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The purpose of this paper is to test the association between various stakeholder groups and whether nonprofit organizations (NPOs) have obtained accountability accreditation. In particular, the study intends to answer the following research questions: Does the governance of an NPO have any impact on the likelihood that the organization obtains certification? Does an NPO’s investment in executives affect certification efforts? Does employing a professional fundraiser play a significant role in whether an organization seeks accreditation? and Are certification efforts influenced by the relative sophistication of donors of the NPO?

Data were analyzed by examining information provided in the Internal Revenue Service revised Form 990, Part VI specifically from organizations holding the Standards for Excellence® (SFX) certification. This study uses a size- and sector-matched sample of 228 NPOs (half of which with the SFX certification and half without) to examine the association between accountability and governance in NPOs in both univariate and multivariate contexts.

The findings of this study indicate that organizations with strong internal governance (indicated by their answers to the governance-related questions in Form 990) are more likely to have obtained certification when compared to a group of nonprofits that did not receive the certification. In addition, nonprofits that invest more in their executives are more likely to receive SFX certification. Interestingly, external stakeholders (donors making restricted gifts, and professional fundraisers) are not associated with the likelihood of holding the SFX certification.

Even though the study has attempted to control for factors that may have contributed to the findings (e.g. a size- and sector-matched peer for each NPO that secures the SFX seal in the final sample), it is not feasible to perfectly tease out all alternative explanations for the findings. Endogeneity issues may still be present given that the sample and comparison groups possess significantly different governance characteristics (i.e. governance scores, board independence, investments on executives).

The positive association between organization governance and investment in executives and the NPO’s certification credentials implies that certification may be used by these certified organizations as a signaling mechanism for strong governance. This would be consistent with the positive stakeholders’ reactions to NPOs’ accountability certifications that have been documented by Feng et al. (2016). The findings should help NPO board and staff members, researchers, and regulators to further understand the association between stakeholder groups and whether NPOs have obtained accreditation.

A thorough search of the relevant literature suggests that this study is the first one to link the association between stakeholder influence (proxied by the NPO’s governance strength, investments in executives, employing a professional fundraiser and donor sophistication) and an NPO’s decision to seek accountability accreditation. The findings should provide insights to stakeholders and researchers interested in examining the value of third-party accountability certifications and signaling mechanisms in NPOs and inform regulators regarding significant stakeholder influence on NPOs’ accreditation decision-making process. The results of this study also add to the body of literature on certification programs for NPOs.

The evolution of the not‐for‐profit organisation sector in the Israeli economy is described, combining economic theory together with history and ideology to provide a multi‐dimensional explanation of this important phenomenon. Why some activities are performed by not‐for‐profit organisations instead of, or in addition to, for‐profit firms and government institutions is outlined, and explanations for the existence of NPOs in various fields of public service are offered.

The purpose of this paper is to unearth common perceptions of non-profit organization (NPO) trust and reputation, with a specific focus in their overlaps and intersections. Examining the two concepts in tandem allows a more comprehensive approach offering new insights.

This study is devoted to the analysis of the interplay of NPO trust and reputation combining semantic network analysis with a personification approach. The data are collected via semi-structured interviews with 482 individuals.

The present results reveal both common (e.g. charitable, credible) and unique (e.g. illuminating, nice) personality traits. Findings also demonstrate that reputation is a broader concept than trust, with more characteristics. Moreover, it is possible to state that NPOs deemed reputable have a 50% chance of being trusted.

Clearly delineating the relationship between the concepts of NPO trust and reputation has certain conceptual significance and practical value. As traits are grouped in the existing taxonomy categories based on the analysis, it could contribute to improving understanding of these constructs, as well as a modification in the existing classification.

This study aims to assist NPO managers by providing a list of ideal traits for NPO reputation and trust. It can serve as a guide for managers to assess their own perceptions, for comparison with those of competitors.

To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first attempt to provide an interrelated perspective to the study of NPO trust and reputation through semantic network and personification approach.

The purpose of this paper is to assess corporate social responsibility (CSR) implemented via social partnerships between professional sports teams and not-for-profit organizations according to current theoretical perspectives. Limited resources and outcomes often mean there is a gap between theory and practice, the implications of which are not well understood.

Five partnerships in Australian football were analyzed via case study methodology which incorporated interviews, analysis of websites, social media and annual reports.

Despite being used as a CSR tool, findings showed most organizations enter these arrangements to achieve instrumental outcomes. Further, such partnerships mostly operate at a basic stage often described as philanthropic. One partnership was seen as more advanced consisting of a workplace plan to enhance diversity.

It is advocated that managers adopt a more integrated partnership model consisting of formalized objectives, activity implementation, evaluation mechanisms, frequent interaction, top-level leadership involvement and promotion to sufficiently achieve CSR goals.

Addressing calls from past research into an examination of the variation of CSR in sports, this research is one of the first to compare multiple case studies to assess the strategic implementation of social partnerships in a professional sporting context. Accordingly, the study demonstrates how such partnerships can be evaluated against a prominent theoretical model, the Collaboration Continuum, enabling more robust social partnership strategies.

This study aims to contribute to strategic crisis communication research by exploring international media representations of third sector crises and crisis response; expanding the range of crisis types beyond transgressions; and developing a framework that integrates framing and crisis communication theory.

Quantitative content analysis was applied to identify patterns in crisis reporting of 18 news media outlets in Canada, Germany, India, Switzerland, UK and US. Using an inductive framing approach, crisis coverage of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) between 2015 and 2018 was analyzed across a wide range of crises, including but not limited to prominent cases such as Oxfam, Kids Company, or the Islamic Research Foundation.

The news media in six countries report more internal crises in the third sector than external crises. The most frequent crisis types were fraud and corruption, sexual violence/personal exploitation and attacks on organizations. Exploratory factor analysis revealed three components of crisis response strategies quoted in the media, conditional rebuild, defensive and justified denial strategies. Causal attributions and conditional rebuild strategies significantly influenced media evaluations of organizational crisis response. Three frames of third sector crises were detected; the critique, the damage and the victim frame. These frames emphasize different crisis types, causes, crisis response strategies and evaluations of crisis response.

The study reveals the particularities of crises and crisis communication in the third sector and identifies factors that influence mediated portrayals of crises and crisis response strategies of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) from an international comparative perspective. The findings have relevant implications for crisis communication theory and practice.

Purpose – Accountability and performance measurement have become an important and urgent subject for nonprofit organizations (NPOs) as they encounter increasing competition from others agencies, all competing for governmental funding. This case study investigates how multiple stakeholder interests are incorporated into information systems to provide stakeholders with useful information, which contribute and make easier the assessment of the organization performance.

Methodology/approach – The paper draws on a combination of in-depth interviews with NPO managers, extensive documentary analysis, and participant observation in order to understand and explain how managers use accounting information. The study was conducted as a qualitative single case study of a large Portuguese NPO. Managers were inquired about their information uses and needs to evaluate the NPO performance and make decisions. The result of these interviews was complemented with the analysis of several documents of the NPO.

Findings – The subject of performance measurement for nonprofit organizations is extensive but generally inconclusive, because NPO lack the simple elegance of a financial measure, such as profitability, used by for-profit organizations to assess their performance. In such a context, this research provides empirical insights, and allows us to propose a framework that complements financial indicators with nonfinancial indicators.

Research limitations/implications – Because of the chosen research approach, our results may not be generalized and therefore researchers are encouraged to test the proposed framework.

By contributing to the burgeoning debate regarding “for what” nonprofit organizations should be accountable, this article aims to develop and present an Integrated Accountability Model (IAM) that considers three dimensions of accountability.

After highlighting the limits of conventional accounting for NPOs and reframing the role of profit within them, the article presents a complete literature review on “to whom” and “for what” NPOs have to be accountable while further developing the IAM of integrated accountability.

The integrated accountability model developed in this article proposes three categories of NPO accountability: (i) the economic and financial dimension or the capability/ability to be economically sustainable in the long term; (ii) the mission-related dimension or the raison d’être of an NPO, that is, the purpose for which the NPO has been set up, its mission; and (iii) the social-related dimension or the relationship with the stakeholders, that is the impact of NPO activities on its stakeholders in terms of the social contract between them.

Broadly, this article makes a contribution to the literature on accountability for NPOs. In particular it sheds light on two points: the importance of separating the mission-related dimension from the social-related one and the potential to open avenues for expansion of the IAM model to for-profit organizations.

Fundraising plays a critical role in the success of non-profit organizations (hereafter NPOs). This study aims to propose to analyze fundraising from a service-dominant logic, specifically from a service ecosystem approach, to understand the different entities and interactions involved in this activity, as well as the types of value that emerge from them.

A cross-case study was developed using three health-care Brazilian NPOs. Data collection methods were performed to build each case, including observation of NPOs’ telemarketing staff interaction with donors and long interviews with their marketing managers. Data analysis involved applying the service ecosystem framework to each NPO and contrasting them.

First, the findings revealed the way in which religious, political and child-rearing institutions integrate into citizenship ideals that permeate both NPOs’ and donors’ attitudes and behaviors. Second, five different fundraising interactions (emotional, religious, political, influencer and empathetic) in which NPOs and donors pool their resources to co-create value are presented. Third, how the outcomes of fundraising interactions manifest for NPOs in the form of financial (money and time) and social value (social legitimation) and for teleworkers and donors in the form of emotional value (joy and relatedness) are identified.

This paper used a service ecosystem approach to analyze a new service context “fundraising,” which has been scarcely discussed in the literature. The findings show how macro-level institutions work together for fundraising. Five different fundraising interactions were identified, linking the communication with the service experience literature. Finally, the findings identify fundraising’s different value outcomes extending traditional approaches for evaluating this activity.

There is a longstanding debate over the role of modern business methods in the contemporary non-profit organisation (NPO). Critics of business practices assert that they may undermine the missions of NPOs. The aim of this paper is to contribute to this debate. Many accounting researchers have shifted research focus to concepts such as trust and crises. These are important topics. But they may overshadow practices which are taken for granted as accepted practice which does not merit re-examination.

This qualitative project is based on an initial survey followed by comparative case studies of three NPOs. The researchers have used both interviews and documentary analysis in this study.

The contention that the adoption of business-like practices undermines the fundamental aim of altruism of NPOs is challenged by the findings of this paper. The very concept of altruism is not a single unifying concept in NPOs – it is a contested idea. However, and most importantly, in this research there is no evidence of mission drift by NPOs which adopt business practices. This research highlights the way many NPO CEOs are mission-driven but also pragmatic bricoleurs in their consideration of new business practices. Most importantly, these case studies demonstrate a variation in practices within the participating organisations. This raises challenging questions about a receptive context for the adoption of new business practices which are explored in this paper.

The case studies in this paper are from the UK, and further studies in different operating contexts in other countries would be useful. In particular, the finding that the fundamental ethos of NPOs is not challenged by being business-like merits further research. There is also scope for further research on what constitutes a receptive context for the adoption of new business practices by NPOs.

This study reveals the potential significance of NPO boards, particularly non-executive directors, in the shaping of organisational practices. There is evidence in this study of NPOs recruiting business experts for purposes of legitimation. But this study also shows how business expertise can be mobilised to enhance NPO performance by bricoleurs in NPO who are highly motivated individuals who will adopt useful business practices to hand if they improve charity outcomes.

The NPO organisations are motivated by the desire to make a difference to the lives of people who are vulnerable or disadvantaged. This study has interesting implications for managers and directors of NPOs on their effectiveness.

This study challenges the critical view that becoming more business-like undermines the fundamental ethos of altruism in NPOs. This is an important finding, but this study also reveals the recruitment of business expertise by NPOs purely for purposes of legitimation. However, these legitimating practices differ from the well-established view of isomorphism in the field of NPOs and suggests that, on the contrary, there is a variation in practice within the NPO field which has important implications for donors, regulators, directors and managers of NPOs.