Suchergebnisse

This article presents results of an embedded comparative case study about central strategists realizing strategies in a large nonprofit organization characterized by decentralized and inverse structures. Inverse structures lead to a paradoxical situation in which strategists of a nonprofit's central office have to make deliberate decisions about resource allocation while having no authority over the implementation of strategic decisions. Legitimation is a crucial element in the creation and realization of new strategies. The authors thus ask the question: How do strategists achieve the legitimation and realization of strategies without formal authority? The findings show that, in all of the observed four strategies—also in the process of formalization—strategists of the central office built on emergent strategies that they supported in their legitimation by three steps: Strategists supported the strategy's negotiability (pragmatic legitimation), continued supporting its reasonability (moral legitimation), and finally its comprehensibility (cognitive legitimation).

Securing financial sustainability through fundraising and other forms of financing is a critical issue for many nonprofit organizations. This article extends the benefits theory by adding beneficiary and organizational characteristics to it and examines how these characteristics affect revenue source composition. Based on a survey of International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGOs) with headquarters in Switzerland, the results quantitatively demonstrate a predictive relationship between programmatic and financial management: First, Swiss-based INGOs' revenue sources rely heavily on income-generating revenue sources. Second, the efficacy of the benefits theory of nonprofit finance is demonstrated outside of the organizational context of U.S. local/national nonprofits. Third, INGOs' organizational and beneficiary characteristics influence their revenue source composition. Fourth, the results demonstrate clear differences between revenue sources. Fifth, overall, the beneficiary field is the most influential of the proven characteristics in determining revenue source percentages.

The more nonprofits become challenged by resource shortages, the higher the demand for highly skilled executive directors. Nevertheless, we do not yet fully understand what motivates executive directors to work in nonprofits challenged by market forces. This article explores the career context and individual biographies of executive directors. Introducing a career field and career capital approach to the study of careers in nonprofits, we analyze what influences the career of executive directors of German faith-based social service organizations. The results of 23 interviews and four focus groups with 60 participants are twofold. First, four types of career capital influenced the executive directors' career: Experience of solidarity, orientation to social service, skills for executive function, and leadership by appointment. Second, all careers were highly influenced by the experience of solidarity. The article ends by explaining why experience of solidarity is important for training and selecting nonprofit executive directors.