Effective Nonprofit Management


Book Description

Employees with valuable skills and a sense of their own worth can make their jobs, pay, perks, and career opportunities different from those of their coworkers in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. This book shows how such individual arrangements can be made fair and acceptable to coworkers, and beneficial to both the employee and the employer.




Mission Investing


Book Description

This thesis examines the concept of mission investing (MI) and thus the role the mission of nonprofit organizations (NPO) plays when fungible financial assets are invested. In contrast to the traditional separation of programming and investment policies, MI stands for the explicit inclusion of the organization's mission into financial decisionmaking. Although initially developed in the context of grantmaking foundations, the concept of MI can be applied to any NPO with fungible assets. NPO as mission-driven organizations differ substantially from regular "for-profit" companies in the way they evaluate organizational performance. Therefore, questions regarding the assessment of desirability and the evaluation of investment opportunities arise. This thesis consists of four articles which all answer a different sub-question regarding the concept and logic of MI and thus adds to a more profound understanding of nonprofit investment management and complements existing theoretical analyses with empirical findings on value-based portfolio selection. In their exploratory approach, these four essays contribute to a holistic understanding of how investment decisions within a mission-oriented organization should be planned and evaluated - independent of their social or financial nature. In applying a logic framework approach, it is shown that the strict separation of social (such as grants) and financial investments within NPO leads to a misallocation of scarce resources. Only by judging both types of investments based on their combined ultimate mission-related impact, an optimal allocation of the initial inputs can be achieved. Thanks to the linkage of both, social and financial investments, the evaluation of investments within NPO is not about either financial return or impact only, but everything in between (i.e., hybrid investments, such as venture philanthropy or impact investments). Further, this thesis also bridges linguistic gaps between nonprofit research and finance and supplies practitioners with insights on how to structure investment processes in NPO and what effects they may expect from mission-based portfolio selection. This allows for a more effective allocation of tax-exempt funds in terms of achieving higher degrees of mission-effectiveness.




Handbook of Research on Emerging Business Models and Managerial Strategies in the Nonprofit Sector


Book Description

Modern businesses exist in a dynamic and increasingly competitive realm. To remain viable, organizations must constantly adopt new methods and processes to optimize productivity and workflow. The Handbook of Research on Emerging Business Models and Managerial Strategies in the Nonprofit Sector is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly information on management tools, analytics, and infrastructures for contemporary nonprofit organizations. Highlighting a range of multidisciplinary topics such as crowdfunding, shared value creation, and human resource development, this publication is ideally designed for managers, professionals, students, researchers, and academics interested in enhancing process management in nonprofit businesses.




The Marketization of Nonprofits


Book Description

This thesis deals with the concept and consequences of marketization in the nonprofit sector. Marketization describes the process of nonprofit organizations becoming more business-like and is caused, among other things, by increased competition for scarce resources, the rise of professionalism, and calls for more transparency and efficiency by funders and the public. Research about marketization is inconclusive; some researchers believe marketization can increase not only efficiency, but also effectiveness of organizations, while others fear that nonprofits lose their focus on a social mission. The four articles presented in this thesis focus on the theoretical and practical implications of nonprofits relying more on earned income, a dominant feature of marketization, and nonprofits actively and passively adopting management practices and tools from the for-profit sector, another key characteristic of increased marketization. The results show that marketization can increase the economic and social performance of an organization, and, when handled well and implemented through a clear strategic focus, foster mission achievement. Particularly the focus on beneficiaries and internal processes can help organizations to better fulfill their mission. A loss of focus on the mission must be feared if regulatory forces act on the organization without a simultaneous professionalization of management, or if an organization focuses too much on its competitors.




Understanding Nonprofit Work


Book Description

Offers a valuable resource for scholars, teachers, students, and nonprofit practitioners interested in understanding nonprofit work from a communication perspective This sophisticated yet accessible book explores the dynamics of organizational communication in the context of nonprofit work. It delves deeply into the subjects of communication and social construction and develops several key subject areas and issues including leadership, management, and governance; the marketization of nonprofit work; collaboration and organizational partnerships; meaningful labor; and international nonprofit work. Understanding Nonprofit Work: A Communication Perspective is the first resource to bring together the considerable and voluminous amount of communication scholarship and nonprofit research available in academia. Moving beyond the simplistic notion of communication as merely the transmission of information, it instead develops a more insightful approach to nonprofit work based on the concept of communication as social construction, explaining the implications and applications of this distinct communication perspective in ways that will benefit both communication scholars and nonprofit practitioners. Additionally, this book: Brings together a wealth of information in communication theory and nonprofit organizations in a thoughtful, approachable style Demonstrates the application and utility of a communication perspective across several key aspects of nonprofit work Written by two well-known scholars in the field with considerable experience in nonprofit work—teaching, research, volunteering, consulting, and board membership Understanding Nonprofit Work is an ideal book for advanced undergraduate and graduate level students in courses on nonprofit work, or broader classes on organizational communication and public administration that have units on the nonprofit sector. This book is also perfect for nonprofit professionals looking to develop a more sophisticated and insightful approach to their work.




Social Entrepreneurship: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications


Book Description

Businesses are looking for methods to incorporate social entrepreneurship in order to generate a positive return to society. Social enterprises have the ability to improve societies through altruistic work to create sustainable work environments for future entrepreneurs and their communities. Social Entrepreneurship: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a useful scholarly resource that examines the broad topic of social entrepreneurship by looking at relevant theoretical frameworks and fundamental terms. It also addresses the challenges and solutions social entrepreneurs face as they address their corporate social responsibility in an effort to redefine the goals of today’s enterprises and enhance the potential for growth and change in every community. Highlighting a range of topics such as the social economy, corporate social responsibility, and competitive advantage, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for business professionals, entrepreneurs, start-up companies, academics, and graduate-level students in the fields of economics, business administration, sociology, education, politics, and international relations.




Handbook of Critical Perspectives on Nonprofit Organizing and Voluntary Action


Book Description

This insightful Handbook brings together leading and emerging scholars within the field of nonprofit organization, serving as a call to action for academics to interrogate key contemporary issues such as backsliding and authoritarianism. It meticulously distinguishes traditional, often marginalist perspectives from nuanced counterarguments to balance out the field.




The Economics of Social Responsibility


Book Description

This book offers a rethinking of the burgeoning research on not-for-profit organizations and socially responsible economics. Adopting a comparative approach, the chapters explore and reinterpret the impact of social enterprises on the provision of general-interest services, work integration, microfinance, and fair trade, and show how these enterprises form the hub of an emerging economy of social responsibility. The book provides a new interpretation of social enterprises as entrepreneurial organizations that pursue social objectives and are successful due to the non-self-seeking motives of their members. This book will be of interest to postgraduate students, professionals working in the not-for-profit sector, and scholars interested in socially responsible economics. It is particularly suitable for seminars and workshops focusing on the management of not-for-profit organizations, sustainable development, and globalization.




Non-market Entrepreneurship


Book Description

Non-market entrepreneurship' consists of all forms of entrepreneurship not being undertaken solely for purposes of profit maximization or commercialization. This work builds a theoretical edifice within the field of entrepreneurship and helps to establish and delineate the contours of the research field of non-market entrepreneurship.




Effective Economic Decision-making by Nonprofit Organizations


Book Description

Editor Dennis R. Young offers practical guidelines to help nonprofit managers advance their mission while balancing the interests of trustees, funders, government, and staff. Here, expert authors explore core operating decisions and provide solutions that work for nonprofits of any size. Chapters cover pricing of services, staff compensation, outsourcing, fundraising costs, and investment and disbursement of funds.