Nonprofit organizations rely heavily on their governing board of directors to provide leadership, strategic guidance, and financial oversight. The nonprofit community continues to grow, and the services provided by these organizations have become a critical part of our society, providing a wide variety of services targeting a diverse population. In this context, how the role of the board of directors impacts the financial position of the nonprofit organization is of great interest to both the academic community and the practitioner. This study examined three areas of interest: board effectiveness, funding source, and financial vulnerability. First, the association between board effectiveness and financial vulnerability was tested. Second, specific board behaviors associated with strategic planning and stakeholder management were tested to determine if they were greater predictors of financial vulnerability. Finally, the role of funding source (specifically privately funded organizations) as a moderating variable for board effectiveness and financial vulnerability was explored. The sample was composed of 112 participants, consisting of board member/executive director survey responses and financial information for the participating organizations. The sample was drawn from six counties in the Central Florida area. Data were collected from a series of mailings, and surveys were distributed at nonprofit lecture series. The Financial Vulnerability Index (FVI) was used as a measure of the financial condition of the nonprofit organization and represented the dependent variable in this study. The Board Self-Assessment Questionnaire (BSAQ) was used to assess board effectiveness and represented the independent variable in this study. Primary funding source was identified as a moderating variable, while board size, age of the organization, CEO tenure, service area, United Way affiliation, national affiliation were included as control variables. Board effectiveness as measured by the BSAQ was a significant predictor of financial vulnerability as measured by the FVI. The strategic and stakeholder behaviors associated with board effectiveness were not found to be significant predictors of financial vulnerability, beyond other behaviors associated with board effectiveness. Funding source was shown to moderate the observed relationship between board effectiveness and financial vulnerability, as the association between effectiveness and financial condition was significant in privately funded nonprofit organizations (no such significance was identified in government funded or commercially funded organizations).

This academic paper discusses the sources of funding of general public policies with respect to fundamental rights of the citizen. The exegesis of the relationship contractualist state versus individual seeks to demonstrate why and when, the individual gave up part of his personal liberty, his property, to his detriment and in favor of the State and also the conditions under which historical- developed the preterit social power relations, in particular, the power to tax. This understanding helps us establish the evolution of own tax law itself, which resembles the transition state of the natural liberties arbitrary impositions, followed by the consent of the individual and his group, eventually emptying into the rule of law, today added the values of justice and security to the fullness of its realization. The activity-through the state – revenue collection - became the engine cool exaction on equity and income of the individual, to meet its own operation and the implementation of public policies necessary to achieve the ideals of the welfare state: the welfare of the community. However, it should be emphasized that to achieve reasonable levels in the general allotments carved into the Magna Carta of 1988, the state entity must enforce mechanisms for social justice, gradually reducing social inequalities, for only after, effective public policies, achieve concreteness benefits indispensable to the existential minimum of their fellow citizens. Legal certainty and equality are non-derogable assumptions respecting the fundamental rights of taxpayers, since the sphere of foreign assets (particular) is that you play as precedence source of revenue and provision of funding and training geared to the capitalization of assets of entities that make up the federation. The excessive tax burden should be gradually unencumbered, enabling, pari passu, which the state entity desoneres of welfare policies and support, it only becomes applicable, before a reasonable self-sufficiency of individuals and the collective that belong, thus aiming at the construction of a state Social and Fiscal fully supportable. To do this, avoidance of malpractice of public money is imperative, with significant fighting corruption and should be chosen as priorities strands of various forms of political control, social and institutional available. Finally, without neglecting the discretion essential to managing public administration, the governor should suffer the permanent supervision of their actions and spending practiced, so that we carefully observe strict compliance with the priorities that lead to the effectiveness of full-political foundations constitutional erected in our nation. / O presente trabalho acadêmico pretende discutir sobre as fontes de custeio de políticas públicas gerais, com respeito aos direitos fundamentais do cidadão. A exegese da relação contratualista do Estado versus Indivíduo busca demonstrar o porquê e em que momento o indivíduo abriu mão da parcela de sua liberdade individual, seu patrimônio, em detrimento próprio e em favor do Estado e, ainda, sob que condições histórico-sociais se desenvolveram as pretéritas relações de poder, em especial, o poder de tributar. Tal entendimento ajuda-nos a estabelecer a evolução do próprio direito tributário em si, que se assemelha na transição do estado de liberdades naturais às imposições arbitrárias, seguidas do consentimento do indivíduo e de seu grupo, acabando por desaguar no império da lei, hoje agregado aos valores da justiça e da segurança para plenitude de sua realização. A atividade-meio do Estado - arrecadação de receitas -, tornou-se o mecanismo de exação legal sobre o patrimônio e renda do particular, para fazer face ao seu próprio funcionamento e a implementação de políticas públicas indispensáveis à realização dos ideários do Estado Social: o bem-estar da coletividade. Contudo, é necessário ressaltar que, para atingir patamares razoáveis nas finalísticas gerais esculpidas na Magna Carta de 1988, o ente estatal deve se valer de mecanismos de justiça social, reduzindo gradativamente as desigualdades sociais, para somente após, com políticas públicas eficazes, alcançar a concretude dos benefícios indispensáveis ao mínimo existencial de seus concidadãos. A segurança jurídica e a isonomia são premissas inderrogáveis no respeito aos direitos fundamentais dos contribuintes, visto que a esfera de patrimônio alheio (particular) é a que se toca como precedência da fonte de receita e provimento do custeio voltado à capitalização e formação de ativos dos entes que compõem a federação. A carga tributária excessiva deve ser desonerada gradualmente do contribuinte, possibilitando, pari passu, que o próprio ente estatal se desonere das políticas assistencialistas e de amparo; isso só se torna cabível diante de uma razoável autossubsistência dos indivíduos e do coletivo a que pertençam, visando, assim, a edificação de um Estado Social e Fiscal plenamente suportável. Para isso, o afastamento da malversação do erário público é imperioso, com significativo combate à corrupção, devendo ser eleitos como prioridades de vertentes das mais variadas formas de controle político, social e institucional disponíveis. Por derradeiro, sem se descurar da discricionariedade essencial à gestão público-administrativa, deve o governante sofrer a fiscalização permanente de seus atos e gastos públicos praticados, de forma que se observe criteriosamente o estrito cumprimento das prioridades que acarretem a eficácia plena dos fundamentos político-constitucionais erigidos em nossa nação.

L'objectif de notre thèse est d'étudier le Business Model (BM) des PE/TPE ouest africaines à travers une approche conventionnaliste et institutionnaliste. Le BM et la convention constituent nos choix conceptuels et théoriques de départ, tandis que l'approche institutionnaliste s'est invitée via les thèmes émergents lors de l'étude. Nous avons qualifié notre conceptualisation conventionnaliste du BM de «modèle 3C» de la triple convention: convention de la valeur, convention de financement et convention d'exploitation. L'hypothèse centrale suggère que ces trois conventions lient la source de financement à la PE/TPE et que l'étude du rôle de la source de financement permettrait de comprendre le BM de la PE/TPE. L'opérationnalisation de la grille d'analyse du modèle 3C, à travers une méthodologie de recherche mixte et abductive a abouti à des résultats sur trois volets : 1) la compréhension des conventions du BM des PE/TPE nécessite un retour aux conditions préalables à celles-Ci; 2) il existe une pluralité de conventions de BM en fonction des PE/TPE, le dirigeant de la PE/TPE et des sources de financement; 3) les conventions de BM ne sont pas qu'une fonction de la source de financement et de la PE/TPE; les cadres institutionnels jouent un rôle important. Un retour sur les concepts clefs de notre recherche à la lumière de nos résultats a permis d'ouvrir des nouvelles perspectives d'étude. / The aim of our work is to study the Business Model (BM) of small and micro business (SMB) in West Africa. Our research is based on a conventionalist and institutionalist approach of the concept of BM. BM and the convention are our conceptual and theoretical initial choice, while the institutionalist approach has been introduced through the emerging topics during our research. We called our conventionalist conceptualization of BM "modèle 3C" of tree convention: value convention, financing convention and operating convention. The central hypothesis of our study suggests that these three conventions link the funding source to theSMB. So the role of funding source is relevant to study the SMB BM. The operationalization of the analytical framework of the 3C model, through a mixed methodology and abductive research has produced results in three areas: 1) understanding of the conventions of SMB BM requires a return to the preconditions; 2) there is a plurality of conventions of BM based of SMB, according to the leader of the SMB and funding sources; 3) BM conventions are not only a function of the source of funding and SMB; institutional context play an important role. A critical view of the key concepts of our research based on our findings has opened new avenues of study.

La chasse aux trophées, type de chasse récréative dont l'objectif premier est de prélever un trophée d'intérêt, est un sujet très controversé. Cette activité est potentiellement génératrice d'un effet Allee anthropogénique (EAA). Ce processus démographique stipule que la valorisation de la rareté d'une espèce peut stimuler son exploitation et mener à son extinction. L'objectif de ce travail a été de tester le risque d'EAA dans la chasse aux trophées. Nous avons mis en évidence que les espèces rares ont une forte valeur économique dans la chasse aux trophées, quelque soit la taille du trophée, ce qui témoigne d'une demande forte pour ces espèces. Nous avons également montré que le nombre d'importations/exportations de trophées et le nombre de trophées de chasse enregistrés par le Safari Club International s'accroît pour les espèces les plus rares lorsque l'indice de rareté de l'espèce augmente. La chasse aux trophées sur les espèces rares a été proposée comme outil pour financer leur conservation. Cependant, nos résultats valident le risque d'EAA pour ces espèces. De plus, les chasseurs ne semblent pas motivés en priorité par la participation à la conservation de la vie sauvage et le peu de données disponibles sur les populations, la chasse illégale, la corruption et le manque de contrôle rendent possible l'exploitation non durable de ces ressources à forte valeur économique. Néanmoins, la vie sauvage doit apporter des bénéfices économiques pour motiver sa préservation. Ainsi, la chasse aux trophées des espèces rares peut être utilisée pour financer leur conservation mais certaines mesures sont à prendre au préalable pour prévenir leur surexploitation / Trophy hunting, which is a form of recreational hunting with the main objective of collecting a trophy of interest, is a controversial subject. This activity could potentially generate an anthropogenic Allee effect (AAE). This demographic process states that the valuation of rarity could drive rare species exploitation and even lead to their extinction. Our project aims at testing the potential for an AEE in trophy hunting. We demonstrate that rare species have a high financial value, regardless of the trophy size, indicating that there is a high demand for those species. We also show that the number of trophies traded internationally and the number of recorded trophies by the Safari Club International (one of the largest clubs for international trophy hunters in the USA) rises as the degree of rarity (as measured by a rarity index) increases. Trophy hunting of rare species has been proposed as a tool to fund their conservation. However, our results indicate that there is a risk of an AAE for rare species. Furthermore, the combined effects of trophy hunting, illegal hunting, corruption as well as the lack of population knowledge and of management controls have potential to result in the unsustainable exploitation of rare species of high financial value. Nonetheless, trophy hunting has potential to generate strong financial incentives that are necessary for wildlife preservation. Such incentives are only likely to be effective if strict measures are required and enforced to prevent overexploitation of rare trophy species