding diversity increase organisational concerns about state funding, while reliance on membership fees reduces them. These findings have important repercussions as state funding pressure is central to organisations’ revenue-seeking behaviour by focussing leaders’ attention on state authorities, thereby redirecting organisational priorities away from organisations’ constituencies.
With newly commissioned contributions from an international set of scholars at the forefront of nonprofit management research, this volume provides a thorough overview of the most current management thinking in this field. It contextualizes nonprofit management globally, provides an extensive introduction to key management functions, core revenue sources and the emerging social enterprise space, and raises a number of emerging topics and issues that will shape nonprofit management in future decades. As graduate programs continue to evolve to serve the training needs in the field, The Routledge Companion to Nonprofit Management is an essential reference and resource for graduate students, researchers, and practitioners interested in a deeper understanding of the operation of the nonprofit sector.
The entrenchment of the neoliberal state and rise of populist leaders has marginalized the role of voluntary organizations in society. This presents significant challenges for nonprofit leaders in economically challenged areas as it erodes their ability to protect and serve vulnerable populations. Attention turns to maintaining hard fought gains at the expense of making progress. Yet doing so requires new skills and leadership styles to manage organizational change where innovation and transformation are key. Based on 42 qualitative interviews with disability nonprofit leaders in Atlantic Canada, our study aims to characterize this transformation. Using Szerb’s (2003) key attributes of entrepreneurship that distinguish between entre-, intra-, and inter preneurs, we find disability leaders have become inter preneurs. We find a strong emphasis on networked service delivery underscoring shared goals, risks and responsibilities, and resources. For disability leaders, cultivating relationships and strong communication skills are essential. In the face of populist desires for state retrenchment, we question how long this collective response can hold given ongoing economic challenges.
Under the new governance models, the scope of government funding of nonprofit activities in service delivery and policy implementation is extensive. There is a long‐standing concern that government funding may compromise nonprofit operations and lead to unintended consequences. This research examines the concern by exploring the effect of government funding on nonprofits' spending on programs and services. Existing theories and empirical evidence propose competing arguments concerning the relationship between government funding and nonprofits' program spending. Using a 20‐year panel dataset of international development nonprofits registered with the United States Agency for International Development, we find that nonprofits receiving more government funding spend significantly higher proportions of their organizational resources on development programs. Government funding seems to increase nonprofits' program spending and to make them more focused on their mission‐related activities.
The characteristics, pace and the varied drivers of change point to the need for nonprofit organizations to explore and at least consider different nonprofit specific change strategies. One of the leading examples of nonprofit specific change strategy is the adoption of social enterprise to help the organization to adapt to change in the external environment. The chapter examines the concept of social enterprise in relation to change in nonprofit organizations. It explains the dimensions of the explanation of what is social enterprise by highlighting the definitions and examples of social enterprise in the USA, Canada, and the UK. The major influences that contribute to the development of social enterprise emphasize the role of change. Similar to many of the factors and practices in nonprofit organizations, the external environment is a major driver for the adoption of social enterprise. As a concept and practice, social enterprise in nonprofit organizations is the convergence of entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency that are based on individualism and social movement which is the hallmark of collective action. Although it offers a source of tremendous opportunities, social enterprise as change strategy could portend significant challenges that counteract its benefits. Thus, nonprofit organizations must find ways to mitigate the challenges of social enterprise in order to deploy it as an effective change strategy.
Change pervades the environment of nonprofit organizations. It is a reality that nonprofit organizations cannot afford to ignore. The reality of change means that nonprofit organizations must understand change in the external environment and position the organization to effectively adapt in a timely manner. This chapter examines the nature and drivers of change in nonprofit organizations. It offers a comprehensive insight into why change in nonprofit organizations is unique and the contextual factors that shape the dynamics of change in the sector. Also, it highlights the specific characteristics of change and the strategies that nonprofit organizations implement to manage change. Throughout the chapter, the challenges that underlie change and play an important role in the ability of the organization to adapt such as lack of resources and dependence on government are discussed. Together, the elements of change discussed in this chapter emphasize the need for change processes and tools to consider and incorporate the factors that define the unique context of nonprofit organizations.
Although Switzerland enjoys a mature e-commerce sector and online marketing with widespread use of social media, large Swiss nonprofit organizations (NPOs) still adopt mainly off-line marketing and mass marketing strategies to support their fund-raising efforts. Mass marketing techniques are expensive and require a large financial investment, which Swiss small and medium-sized organizations cannot afford. The high cost of adopting these conventional fund-raising strategies greatly affects small NPOs, who lack funds to run their social and humanitarian projects. If instead NPOs focused on more cost-efficient marketing strategies, they could improve the sustainability of their fund-raising campaigns. Taking an explorative approach, this study first surveys Swiss donors to understand and quantify their behaviors. Second, it conducts qualitative interviews with NPOs to provide insights into their fund-raising strategies. Finally, it concludes with a set of practical suggestions for small and medium-sized NPOs to build specific capabilities to collect online donations more efficiently.
As well as joint liability, microfinance institutions (MFIs) use other mechanisms - such as savings-credit and progressive loans—to select their customers. This paper highlights the efficacy of these mechanisms in mastering default risk. From data on MFI in Togo (WAGES), and using a binomial Logit model, we show that these mechanisms are crucial in the selection of clients. Thus, from an econometric point of view, there is a significant link between these mechanisms and the probability that the credit application be accepted. We also note a significant link between the latter and a gendered approach. Although the results show the importance of these mechanisms in the selection of clients, they raise some concerns, such as the risk of mission drift. This concern is, however, nuanced by the significant place given to women’s empowerment.
The originality of this paper lies in the use of credit counterparties based on either the material (or physical) collateral or personal guarantees on human mission drift indicators. This methodology is based on the very foundations of microfinance, the extension of credit to people excluded from the traditional financial system using social solidarity mechanisms. This paper studies the occurrence of a mission drift for MFIs that have priority objective the fight against financial exclusion of the poor. The empirical study is based on the collection of a sample of 245 customer data selection criteria of a microfinance institution in Togo.
This article is based on empirical research that for the first time identifies and explains the key factors that influence the organizational-level positioning strategy of charities involved in the delivery of public services within the wider voluntary nonprofit sector in the United Kingdom. The multidimensional factors are integrated in a theoretical model, which the authors argue is better able to accommodate the charitable context. The model suggests that a combination of external environmental, organizational, and mediating factors influence the positioning strategy of charities. Several of these factors are unique to the charitable context. They highlight the inadequacy of the existing marketing and strategy literature on positioning to fully explain strategic positioning in charities. Together, the research findings and the model provide distinct additions to the voluntary sector management literature while also providing an alternative perspective to researching charity positioning in contemporary marketing and strategy literature.
This article focuses on the emergence of support organizations that play strategic roles in the evolution of development nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as a sector of civil society. We begin with a discussion of sector challenges from outside (such as public legitimacy, relations with governments, relations with businesses, and relations with international actors) and from inside (amateurism, restricted focus, material scarcity, fragmentation, and paternalism). We describe the rise of agencies to serve critical support functions, such as strengthening individual and organizational capacities, mobilizing material resources, providing information and intellectual resources, building alliances for mutual support, and building bridges across sectoral differences. Then, we examine how those organizations have solved critical problems for NGO communities, and we develop some propositions about the creation and establishment of support organizations, their strategic position, the choice to take strategic action, and how external assistance can support their strategic roles.
We developed a multidimensional coping inventory to assess the different ways in which people respond to stress. Five scales (of four items each) measure conceptually distinct aspects of problem-focused coping (active coping, planning, suppression of competing activities, restraint coping, seeking of instrumental social support); five scales measure aspects of what might be viewed as emotional-focused coping (seeking of emotional social support, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, denial, turning to religion); and three scales measure coping responses that arguably are less useful (focus on and venting of emotions, behavioral disengagement, mental disengagement). Study 1 reports the development of scale items. Study 2 reports correlations between the various coping scales and several theoretically relevant personality measures in an effort to provide preliminary information about the inventory's convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 uses the inventory to assess coping responses among a group of undergraduates who were attempting to cope with a specific stressful episode. This study also allowed an initial examination of associations between dispositional and situational coping tendencies.
Wall Street got into big trouble pandering to tech firms a few years back. Is REFCO a sign it's repeating the mistakes with its private equity pals?
Using survey data from a small sample of nonprofit agencies in the Detroit metropolitan area, this article examines the rate at which nonprofits adopt earned income strategies. For the purpose of this analysis, efforts to generate earned income are described as “entrepreneurial” and measured through product sales, enterprise development, and assessing fees for services. A number of factors are thought to influence the adoption of these activities, including budget cuts from government sources, declining revenues from private donors, board composition, staff hours devoted to marketing and public relations activities, having a secular orientation, and agency size. Findings indicate that larger organizations and those experiencing reductions in funding from government are more likely to adopt entrepreneurial measures. Organizations with a religious affiliation and those experiencing declines in private contributions are also more inclined to pursue these approaches.
This article examines Weisbrod's contention that nonprofits should avoid unrelated business activities, primarily because of their potential for mission drift. The conclusion reached is that commercial ventures are only one among several paths to mission drift, and not the most threatening. Furthermore, the bottom line retains its potential for mission drift, even in nonprofits that have no unrelated business activities. However, if mission drift has multiple sources, then the exclusion of one relatively minor source is not an adequate remedy. © 2007 Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action.
During times of significant change to organizations in strategies and structures, employees can experience high levels of stress as their jobs, areas of responsibility and roles also change. Yet research is curiously silent about how people react to organizational change, especially towards promoting healthy responses to change. As a first step to outlining areas for future research this paper considers a range of individual and organizational strategies that may be effective in reducing employee stress and related problems. Prior to the implementation of these strategies, however, organizations must empower employees to adopt the role of change agent and encourage them to take action to solve the problems that stress them. At the individual level, employees can respond to the stress created by organizational change by using problem- and emotion-focused strategies. Also important in coping with change are the personal resources of employees, including a sense of hardiness, beliefs about having control over their work environment, and the availability of social supports within and outside the organization. Although few organizations fully acknowledge their role in helping employees cope with change, there are a number of initiatives that organizations can pursue. Several strategies are discussed in relation to communication, leadership, job-related tasks and stress management programmes.
Despite the advantages of the case study method, its reliability and validity remain in doubt. Tests to establish the validity and reliability of qualitative data are important to determine the stability and quality of the data obtained. However, there is no single, coherent set of validity and reliability tests for each research phase in case study research available in the literature. This article presents an argument for the case study method in marketing research, examining various criteria for judging the quality of the method and highlighting various techniques, which can be addressed to achieve objectivity, and rigorous and relevant information for planning to marketing actions. The purpose of this article is to invite further research by discussing the use of various scientific techniques for establishing the validity and reliability in case study research. The article provides guidelines for achieving high validity and reliability for each phase in case study research.
In this paper, the authors analyze 91 key account relationships and 206 ordinary supplier–buyer dyads regarding differences in suppliers' relational behaviors and customers' perceptions of relationship quality (satisfaction, trust, and commitment). The results suggest that while – as compared to ordinary relationships – suppliers put significantly more effort in “value-creating behaviors” in key account relationships, they do not modify their “value-claiming behaviors” in those dyads. On the customer side, suppliers' increased value creating activities lead to increased commitment. However, customers are neither more satisfied, nor do they trust their suppliers more when they receive key account status.
Managing relationships with customers and clients is a critical task for industrial sales organizations. This paper reports on research that focuses on improving client relationships through effective handling of account manager turnover and improved account management. Even in situations where account manager turnover is high, the relationship between the company and the SME client does not suffer if the account management turnover process is well managed. When account manager turnover is not well managed, customer satisfaction suffers. The research also identifies eleven specific management activities that are highly related to supplier satisfaction with both the account manager and the supplier financial institution.
This is the third edition of the essential introductory text for all students of qualitative research. Each chapter has been fully updated in terms of references and reading lists.
There has been much research focusing on contracting and its effect on individual voluntary sector organisation, and some mapping of the extent of voluntary sector participation in joint community care planning. Each of these is a new and formal relationship with the statutory sector, and in many cases the tasks are fulfilled by the same voluntary sector worker (usually the senior paid officer of the agency). But the impact that these two new relationships have on the voluntary organisation’s perception of its dependence and inter-dependence has received less attention. The paper will draw on structured interviews in three local authorities, with voluntary sector participants in contracts for social care, and with participants in joint community care planning groups, as well as on documentary research. It will explore the impact of the evolving roles for those seeking to operate effectively in the pluralist provision of public services. It will analyse experiences within joint community care planning structures, and will analyse experiences of contractual relationships. The paper will seek to identify the elements present in each research site which influence the culture of joint working within the two statutory/ voluntary relationships.
Presents results from an exploratory study of 143 voluntary organisations. Aims to evaluate management employee relations policies in the voluntary sector in the era of contracting. Reveals evidence of employee relations policies being influenced by the funding priorities of the state. Provides evidence to suggest that these policies may be leading to discontent among the workforce. Concludes with a discussion regarding the implications such policies may have on employee commitment in the sector, and suggests several possible avenues for continued research.
Voluntary organisations have become major providers of numerous social welfare services that previously were supplied by the state. In Britain, between 35 and 40% of the average human services charity's annual income now derives from government (predominantly local government) sources, meaning that the acquisition of fresh contracts to undertake government funded work, in conjunction with the maintenance of good relations with government funders vis-à-vis current assignments, is increasingly important for ensuring a human service charity's financial survival. An organization that wishes to obtain new contracts and to keep government bodies satisfied with its present activities will need to market itself effectively. This empirical study examined two aspects of charity marketing relevant to this requirement: the extent to which voluntary organizations applied the principles of strategic account management (otherwise known as key account management) to their relations with government funders, and the organizational characteristics (passion and commitment, low wage costs, etc.) that they emphasized to government bodies when making bids. A number of organizational variables (e.g., mission rigidity, strategic intent, short term operational focus) were employed in regression analyses as possible determinants of: (i) the degree to which a charity used strategic account management; and (ii) the genres of the organizational characteristics that it accentuated when tendering for government funded work. © International Society for Third-Sector Research and The John's Hopkins University 2008.
Two competing nonprofits with ideologically distinct missions compete for donor funding to provide an indivisible public good in a population with heterogeneous preferences. This paper examines the extent to which (average) public values are undermined and nonprofits’ ideology compromised in a contractual game in which the right to provide the public good is the outcome of competition between nonprofits. We also scrutinize the roles of (i) cooperative versus competitive contracting, (ii) multiple public goods, (iii) enforceability of actions and (iv) observability of nonprofit costs in determining the equilibrium terms of the contract. In each case, the intensity of the ideological divide between the donor and the nonprofits jointly impact the degree to which compromises are made in terms of both the public's and nonprofit's missions, and the ability on the part of the donor to reap double (cost-saving and strategic) financial gains.
Nonprofits for Hire Leather Issues 'Wake Up Call' on Delivery of Public Services
- Bennett
- Savani
- Management
- Leadership
- S Smith
- M Lipsky
www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/feb/07/voluntarysector.comment. 230 BENNETT, SAVANI Nonprofit Management & Leadership DOI: 10.1002/nml Smith, S., and Lipsky, M. Nonprofits for Hire. Cambridge, Mass.: Har-vard University Press, 1993. Thomas, N. " Leather Issues 'Wake Up Call' on Delivery of Public Services. " Third Sector, Feb. 21, 2007, pp. 1–2. www.thirdsector.co.uk/Channels/Fundraising/login/634007/.
Charities' Public Services Role Could Be Major Lia-bility Can the Third Sector Do More with Less? " Guardian
- L Ramrayka
- L Ramrayka
Ramrayka, L. " Charities' Public Services Role Could Be Major Lia-bility. " Society Guardian, Feb. 6, 2002, pp. 1–2. www.guardian.co.uk/society/2002/feb/06/charityreform.charities2. Ramrayka, L. " Can the Third Sector Do More with Less? " Guardian, Feb. 10, 2010, pp. 1–3.
Support Organizations and the Evo-lution of the NGO Sector Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quar-terly
- D Brown
- A Kalegaonkar
Brown, D., and Kalegaonkar, A. " Support Organizations and the Evo-lution of the NGO Sector. " Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quar-terly, 2002, 31(2), 231–258.
The Multiple Sources of Mission Drift Nonprofit and Vol-untary Sector Quarterly
- M Jones
Jones, M. " The Multiple Sources of Mission Drift. " Nonprofit and Vol-untary Sector Quarterly, 2007, 36(2), 299–307.
Staying objective, Charity Times
- P Davy
Davy, P. (2007), Staying objective, Charity Times, May 2007, pp. 1-3,
www.charitytimes.com.
Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches The Sector Is Showing Greater Dependence on Contracts—But Is It Good News or Bad? " Third Sector
- W Neuman
- J Plummer
Neuman, W. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1997. Plummer, J. " The Sector Is Showing Greater Dependence on Contracts—But Is It Good News or Bad? " Third Sector, Feb. 25, 2009, pp. 1–2.
Working with Government: An Alternative Way.” Third Sector Online
- S Bottery
Bottery, S. (2005), Working with government: An alternative way, Third Sector Online, 26
Stand and Deliver: The Future for Charities Pro-viding Public Services. London: Charity Commission Nonprofits and Public Good Provi-sion: A Contest Based on Compromises
- Charity Commission
Charity Commission. Stand and Deliver: The Future for Charities Pro-viding Public Services. London: Charity Commission, 2007. Chau, N., and Huysentruyt, M. " Nonprofits and Public Good Provi-sion: A Contest Based on Compromises. " European Economic Review, 2006, 50(8), 1909–1935.
Handbook of Coping: Theory, Research, Applications ROGER BENNETT is director of the Centre for Research in Marketing, London Metropolitan University. SHARMILA SAVANI is a senior lecturer in marketing at London Metropolitan University
- M Zeidner
- N. S U Rv I V I N G Endler
- Mission
Zeidner, M., and Endler, N. Handbook of Coping: Theory, Research, Applications. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1996. ROGER BENNETT is director of the Centre for Research in Marketing, London Metropolitan University. SHARMILA SAVANI is a senior lecturer in marketing at London Metropolitan University. S U RV I V I N G MISSION DRIFT 231 Nonprofit Management & Leadership DOI: 10.1002/nml
A Poisonous Relationship?” Charity Times
- H Fearn
Fearn, H. (2007), A poisonous relationship, Charity Times, June 2007, pp.1-3,
www.charitytimes.com.
Does Contracting Really Need to Lead to Mission Drift and Loss of Independence? Centre for Charity Effectiveness Newsletter Individual and Organisational Strategies for Coping with Organisational Change
- I Bruce
Bruce, I. " Does Contracting Really Need to Lead to Mission Drift and Loss of Independence? " Centre for Charity Effectiveness Newsletter (London, City University), 2006. Callan, V. " Individual and Organisational Strategies for Coping with Organisational Change. " Work and Stress, 1993, 7(1), 63–75.
State of dependence, The Guardian
- A Benjamin
Benjamin, A. (2007), State of dependence, The Guardian, 21 February 2007, pp. 1-5,
www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/feb/21/publicservices.guardiansocietysupplement4
Support organisations and the evolution of the NGO sector, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly
- D Brown
- A Kalegaonkar
Brown, D. and Kalegaonkar, A. (2002), Support organisations and the evolution of the
NGO sector, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 31 (2), 231-258.
Does contracting really need to lead to mission drift and loss of independence? Centre for Charity Effectiveness Newsletter
- I Bruce
Bruce, I. (2006), Does contracting really need to lead to mission drift and loss of
independence? Centre for Charity Effectiveness Newsletter, London, City University,
www.cass.city.ac.uk/cce/Newsletter_Nov06/Nov_06Bruce.htm.
Stand and Deliver: The Future for Charities Providing Public Services
Charity Commission (2007), Stand and Deliver: The Future for Charities Providing Public
Services, London, Charity Commission.
Working with Government: Second Among Equals.” Third Sector Online
- I Gupta
Gupta, I. (2005), Working with government: Second among equals, Third Sector Online,
26 January 2007, www.thirdsector.co.uk.
Central Government Funding of Voluntary and Community Organisations
Home Office (2001), Central Government Funding of Voluntary and Community
Organisations 1982 to 2000, London, The Home Office.
Purchase of Service Contracting: Some Evidence on UK Implementation
- J Richardson
Richardson, J. (1995), Purchase of Service Contracting: Some Evidence on UK
Implementation, London, NCVO.
Of market failure, voluntary failure, and third-party government
- L Salamon
Salamon, L (1987), Of market failure, voluntary failure, and third-party government,
Journal of Voluntary Action Research, 16 (1), 29-49.
Leather issues 'wake up call' on delivery of public services, Third Sector
- N Thomas
Thomas, N. (2007), Leather issues 'wake up call' on delivery of public services, Third
Sector, 21 February 2007, pp. 1-2.
“Staying Objective.”
- Davy
“Can the Third Sector Do More with Less?”
- Ramrayka
“Leather Issues ‘Wake Up Call’ on Delivery of Public Services.”
- Thomas