Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

This article draws from the general literature on organizational effectiveness and the specialized literature on nonprofit organizational effectiveness to advance six theses about the effectiveness of public benefit charitable nonprofit organizations (NPOs). (a) Non-profit organizational effectiveness is always a matter of comparison. (b) Nonprofit organizational effectiveness is multidimensional and will never be reducible to a single measure. (c) Boards of directors make a difference in the effectiveness of NPOs, but how they do this is not clear. (d) More effective NPOs are more likely to use correct management practices. (e) Nonprofit organizational effectiveness is a social construction. (f) Program outcome indicators as measures of NPO effectiveness are limited and can be dangerous. The article concludes by considering three possible futures for NPO effectiveness research.

In January 1994, the United Way of the National Capital Area announced significant changes in its methods of funds distribution. These structural shifts in the Washington, D.C.-area United Way campaign created an environment of increased fiscal and organizational pressure for nonprofits as many scrambled to make up lost ground. This article reports the findings of a survey sent to 258 D.C.-area nonprofit service providers. The survey was designed to determine how nonprofits adapted to changes in their funding environment associated with changes in the United Way campaign. Half of the groups surveyed experienced moderate or large cuts in the amount of funds they received through the United Way. Yet, a majority of the organizations that experienced cuts were able to adapt in ways that allowed them to maintain service levels. A number of these adaptations involved attempts to manage the environment in a manner consistent with resource dependency theory.

Data on 12 local chapters of a high status women’s community service organization and their communities are used to assess the relative impact of community needs, members’ perceptions and preferences, and interorganizational ties on decisions about how to allocate volunteers and funds among 17 community problem areas. Quantitative analysis indicates that the distribution of volunteer time and funds was unrelated to community needs as measured by objective indicators. Instead, members’ and leaders’ perceptions of the severity of community problems and their willingness to work in some problem areas more than others were the most important determinants of resource allocation. Qualitative evidence also suggests that members’ ties to other organizations played a role in the chapters’ decisions about project selection.

Strategic philanthropy, according to the literature, is becoming the state of the art in corporate contribution management. The term is defined in this study as the process by which contributions are targeted to meet business objectives and recipient needs. It represents the integration of philanthropy into the overall strategic planning of the corporation. Given this trend, this research examines the extent to which corporate philanthropy has become predominantly a business deal with direct and measurable financial returns to shareholders. The study presents the results of a national survey of corporate direct contribution programs. The 226 corporations that responded to the mailed questionnaire were primarily large corporations from over 20 different industries. The findings suggest that contributions made directly by corporations are primarily used in less tangible ways to meet responsibilities to employees and their communities.

Researchers have claimed that trends in voluntary association participation provide the starting point for examinations of social capital—a reflection of the quality of social ties at the individual or community level of analysis. This research addresses the link between participation in voluntary associations and social capital by examining trends in U.S. participation levels over a 21-year period. Using data from the General Social Survey (1974-1994), the findings demonstrate that, although aggregate voluntary association participation decreased between 1974 and 1984, participation increased in the later half of the time period. Further analyses disaggregating participation by the type of voluntary association demonstrate that participation in all but four types of association either increased or remained stable over the period. The article concludes with implications for future research exploring the relationship between voluntary association participation and social capital.