This study examined training evaluation practices in U.S. nonprofit sector organizations. It offered a framework for evaluating employee training in the nonprofit sector and suggested solutions to overcome the barriers to evaluation. A mail survey was sent to 879 individuals who were members of, or had expressed an interest in, the American Society for Training and Development. The membership list consisted of individuals who indicated association/nonprofit or interfaith as an area of interest. Data from the survey show that training in the nonprofit sector is evaluated primarily at Level 1 (reaction) and Level 2 (learning). It also shows decreasing use from Level 3 (application) through Level 5 (ROI). Reaction questionnaires are the primary method for collecting Level 1 data. Facilitator assessment and self-assessment were listed as the primary method for evaluating Level 2. A significant mean rank difference was found between Level 2 (learning) and the existence of an evaluation policy. Spearman rho correlation revealed a statistically significant relationship between Level 4 (results) and the reasons training programs are offered. The Kruskal-Wallis H test revealed a statistically significant mean rank difference between "academic preparation" of managers with Level 3 evaluation. The Mann-Whitney U test was used post hoc and revealed that master's degree had a higher mean rank compared to bachelor's degree and doctorate. The Mann-Whitney U test revealed that there were statistically significant mean rank differences on Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 5 evaluation use with the barriers "little perceived value to the organization," "lack of training or experience using this form of evaluation," and "not required by the organization." Research findings are consistent with previous research conducted in the public sector, business and industry, healthcare, and finance. Nonprofit sector organizations evaluate primarily at Level 1 and Level 2. The existence of a written policy increases the use of Level 2 evaluation. Training evaluation is also an important part of the training process in nonprofit organizations. Selecting programs to evaluate at Level 5 is reserved for courses which are linked to organizational outcomes and have the interest of top management.

This dissertation investigates factors that facilitate effective collaboration of networks functioning within the context of a federal homeless policy—the HEARTH Act of 2009. While the federal legislation encourages networked collaboration to address the incidence of homelessness, not all networks are effective in achieving their intended purpose. Using a nationwide sample of homeless networks, this research explores the role that nonprofit organizations play in the collaborative process and models the effect of individual leadership, nonprofit-led network, and community nonprofit capacity on two levels of network effectiveness—network and community—using multivariate regression modeling. Results indicate that nonprofits play a significant role as participants of the collaboration process and as leading agents of homeless networks. In addition, the variation in network effectiveness is explained by multidimensional factors.

The research study examined the leadership training practices: sense of urgency, envisioning, influencing, communicating, team building, risk taking, and anchoring among volunteer mentors in nonprofit Christian organizations. The study was approached with the assumption that many leadership practices were not present in the volunteer mentor training and their inclusion would enhance the performance or efficiency of the volunteer mentor as they serve the at-risk population. The researcher used a two phase methodology which allowed for assumptions that any inherent biases in particular data sources, investigator, and methods were neutralized. The leadership training practices were viewed using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. In Phase 1 (qualitative) eight respondents were interviewed; and in Phase 2 (quantitative), one hundred and two respondents participated by responding to a Likert scale questionnaire. The volunteer mentor population and the sample were described with great precision. Protocols used to select and delimit the samples were described in detail. Limitations in the generalizations of the findings of the study to other samples and/or populations were stated. The development and validation of the data instruments to be used to collect data from the samples were described (see Appendix 1). Based on the responses of the volunteer mentors, the leadership practices: sense of urgency, influencing, communicating, and team building were perceived to be significantly present during training. Risk taking, anchoring, and envisioning were the leadership practices perceived by the volunteer mentors as not significantly present in the training. There were more leadership practices present in the training of volunteer mentors than the researcher assumed. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

This thesis is concerned with strategic planning and measurement of effectiveness in the nonprofit sector. First part of the thesis discusses the process of strategic planning in nonprofit sector and methods that can be used by nonprofit organizations to measure effectiveness. Creation and use of the strategy map designed by Kaplan and Norton is also described. In the second part a strategy map is created for a Czech regional gallery and its subsequent use is proposed.

A research report submitted to the University of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Humanities, School of Arts, in fulfilment of the requirements of a Masters degree in Arts and Culture Management Johannesburg 2015 / The Civil Society sector in South Africa has been experiencing a funding crisis for the past 20 years. The arts represent a small portion of Civil Society, and the visual arts a small part of the art. This research considers how these visual arts non-profit organisations (VANPOs) in this economic microsphere have been challenged to survive and sustain their missions in what is a competitive, fluctuating and complex environment. This study scrutinizes the concept of sustainability and the visual arts non-profit sector’s capacity for implementation of economically sustainable projects in the current economic and funding environment in South Africa. It outlines the complex and challenging nature of sustainability for VANPOs. The VANPOs, all small organisations, have limited human and cash resources to implement sustainability strategies while fulfilling their missions. Furthermore the funding environment focuses on short-term project grants and production-oriented efforts. This does not offer the organisations much opportunity towards long-term organisational development nor strategic resourcefulness. At the same time they struggle to remain compliant with government regulations and donor requirements. This research considers methods of assessing sustainability and the perspectives of professionals involved in the management of VANPOs. It examines the challenges they have faced in finding ways to implement sustainability and in the implementation of ‘sustainable’ projects. The brief case studies focus on how five VANPOs have responded to diminishing funding.

Research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Science degree in Town and Regional Planning to the School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / This research report is interested in telling the story of activist work by looking at the work that is done by the Inner City Resource Centre which is an NGO operating within the Johannesburg area. The intention of this study is to understand the effect of activism in an environment that is highly contested by reflecting on different viewpoints of those involved in inner city work and dynamics where housing is concerned. The views of different stakeholders working within this space therefore become highly critical. The narratives by the different individuals highlight the strategies and tactics employed by various actors and institutions in shaping processes in order to achieve goals. / MT2017

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development Management / In South Africa's rapidly shifting socio-economic and political environment, many non-governmental organistions are in crisis, with donors, clients and government demanding that they change to meet the new development agenda. Although this requires careful planning and strategy- making,the three cases studied have shown that planning for change leads to tensions between need to retain the democratic and participatory ethos of the organisation, and the need to become more management and product oriented. In addition, the change planning in these organisations is often vague and and unfocused, with many different ideas and approaches for dealing with change, but few realistic plans to implement it. The research outlines an approach to planning that encompasses both of the NOD ideals by separating planning from strategy-making. As part of a learning environment, planning and strategy-making are participative activities that enable strategy to emerge at all levels of the organisation, while the planning process becomes action-focused and operational. / Andrew Chakane 2019

O presente trabalho de pesquisa é motivado pela seguinte pergunta: "Nas condições brasileiras, como devem trabalhar os conselhos diretores das organizações da sociedade civil?". O objetivo geral é ampliar o conhecimento sobre a atuação dos conselhos das organizações da sociedade civil em São Paulo. Para conseguir isso: (a) examina-se as práticas de atuação dos conselhos consideradas mais eficazes pela literatura especializada; (b) descreve-se como operam os conselhos de organizações da sociedade civil paulistas que atendem crianças e adolescentes; (c) propõe-se uma série de princípios para fundamentar o comportamento de conselhos eficazes nas condições brasileiras. Foram obtidos depoimentos de 21 pessoas, entre conselheiros e executivos, representando 10 organizações da sociedade civil que trabalham com crianças e/ou adolescentes na região da Grande São Paulo. Nestes depoimentos foi possível analisar 46 incidentes, com profundidades variáveis. Utilizou-se, para levantamento dos dados, da Técnica do Incidente Crítico (FLANAGAN, 1954) e de uma adaptação de um questionário orientado a competências desenvolvido por CHAIT et allii (1991). / The present research work is motivated by the following question: “In the Brazilian context, how should the civil society organizations’ boards work?". The general purpose is to increase the knowledge about the work of the boards in nonprofit organizations in São Paulo. To achieve this: (a) an examination of the most recommended practices from the literature is made; (b) it is described the operation mode of boards from nonprofit organizations that benefit children and youth; (c) a series of principles to orient the behavior of effective boards in the Brazilian context is proposed. The study considered the narrative of 21 people, among board members and executive officers, representing 10 civil society organizations that are working with children and youth in Great São Paulo area. It was possible to build over 46 critical incidents. It used the Critical Incident Technique (FLANAGAN, 1954) and a competency oriented questionnaire developed by CHAIT et allii (1991) for the gathering of data.

Social enterprises (SEs) are playing an increasingly important role in fostering a more sustainable and equitable society around the world. Previous studies have suggested that developing capabilities to manage knowledge is a key driver of an SE's success (Domenico et al., 2010; Guclu et al., 2002; Tracey et al., 2011). An SE operates much like a business, but manages operations and directs its surpluses towards the pursuit of social goals (Austin et al., 2006; Dart, 2004; Dees, 2001; Granados et al., 2011; Mair & Marti, 2006; Nicholls, 2006) in an unstable or unpredictable market (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993; Mair & Marti, 2009; Nicholls, 2010; Sharir & Lerner, 2006). When the market is highly turbulent, customers' product expectations and preferences change over time. In such a situation, an SE has to pay more attention to the development of high-quality new innovative products and solutions that satisfy the social needs of specific customer segments, including underprivileged groups and socially responsible consumers, thereby more effectively addressing societal problems in a sustainable way. Indeed, the question of how absorptive capacity contributes to an SE's financial and social return is largely under-researched (Dacin et al., 2011; Granados et al., 2011; Haugh, 2005). Drawing on the dynamic capabilities perspective, this study proposes a research model in which absorptive capacity affects an SE's firm performance in both financial and social terms via marketing capabilities. It advances the existing SE-related literature by investigating the mediating role of marketing capabilities in the relationship between absorptive capacity and firm performance in the context of SEs. Also, market turbulence is theorized to moderate the relationship between marketing capabilities and performance. To perform this study, I collected data using questionnaires based on a list generated randomly from the database of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service SE Directory, and the contacts obtained from other sources such as Fullness Social Enterprises Society and the Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Labour Taiwan. The data collection was performed over an eight-month period, with 109 valid responses being collected for this study. Multiple regression and a bootstrapping approach were used to test the hypotheses. The results provide support for most of the proposed hypotheses. Specifically, an SE's absorptive capacity is positively related to its marketing capabilities. Likewise, an SE's marketing capabilities are positively linked to its financial performance. In addition, an SE's marketing capabilities mediate the relationship between its absorptive capacity and its financial performance. Furthermore, the results show a positive moderating role of market turbulence in an SE's marketing capabilities-financial performance relationship. In summary, this study lends support to previous studies that show dynamic capabilities do not necessarily result in better financial performance directly in the context of SEs. It contributes to unpacking the black box of the absorptive capacity-financial performance relationship, and it shows that an SE's marketing capabilities play an important role as an underlying mediation mechanism. It also extends and contributes to the social enterprises literature by revealing the mediating role of marketing capabilities between absorptive capacity and financial performance, and the moderating effect of market turbulence on the relationship between marketing capabilities and financial performance in the context of SEs.

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