zugl. Diss. Univ. St. Gallen, 2006. / Register. Literaturverz.

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Two decades of technological advances in internet, security, wireless, social media and networking technologies have introduced the most promising NFP systems - donor management systems (DMS). The number of DMSs available in the marketplace as well as the breadth of their feature and functionality offerings has grown tremendously to overcome NFP challenges which include program and service performance accountabil.ity, financial and operational transparency, and declines in funding sources. These systems enable NFP organizations to perform more intelligent campaigning and achieve a higher level of donor interactions resulting in greater monetary and voluntary contributions in addition to increases in donor and constituent advocacy and public support. Research indicates that NFP have experienced reduced operational and program costs, increased staff productivity, increased monetary contributions, when leveraging DMSs as part of a comprehensive fundraising program. While NFP adoption of the systems is increasing, adoption rates are much lower when compared to the for-profit sectors adoption cycle for newer technologies. Adopting the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study examined the factors that determine health and human service NFP employees' behavioral intentions to use DMSs. The proposed models included the original TAM factors of perceived usefulness and ease of use and incorporated the additional factors of user experience and organizational support, which have been found to influence an individual's intention to use technology. The model's predictive capability was measured using multiple regression techniques against data captured via an electronic survey sent to 100 health and human service organizations in the Mississippi Delta region of the US. Results from the 173 participant responses indicated that perceived ease of use and DMS experience directly influenced user perceptions toward DMSs and their subsequent intention to use the systems. The findings further indicated that the factors of perceived usefulness, NFP experience, and Organizational support did not significantly extend the model in predicting behavioral intention. The research was not able to replicate typical predictive capabilities of the core TAM in the context of health and human services NFP organizations.

<p>This thesis presents a model of the characteristics of an effective nonprofit organisation and a practical tool to evaluate the extent to which nonprofit organisations comply with these characteristics. As part of identifying the characteristics of effective nonprofit organisations, it was necessary to establish whether or not nonprofit organisations and businesses were distinct from one another, since this would determine whether research on the characteristics of effective businesses could be applied to nonprofit organisations. An exploration of the key similarities and defining differences between nonprofit organisations and businesses subsequently revealed a number of startling and unexpected insights.</p>

A recent and minimally researched model of leadership centred in the role of the steward offers potential for a focused and expedient model for leadership of Christian nonprofit organizations. The purpose of this research is to add knowledge to nonprofit leadership by defining the primary characteristics of leadership that is focused around the role of the steward. It will secondarily describe the extent of awareness and implementation of steward leader characteristics among leaders of Christian nonprofit organizations. This study researches the characteristics of the steward leader through two major phases. The first phase of research involves the exegetical study of the history and characteristics of the historical steward as revealed in the ancient documents of the classical Greco-Roman and biblical steward. This study results in the development of a preliminary typology of historic steward leader characteristics. Phase two refines the characteristics of the steward leader by conducting field research using survey and in-depth interviews with contemporary leaders of Christian nonprofit organizations. The preliminary characteristics of the steward leader derived in phase one were presented to contemporary Christian nonprofit leaders through a quantitative survey to confirm a typology of contemporary steward leader characteristics and to pre-qualify participants for in-depth interviews. The survey also functioned to assess the extent to which leaders formulated their leadership role through such characteristics. Ten participants were chosen for in-depth qualitative interviews from the survey participants who self-identified their personal leadership style as steward leadership. The interviews engaged the leaders more deeply in the subject, sought to elicit their understanding, perceptions, and attitudes about steward leadership, and further refined a typology of steward leader characteristics. The research confirms that a primary typology of distinctive leadership characteristics exists among senior leaders of Christian nonprofit organizations who visualize and demonstrate their role as stewards.

Non-profit organisations are of great importance in community development. These organisations often take up those issues of concern in communities, which profit making organisations are not interested in pursuing. Many South African non-profit organisations remain dependent on sources of revenue such as subsidies, donations or grants (if available) from the government or the private sector. As times have changed in the country whereby such revenue sources are limited, non-profit organisations focus on becoming more efficient in the management of these organisations. Managing non-profit organisations is in many cases carried out by participants on a voluntary basis. Projects and programmes can ensure meaningful outcomes if Strategic Management principles and processes are applied efficiently in the initial phases of development. Some examples of non-profit organisations in communities are evident in the form of educational institutions, social and welfare organisations, environmental community forums and organisations representing the business sector. / Prof. N. Lessing

The holistic, landscape-based approach of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in the United States emphasizes the importance of addressing three components of forest management: ecology, community, and economy. Many believe this approach represents an important and positive paradigm shift in natural resource management. In Vermont, as well as many other parts of the United States, parcelized forest ownership presents challenges to the achievement of SFM on private property. These challenges include that of applying concepts of landscape-scale management over a mosaic of small landownerships while addressing ecological, economic, and social dynamics. Many authors have suggested a need for new institutions that are better capable of addressing the integrated, boundary-crossing nature of SFM on private lands. In Vermont, partnerships involving environmental non-profit organizations are implementing innovative management strategies to promote SFM which address the challenges of parcelization. In so doing, non-profit groups are branching out from traditional roles of advocacy and public goods protection to address not only the ecological, but also economic and community aspects of forest management. Examining the strategies, organizational roles, challenges and perceived permanence of these partnerships provides a greater understanding of the nature of these new institutional arrangements for SFM. This study asks the question: How do partnerships involving environmental nonprofit organizations in Vermont attempt to achieve goals of sustainable forest management in the context of a parcelized landscape? Using a multiple case study approach, I examine three SFM-related partnerships in Vermont that involve environmental nonprofit organizations. I assess their strategies, organizational roles, challenges and perceived permanence. Results indicate that partnerships involving environmental nonprofit organizations are playing important roles in defining and institutionalizing SFM in Vermont. Partnerships use diverse strategies through which they strive to account for the three components of SFM. I find three points of entry into SFM-related issues, connected to three strategies used by partnerships to address issues of parcelization: community-based, alternative silviculture and product branding. This diversity in approach may complement the diverse nature of forest landowner’s wants and needs. Furthermore, demonstrated flexibility at the partnership and organizational levels allowed partnerships to better work toward their goals. Challenges encountered by partnerships involved both internal dynamics and external circumstances, including differential organizational capacity and economic conditions, respectively. In addition, perceived permanence of these institutional arrangements may be related to the roles that environmental nonprofit organizations play within each partnership. Findings increase our understanding of the changing roles of non-profit organizations in the forest management sector, raise key questions about the permanence of such arrangements, and provide insights into partnership practices and challenges that may be applied in other settings. The results of this study contribute to a broader analysis of national trends in SFM.

The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the leadership experiences of woman presidents of nonprofit agencies who are perceived as successful. Recognizing that participants' descriptions of their leadership experience are both similar and different, those similarities and differences are explored and analyzed. Commitment to the organization's mission, communicating a vision into action, fostering collaboration, and an adaptable leadership approach all contributed to the success of these female board presidents. A case study design was used to obtain an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of women leaders on nonprofit boards of directors. In-depth interviewing, observations with field notes, member checking, and written materials were utilized as data collection techniques. The selection of eight current and former board presidents for this study involved purposeful, criterion-based sampling. The researcher selected subjects based on their knowledge and experience with the phenomenon under investigation. An interesting finding from the study was that participants shared the same motivation and commitment to nonprofit work, as well as similar leadership qualities despite their differences in socioeconomic background, ethnicity, race, and age. The data also revealed these women place a high value on the social element of nonprofit work. Research supports that women overall are more likely to attach importance to helping others then men who place more significance on status and prestige. This finding based on the literature review and data analysis, suggests further research should include a comparative study of leadership qualities of men and women nonprofit board presidents to determine if there is a consistent leadership model.Nonprofits need to recognize that future leaders are out there waiting to be trained and among them are women who have transferable skills along with a passion and commitment to an organization. Those nonprofit agencies who understand the value of training and board development will be cultivating the leaders of tomorrow.

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) provide vital services to the communities they serve. These organizations are funded primarily by individual contributions from supporters. Academic researchers and practitioners have examined donor behavior extensively. Yet, little research exists that examines donor behavior over the Internet. The Internet presents a cost effective means for nonprofit organizations to reach new audiences, attract supporters and solicit donations. The Internet offers a combination of new media characteristics that differ from traditional channels. Understanding how these new media characteristics influence the antecedents of donor behavior may lead to higher online donations for nonprofit organizations. This research explored the relationship between Internet media characteristics and the antecedents of online donor behavior using the Media Richness Theory. Participants were selected for this study and randomly divided into two treatment groups. Each group received an e-mail from a previously unknown nonprofit organization. The e-mail introduced the organization and provided a link to the organization's website. Both the invitation message and the website were constructed to offer different media characteristics for each treatment group. After visiting the site, participants were asked to complete a 30-item Web-based survey. The data were first analyzed for differences in the mean scores for each treatment group. A simple t-test followed to corroborate these findings. Results indicated there is a relationship between media richness and an individual's perception in the quality of service offered by the experimental NPO. Additionally, there is a positive relationship between media richness and an individual's trust in the experimental NPO. These findings lay the foundation for future studies that analyze online donor behavior.

This research sought to understand the knowledge management (KM) practices in use by networked southern non-profit organisations (NPOs), which directly or indirectly impact on their effectiveness. It explores the realm of NPOs, and the concepts of organisational effectiveness (OE) and KM, with the aim of identifying their interrelationships from a theoretical and practical perspective. The three organisations studied are the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), South Africa NGO Network (SANGONet) and Women’s Network (Women’sNet). Using a conceptually formulated research framework, data gathered was analysed to examine the KM concepts of people capacity, systems and procedures, information and knowledge flow and stakeholder relations within and across all three case studies and their use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) as an enabler. The research concludes with an integrated framework, an addition to the existing body of knowledge on KM theory with key elements for a KM system for effectiveness for networked southern NPOs.