An uneasy alliance: planning and performance in nonprofit organizations

Abstract

The research presented here contributes to our understanding of strategic planning and its relationship to performance in nonprofit organizations. Based on a sample of 303 nonprofit organizations, the study emphasizes individual and diverse elements of the planning process. Multiple measures of performance highlight a nonprofits need to garner resource contributions from several constituencies. Using factor analysis and canonical correlation analysis, we find a positive association between scope of planning and executive satisfaction and a negative association between administrative informality and volunteer involvement. Our results suggest that two critical resource contributors, executive directors and donors, may not value formalized decision-making and planning to the extent previously assumed.

Citation

Crittenden, W.F., Crittenden, V.L., Stone, M.M. and Robertson, C.J. (2003), "An uneasy alliance: planning and performance in nonprofit organizations", International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 81-106. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOTB-07-01-2004-B005