Learning Why and How: A Reader in Managing Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations

A broad definition of the sector and the specific, legal and main organizational features of nonprofit organizations are presented. The origins, basic structures and relationships with the economic and public sector are described. The chapter addresses the three basic functions of nonprofits governance, central administration and programs. A specific section to International Organizations is provided. The chapter also presents the relationship to the sovereign state in different countries.

The chapter relates to the diverse theoretical points addressing the sources and economic aspects defining the formation and behavior of nonprofit organizations. The basic aspects underlying these aspects are the principle of different demands for public goods, assumptions of heterogeneity, the principle of lack of symmetry in information, the theory of consumer control, as well as the interdependence of the economic sectors. The relationship of non profits with other sectors is also discussed.

Organizations are social entities that operate in complex task environments. The importance of environment al effects suggests that organizations operate as systems and understanding the organizational environment is essential to understanding the emergence of nonprofits characteristics their structures. The chapter addresses the economic, social and technological contexts of the nonprofits referring to the institutional, technical and stakeholders’ theories. The chapter introduces the concepts of external and internal environments, public and private stakeholders and variations in influence of these stakeholders on non profit management and decision making.

An organization's objectives are to attain general goals using specific tasks. Hence, the concept of a “goal” is endemic to the definition of an organization. This chapter introduces the distinction between official and operative goals. While the former declare the intentions regarding the organization’s mission, the latter relate to the way these are actualized to justify the mission. One main vehicle to achieving goals is organizational structure. Whether as organic or mechanic forms, NPO engage in activities in a way that increase organizational performance.

Board members and managers, along with the volunteer workforce are vital to organizational performance and outcomes in nonprofits. Issues of interests, needs and motives of the participants are discussed in the present chapter. The aspects of personal characteristics, their motivations and their goals are discussed to show how important it is to consider thoroughly the structure of the board and their capabilities as essential factors in the decision making process of nonprofit organizations. This chapter also addresses the specific aspects of managers’ involvement and conditions in nonprofit settings that enable planning and executing crucial strategic choices.

Traditional views of volunteering focus on the moral obligation to care for the weak and the needy. The chapter addresses the characteristics of volunteers, their diverse needs and motivations and takes an in depth view of the proper strategies that encourage volunteers’ motivation and retaining and how by doing so nonprofits capitalize on volunteers’ contribution to the actualization of organizational goals and visions.

Organizational excellence is linked to openness and change, to organizational flexibility in response to the needs of its target population and organizational teams. This chapter discusses an organization's ability to influence/control performance in the face of environmental pressures, and the different strategic choices that ultimately aim to adjust to shifts in vision. These include both (a) re-active methods including inevitable changes in organizational aims, procedures and techniques, and (b) pro-active coping methods that ensure competitiveness, including internal control systems, marketing and commercialization. The degree of stakeholder influence on these strategies is also discussed because of the effect that conflicting expectations from multiple stakeholders have on definitions of performance in NPO.

The turbulent nature of the nonprofits task environments has been intensified by globalization and funding cuts that are necessary for organizational survival. This chapter presents a variety of theoretical perspectives, such as selection, adaptation and structural models, to show that the appropriate method of invoking change involves avoiding “drastic revolutions” and opt for gradual or incremental changes. Change can be considered as either a source of organizational evolution or a reaction to diminished resources. Change models, types of change and the relationship between change and performance are discussed in the chapter. Nonprofits’ money making venturescommercialization and marketing-as forms of change and acceptable practices in nonprofit are also discussed.

The chapter provides the basic insights into two major and emerging aspects of organizational change. Crisis, a widely researched phenomenon, is seldom dealt with in regard to nonprofit organizations, but the various antecedents and outcomes of crisis are often discussed as inevitable. The chapter introduces the notions involved in crisis management that enable tapping into a process of exploration based on learning, which enables creating and transferring knowledge and generates performance. The conditions necessary to introduce learning practices in nonprofits are also introduced as is the concept of the learning organization.

Networking is a well developed method of keeping NPO updated about resources, policy changes and economic trends. Networking is traditionally related to performance. The present chapter addresses the theoretical origins of networking and its advantages and analyzes how NPO engage in networking as well as whether the networking link to performance is a direct one or involves several additional aspects such as those of social capital and trust.