Please help me write 3 critiques for the following 3 articles.
Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 38:158–168, 2014
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 2330-3131 print/2330-314X online
DOI: 10.1080/03643107.2013.859197
Do Nonprofit Organizations Have Room for Advocacy
in Their Structure? An Exploratory Study
Marcela Sarmiento Mellinger
School of Social Work, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Advocacy as a practice strategy has been part of social work since its inception. However, our knowledge
of the advocacy structure within organizations is limited. Guided by institutional theory, the purpose of
this study was to explore factors that impact the structure of advocacy within human service nonprofits.
Frequency of advocacy participation was also explored. Results showed that formalization and knowl-
edge of the lobbying law increase the odds of an organization having an advocacy structure. Frequency
of advocacy participation, however, was low even among those organizations that reported having an
advocacy structure. Implications for research, practice, and education are discussed.
Keywords: advocacy, advocacy structure, human services, macro social work practice, nonprofits
INTRODUCTION
The use of advocacy as a practice strategy has been part of the social work profession since its
inception. The profession’s Code of Ethics requires that social workers challenge social injustice
and seek to bring about social change (National Association of Social Workers, 2008). However,
although advocacy has been part of the profession’s discourse, many questions still remain about
advocacy participation, especially at the macro level of practice.
Although advocacy seems to have a place in the profession, the paucity of research on this area
has been documented in the literature (Berry, 2003; Nicholson-Crotty, 2007; Salamon & Geller,
2008). This lack of research is perhaps the most evident regarding the structure of advocacy within
organizations. Although it has been suggested that advocacy should be part of organizational struc-
tures, a scarce number of empirical studies address the factors that can influence advocacy structure
or the impact this structure can have in operating human service nonprofit organizations (NPOs).
Some have suggested that advocacy should be incorporated into the organizational structure as a
program and service (Donaldson, 2008; Gibelman & Kraft, 1996; Taylor, 1987). This is important,
they argue, because advocacy is too often a marginal function, employed in a reactive mode when
issues arise (Taylor, 1987). Advocacy can often be a peripheral and ineffectual function, which lacks
consistency and coherence (Gibelman & Kraft, 1996; Schneider and Lester, 2001). In order for this
to change, an advocacy agenda should be developed as part of a planning process, along with the
allocation of resources and staff to move advocacy efforts forward (Donaldson, 2008; Gibelman &
Kraft, 1996).
Correspondence should be addressed to Marcela Sarmiento Mellinger, School of Social Work, University of Maryland,
1000 Hilltop Circle, AC IV-B-322, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
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ADVOCACY STRUCTURE 159
In spite of the suggestions given about advocacy’s place within NPOs, little is known about
the factors that can potentially influence the structure of advocacy. In an effort to add to the lim-
ited knowledge on this issue, this study sought to understand factors that predict the structure of
advocacy within human service NPOs.
LITERATURE REVIEW
When it comes to advocacy, the literature has provided support for its value within human service
NPOs (Boris, 2006; Hasenfeld, 2010; Hoefer, 2012; Suárez & Hwang, 2008). However, questions
have been raised regarding planned and structured participation in advocacy versus participation
precipitated by crisis (Austin, 2000). Schneider and Lester (2001) state that many organizations
do not have advocacy structures and often use isolated advocacy efforts executed by the board or
administrators with limited success. Additionally, Taylor (1991) posits that advocacy will not be
successful if it is carried out as an ad hoc activity. She states, “advocacy will not be pursued within
an agency when no one is responsible for it” (p. 141).
There is some conceptual discussion in the literature regarding the benefits of having a structured
advocacy strategy, a specific staff person dedicated to advocacy, and even advocacy programs (Bass,
Arons, Guinane, & Carter, 2007; Berry, 2003; Donaldson, 2008; Gibelman & Kraft, 1996; Netting,
O’Connor, & Fauri, 2007; Taylor, 1991). Reisch (1990), in one of the few empirical studies available
on structure, reviewed the relationship between advocacy and organizational structure in 125 orga-
nizations. He found that organizations that were effective in conducting advocacy were more likely
to have formal organizational structures, were more likely to use official communication between
leadership and staff, and were more likely to allocate resources for advocacy. Furthermore, they
were “more likely to have established a structured goal-setting process . . . and to have maintained
consistent goals over the past five years” (p. 73).
Berry (2003) stated that if organizations do not see advocacy as a top priority, they may not
see the need to build this practice intervention into the “design of the organization” (p. 133). He
found that conventional organizations (those that do not report lobbying expenditures on their
990 tax return) were less likely to have a designated person to do advocacy, compared to those
who report lobbying expenditures as H electors. He viewed this difference as an indicator that con-
ventional NPOs do not see advocacy the same way as those organizations that choose to report
their lobbying activities to the government. He also stated that conventional organizations that have
someone responsible for advocacy are rewarded with more contact with government through calls
and requests for information. He speculated that this contact encourages NPOs to formalize their
policy advocacy efforts within the organization.
Donaldson (2008) presented six building blocks for developing an advocacy program. Among
them are the need for full leadership support, diversifying funding for advocacy, and having full-
time staff devoted to advocacy. She concluded that more research is needed to assess the factors that
relate to the structure of advocacy within human services. Gibelman and Kraft (1996) also argued
that advocacy must be incorporated as an ongoing program and service within human service orga-
nizations. They viewed advocacy as a “realistic and essential response to the external environment
in which human service agencies function” (p. 46) and advised against using advocacy as an ad hoc
intervention. Within their recommendations to implement a successful advocacy program were the
need for staff that specifically focus on advocacy and the need for leadership and board support.
They concluded that an advocacy program can help achieve agency goals, provide opportunities for
participation in social justice for all those interested, build cohesion within the organization, and
gain social justice victories at various levels.
Taylor (1991) argued that human service organizations must have a structure through which advo-
cacy can be processed. If structure is lacking, social change would be merely a conversation topic,
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160 MELLINGER
and no action would take place. She outlined a model where the organization, with an advocate on
staff, pursues social change. In order for this effort to succeed, she argued, board, staff, and com-
munity support is necessary. She stated that a structured effort provides complete agency awareness
and commitment before an issue is adopted as an advocacy cause, it provides a clear understanding
of the advocacy role within the organization, it ensures accountability at every organizational level,
and it provides documentation of the work.
In agreement with Taylor’s (1991) model, Netting and colleagues (2007) suggested a formal
organizational structure for advocacy is needed for it to be a legitimate channel for funding.
Additionally, they proposed that social change and advocacy language should be translated into
program planning language to receive the needed support. They also argued that staff with specific
skills is needed to carry out the goals of the program.
Some research supports the integration of advocacy and service provision. Crutchfield and
Grant (2008), in their study of successful NPOs, identified six practices that help organizations
achieve their desired outcomes; this integration of advocacy and service provision was one of
these practices. High-impact organizations provided programs to serve their communities, but at the
same time advocated for system change at the local, state, and national levels. A notable finding
from this study was that organizations that successfully incorporated advocacy with direct ser-
vice increased their credibility, influence, and funding. The authors concluded that when policy
is informed by direct services, organizations are more effective at both micro and macro levels of
practice. They also stated that top leaders were highly engaged in policy advocacy; however, no
details were provided regarding the structure of advocacy within these organizations (Crutchfield
& Grant, 2008). However, it is important to note the organizations included in this study were
large organizations with resources that allowed them to establish an advocacy structure. Although
these large organizations are not representative of the majority of human service NPOs, integrating
advocacy with service provision is not a new concept. Taylor’s (1991) model, which included an
established advocacy structure, was successfully implemented in a mid-size human service organi-
zation (budget < $3 million) for over 30 years (personal communication, P. Wolf, September 23,
2013).
The literature suggests that investing resources in advocacy pays off in many ways, including
affording organizations access to decision makers (Berry, 2003). However, a review of the literature
leads us to reasonably conclude that further exploration of how organizations manage and structure
advocacy is needed. Staff with specific advocacy responsibilities is one indicator of potential formal
structures; however, additional areas such as a strategic plan for advocacy approved by leadership
and board, as well as the presence of a formal advocacy program should be explored. To this end, the
purpose of this study was to explore the influence of institutional factors on the structure of advocacy
among human service NPOs. These results report a section of a broader study that addressed several
areas of advocacy conducted by human service NPOs; additional details on the sample and on
institutional theory can be found in Mellinger and Kolomer (2013). The main question that guided
this quantitative exploratory study was: what institutional factors predict the structure of advocacy
within human service NPOs? Additionally, the frequency of advocacy participation among human
service NPOs was explored.
METHOD
Sample
A convenience sample of human service NPOs providing services in a southern region of the United
Stated was utilized for this study. Organizations included in the study had 501(c)3 status, pro-
vided services to individuals and families, and sought to promote the individual, social, economic,
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ADVOCACY STRUCTURE 161
and psychological wellbeing of their clients (Mosley, 2010). Organizations that provided solely
educational and medical services were excluded. Executive directors were asked to respond to the
survey; however, some reported asking their staff or board members to respond.
The area sampled consisted of 12 small counties that have been grouped together by the regional
developing commission. These counties compose one of 12 regions in the state, believed to fit
together because of their geographic proximity, their economics, their proximity to a larger city in
the area, and their proven ability to work together.
With Institutional Review Board approval, an electronic survey was sent to 345 organizations;
98 responses were received (28.4% response rate). Because not all responses were complete, the
final sample consisted of 72 cases or a 20.9% response rate. Although the response is relatively low,
it is considered average for online surveys (Andrews, Nonnecke, & Preece, 2003). The sample was
derived from a database of 2,400 programs maintained by a local human service organization with
support from United Way. The database contained an array of organization, including animal rescue
services, health providers, and educational institutions, in addition to human service organizations.
After eliminating organizations that did not meet the criteria and those for which no updated contact
information could be obtained, a list of 439 organizations emerged. Of these organizations, 94 were
eliminated from the sample because they no longer provided services in the area, were govern-
ment organizations listed as nonprofits, or were duplicate programs listed as separate organizations.
In order to increase the response rate, two reminders were sent after the initial request for partici-
pation. Additionally, organizations that had not accessed the survey were contacted by phone after
the reminders were sent. Of these organizations, 55 agreed to complete the survey, however, only
31 actually accessed the survey.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
The closed-ended questions in the electronic survey focused on the organizations’ background (such
as age, budget, revenue sources, number of employees, educational background of employees),
advocacy participation, advocacy structure, four indicators of institutionalization, and the targets of
advocacy. For results regarding targets see Mellinger (2014) and Mellinger and Kolomer (2013).
Because of the paucity of research regarding the structure of advocacy within human service
NPOs, the literature was used to operationalize this concept. Having an advocacy structure was
defined as having one or more of these components: an advocacy program, a specific person in
charge of advocacy, or a formalized advocacy strategy approved by the board of directors. This
variable was measured dichotomously, with organizations that had one or more of the three items
coded as yes and those with none of them, coded as no.
Four institutional factors, derived from institutional theory, were measured; they were formal-
ization, clinical orientation, restricted funding, and knowledge of the lobbying law. Formalization
was measured through a five-item scale (Mosley, 2010) with scores ranging from 0 to 5; Cronbach’s
alpha for this study was .64. The total number of positive responses was used to score the scale,
with higher scores showing more formalization.
In this study, the assumption was made that the professionalization toward clinical work and the
tendency of human service NPOs to offer clinical services have influenced advocacy participation.
Therefore, the clinical orientation of leadership was measured by asking one question, “Do you
professionally identify as a clinician?” According to institutional theory, professions regulate the
behavior of organizations by controlling beliefs systems and constructing frameworks that define
arenas within which they claim jurisdiction (Scott, 2001). The professionalization of human services
has been addressed in the literature as one of the factors that has moved organizations toward the
provision of individual practice and away from policy advocacy or other broad interventions to
seek social change (Andrews & Reisch, 2002; Salamon, 1995). Additionally, research has shown
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162 MELLINGER
that specific practices, such as therapy, counseling, or psychotherapy, can become institutionalized,
displacing other forms of practice from an organization’s structure (Zilber, 2002).
Restricted funding was measured as the percentage of income the organization received which
had a specific purpose defined by the funders. These funds could not be used in any other way by
the organization. Lastly, because the law is considered a major institutional factor that influences the
behavior of organizations (Frumkin & Galaskiewicz, 2004; Scott, 2001), knowledge of the lobbying
law was measured by an eight-item quiz (Berry, 2003). The total number of correct answers was
used for the analysis.
A scale was utilized to measure the level of advocacy participation. Participants were asked to
determine how frequently (none, extremely low, low, medium, and high) the organization used each
specific advocacy tactic. Means and standard deviations for legislative tactics and non-legislative
tactics were calculated; the scale ranged from zero to four. The tactics were selected based on liter-
ature that indicates they are used to advocate at the macro level. Legislative tactics were defined as
those that directly target elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels. The goal when using
these tactics is to change or create a law or government regulation, and it is done by elected officials.
Non-legislative tactics are those that target administrators, the legal system, and the community.
They aim to identify needed changes in program policies (rules and regulations) and practices
(procedures, outcomes, etc.) and seek to influence agencies to make needed modification in these
programs in order to benefit clients (Ezell, 2001). Individuals targeted with these tactics are not
elected officials. Tactics directed at the legal system seek to influence the implementation of laws or
legal rules that impact clients; and targets aimed at the community, seek to change the attitudes and
assumptions made about vulnerable populations (Ezell, 2001). All seek to bring about broad level
change.
Legislative tactics included items such as: 1) Does your organization monitor the legislative pro-
cess at the federal, state, or local level? 2) Does your organization testify in legislative hearings?
3) Does your organization work with legislators or local elected officials through the legislative pro-
cess or establishment of local ordinances? 4) Does your organization make phone calls to elected
officials to voice your opinion on specific issues? 5) Does your organization provide testimony in
legislative committee meetings or hearings? Non-legislative tactics included items such as: 1) does
someone from your organization meet with appropriate staff from public agencies in order to advo-
cate for positive changes for clients? 2) Do you meet with public administrators with the goal
of changing existing policies, regulations, or practices negatively impacting you clients? 3) Does
your organization petition the courts for needed services to be provided or improved? 4) Is your
organization ever an expert witness in cases where social justice for a group of people is at stake
(versus individual cases)? 5) Do you organize public events to raise awareness on an issue impact-
ing clients? 6) Do you meet with influential community member to advocate for issues impacting
clients?
Size and age of the organizations were used as control variables. Descriptive and inferential
statistics were employed to analyze data. Logistic regression was used to analyze the structure of
advocacy.
RESULTS
Descriptive statistics for the sample are shown in Table 1. The majority (57%) of the organi-
zations surveyed had relatively small annual budgets ($500,000 or less). Budgets ranged from
$11,980 to $15,000,000. Age was measured as the number of years in operation and the mean
was 32 (SD = 32.5), with a range of one year to 187 years.
Executive directors with a graduate degree comprised 50% of the sample. Additionally, 41.2%
of the sample completed a bachelor’s degree, 1.5% an associate’s degree, and the remaining 7.3%
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ADVOCACY STRUCTURE 163
TABLE 1
Nonprofit Organizations’ Characteristics (N = 72)
Variable Value Number (%) Mean (SD)
Type of NPO Non-faith-based 63 (87.5%)
Faith-based 9 (12.5%)
Age of organization (years
in operation)
Range 1-187 32.1 (32.5)
Total annual budget (size) Range $11,980–$ 15,000,000 $2,144,288 (3796947)
Budget categories Small < $500,000 41 (57%)
Medium $500,001–$3,000,000 16 (22.2%)
Large > $3,000,001 15 (20.8%)
∗Income source (percentage
of total income)
Government 32.5 (32.8)
Individual donors 21.8 (26.1)
Fees 13.8 (25.7)
Fundraising events 11.5 (16.0)
Other 20.4 (21.9)
∗Number of staff Full-time professionals 10.5 (17.3)
(professionals only) Part-time professionals 4.3 (11.4)
∗Educational background of
executive director
Doctorate 3 (4.4%)
JD 3 (4.4%)
Masters 28 (41.2%)
Bachelor’s 28 (41.2%)
Associate’s 1 (1.5%)
High school 2 (2.9%)
No degree 3 (4.4%)
∗Social work education of
executive director
Social work degree 11 (15.9%)
None social work degree 58 (84.1%)
∗n = 68.
having a high school degree or no degree at all. The majority (84.1%) of executive directors did not
have a social work degree (N = 68).
In this sample, organizations indicated they were highly formalized (M = 4.2, SD = 1.2), with
76% scoring a four or above on the self-rated scale (values from 0 to 5). The majority (88.9%)
of respondents said they did not identify as a clinician, and 83.3% reported they did not have a
professional license. Respondents indicated that 45% (SD = 33.3) of the revenue the organizations
received was restricted. Regarding respondents’ knowledge of the lobbying law, the mean score (in
an eight-item quiz) was 4.3 (SD = 2.5). Half (50%) of the sample answered five or more questions
correctly and 9.7% of participants answered all questions incorrectly.
The level of advocacy participation among this sample was low. When asked if they used specific
advocacy tactics, in a range from zero to four (none, extremely low, low, medium, and high), the
mean of participation for legislative tactics was 1.02 (SD = .95) and the mean of participation for
non-legislative tactics was 1.2 (SD = .93). Furthermore, over half (54.4%) of participants said they
never use legislative advocacy tactics or use them with extremely low frequency. For non-legislative
tactics, this included 41.4% of participants (see Table 2).
Advocacy structure was measured as a binary variable (having an advocacy structure versus not
having a structure). The majority (54.2%) of the organizations said they had at least one of the
three components needed to be classified as having an advocacy structure. Results from examining
these components individually showed that 40% said they had an advocacy program, 32% reported
having a specific staff person in charge of advocacy, and 31% had a formalized advocacy strategy
approved by the board. Furthermore, the majority (52.8%) said advocacy was part of the mission of
the organization.
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164 MELLINGER
TABLE 2
Level of Advocacy Participation (N = 70)
Frequency of advocacy participation Number Percentage
Legislative Advocacy
Never 12 17.1%
Extremely Low 26 37.1%
Low 21 30%
Medium 9 12.9%
High 2 2.9%
Non-Legislative Advocacy
Never 13 18.6%
Extremely Low 16 22.9%
Low 21 30%
Medium 17 24.3%
High 3 4.2%
TABLE 3
Logistic Regression Analysis for Advocacy Structure
Predictor B SE Wald’s χ 2 df p
Odds ratio
(95% CI)
Formalization .896 .329 7.431 1 .006∗ 2.45
(1.286–4.668)
Clinical Identity .484 .873 .308 1 .579 1.623
(.293–8.975)
Restricted Funding .007 .009 .564 1 .453 1.007
(.989–1.024)
Knowledge of the lobbying law .261 .123 4.489 1 .034∗ 1.298
(1.020–1.653)
Total budget .000 .000 .069 1 .793 1.000
(1.000–1.000)
Age of organization −.001 .008 .018 1 .892 .999
(.983–1.015)
Constant −5.931 2.356 6.336 1 −
N 72
X2(6,72) 21.489
Negelkerke R2 .345
p .001
Note: p < .05.
The logistic regression for advocacy structure showed the model was statistically significant
(Table 3), χ 2 (6,72) = 21.489, p = .001. The model was able to correctly classify 84.6% of those
organizations that said they have a structure of advocacy, and 57.6% of those that said they did
not, for an overall success rate of 72.2%. The model showed that formalization was a significant
predictor (p = .006) of structure. The odds ratio (2.45) for this variable indicated that when holding
all other variables constant, for each unit increase in formalization, the odds of having an advocacy
structure increased by 2.45. Knowledge of the lobbying law was also significant (p = .03), with
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ADVOCACY STRUCTURE 165
the odds ratio also showing an increase on advocacy structure by 1.29 for each unit increase in
knowledge. The pseudo R2 (Negelkerke R2) for the model was .345.
DISCUSSION
The findings from this study support previous research and add new information to our knowledge
of advocacy among human service NPOs. Previous research has shown that NPOs say they do
participate in advocacy (Bass et al., 2007; Salamon & Geller, 2008), which was supported by this
study. Although the frequency of advocacy participation is low (legislative advocacy M = 1.02,
SD = .95; non-legislative advocacy M = 1.2, SD = .93), organizations do perceive some of their
activities as advocacy. These results also confirm previous studies showing that although advocacy
takes place, its use is modest at best (Berry, 2003; Child & Grønbjerg, 2007).
Organizations in this study were highly formalized (M = 4.5; SD = 1.2), which reflects their
tendency to adopt and preserve procedures they believe to be important to the organization (Leiter,
2005). Institutional theory suggests that institutionalization is rooted in conformity and that at times
structures are set in place and left in place regardless of their value to the organization (Anheier,
2005). The results of this study confirm this theoretical assumption since higher levels of formaliza-
tion led to higher odds of having an advocacy structure. However, this structure does not speak to the
value given to advocacy or the amount of advocacy that actually takes place within an organization;
it simply speaks to organizational composition.
In spite of the paucity of empirical research regarding the structure of advocacy, the literature
does suggest that in order for advocacy to occur, an advocacy structure must be present in the organi-
zation (Donaldson, 2008; Gibelman & Kraft, 1996; Taylor, 1987). This study provides preliminary
support for this assertion; however, the assumption that advocacy structure will lead to advocacy
participation needs further exploration. It is possible that organizations with an advocacy structure
are more willing to do advocacy because they have a system in place that allows them to advocate.
However, how much advocacy participation actually results from this structure should be explored.
Results in this study showed that having a structure does not equate with a high level of advocacy
involvement. Organizations in this study did participate in advocacy, but with low frequency.
One area that deserves future exploration, and one that could give us a different perception of
advocacy participation by these organizations, is their involvement in coalitions or associations.
Studies have shown that memberships and collaborations with other organizations increase advo-
cacy involvement at least at the policy advocacy level (Bass et al., 2007; Donaldson, 2007; Salamon
& Geller, 2008). Although an attempt was made in this study to explore this relationship, over half
of participants (51%) did not respond to the question addressing membership in coalitions or asso-
ciations. Because no reasonable assumptions could be made based on data that had over half of
the responses missing, this variable was not included in the model for this study. However, this is
an important topic that should be addressed in future research, especially when studying smaller
organizations that may depend on these associations or memberships to make their voices and that
of their constituents heard.
Knowledge of the lobbying law was also a significant predictor of advocacy structure. This rela-
tionship was positive indicating that organizations with knowledgeable leadership on their staff were
more likely to have an advocacy structure. Again, this finding simply points to the issue of structure
and not to the actual use of advocacy by these organizations. Even though organizations may have
an advocacy program, a specific person in charge of advocacy, or a formal advocacy plan in their
structure, they may still spend more time, …
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
How to Raise Voluntary Giving for Nonprofit Sports
Clubs: An Analysis of Factors Influencing Donations
Svenja Feiler • Pamela Wicker • Christoph Breuer
Published online: 8 August 2014
� International Society for Third-Sector Research and The Johns Hopkins University 2014
Abstract Nonprofit sports clubs generate revenue from a variety of sources. One
of the main income categories is donations. Previous research only analyzed the
amount of money generated through donations, but not the influencing factors. The
purpose of this study is to investigate determinants of donations for nonprofit sports
clubs. The study is based on the public goods theory (Weisbrod in ‘‘The economics
of nonprofit institutions.’’ ‘‘Studies in structure and policy.’’ Oxford University
Press, New York, pp 21–44, 1986) and the contract failure theory (Hansmann in
Yale Law J 89(5):835–902, 1980) and makes use of an unbalanced panel data set
from a nationwide online survey of nonprofit sports clubs in Germany (n = 41,343).
The results show that particularly the provision of elite sport and the promotion of
young talents positively influence the reception of donations. Moreover, sports clubs
caring for social aspects, companionship, and conviviality as core values are able to
generate higher revenues from donations. The same applies to clubs employing paid
staff. Contrary, a commercial orientation was found to have a negative effect.
Résumé Les clubs sportifs à but non lucratif génèrent des revenus à partir de
sources diverses. Parmi celles-ci, les dons constituent l’un des principaux postes de
revenus. Les études existantes n’analysent que les sommes générées par les dons,
sans considérer les facteurs d’influence. Cette étude vise à rechercher les détermi-
nants des dons faits à des clubs sportifs à but non lucratif. Elle est basée sur la
théorie des biens collectifs (Weisbrod 1986) et sur la théorie de l’échec du contrat
(Hansmann 1980). Elle exploite les données d’un panel non compensé provenant
d’une enquête réalisée en ligne au niveau national et portant sur les clubs sportifs à
but non lucratif en Allemagne (n = 41,343). Les résultats indiquent que les faits de
proposer un sport d’élite et de promouvoir les jeunes talents influencent
S. Feiler (&) � P. Wicker � C. Breuer
Institute of Sport Economics and Sport Management, German Sport University Cologne,
Am Sportpark Muengersdorf 6, 50933 Cologne, Germany
e-mail: [email protected]
123
Voluntas (2015) 26:1219–1239
DOI 10.1007/s11266-014-9489-3
particulièrement et de manière positive les dons. De plus, les clubs sportifs attachés
aux aspects sociaux, à la camaraderie et à la convivialité génèrent davantage de
revenus par le don. Il en va de même pour les clubs qui emploient du personnel
rémunéré. À l’inverse, l’orientation commerciale se révèle avoir un effet négatif.
Zusammenfassung Die Einnahmen gemeinnütziger Sportvereine stammen aus
verschiedenen Quellen. Eine der wichtigsten Einnahmekategorien sind Spenden.
Bisherige Forschungen analysierten lediglich den durch Spenden erzielten Geld-
betrag, nicht jedoch die Einflussfaktoren. Zweck dieser Studie ist die Untersuchung
der Determinanten von Spenden an gemeinnützige Sportvereine. Die Studie beruht
auf der Theorie der öffentlichen Güter (Weisbrod 1986) und der Theorie des
Vertragsversagens (Hansmann 1980) und verwertet unbalancierte Paneldaten aus
einer landesweiten Online-Befragung von gemeinnützigen Sportvereinen in Deu-
tschland (n = 41,343). Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich insbesondere das Angebot
von Spitzensport und die Förderung von Nachwuchstalenten positiv auf den Erhalt
von Spenden auswirken. Darüber hinaus können Sportvereine, die großen Wert auf
soziale Aspekte, Gemeinschaft und Geselligkeit legen, höhere Spendeneinnahmen
erzielen. Gleiches gilt für Vereine, die über bezahlte Mitarbeiter verfügen. Da-
hingegen stellte man fest, dass sich eine kommerzielle Orientierung negativ
auswirkt.
Resumen Los clubes deportivos sin ánimo de lucro generan ingresos a partir de
una serie de fuentes. Una de las principales categorı́as de ingresos son las donaci-
ones. Investigaciones previas sólo analizaron el importe del dinero generado med-
iante donaciones, pero no los factores que influyen. El propósito del presente estudio
es investigar los determinantes de las donaciones para los clubes deportivos sin
ánimo de lucro. El estudio se basa en la teorı́a de los bienes públicos (Weisbrod
1986) y en la teorı́a de los fallos de contrato (Hansmann 1980) y hace uso de un
conjunto de datos de panel desequilibrados de una encuesta online a nivel nacional
de clubes deportivos sin ánimo de lucro en Alemania (n = 41,343). Los resultados
muestran que en particular la provisión de deporte de élite y la promoción de
talentos juveniles influyen positivamente en la recepción de donaciones. Asimismo,
los clubes deportivos a los que les importan los aspectos sociales, el compañerismo,
y la buena convivencia como valores fundamentales pueden generar mayores in-
gresos de las donaciones. Los mismo se aplica a los clubes que emplean a personal
pagado. Por el contrario, se encontró que una orientación comercial tiene un efecto
negativo.
Keywords Nonprofit finance � Income sources � Nonprofit sports organizations
Introduction
Nonprofit organizations are characterized as private organizations supplying public
goods and mixed goods with private and public components (Anheier 2005;
Weisbrod and Dominguez 1986). Moreover, goods with positive externalities are
1220 Voluntas (2015) 26:1219–1239
123
produced by nonprofit organizations (Rooney 2007) which contribute to the welfare
of society (Gratton and Taylor 2000). These characteristics also apply to nonprofit
sports clubs which are the main pillar of mass sport provision in many European
countries as well as overseas (e.g., Enjolras 2002; Lasby and Sperling 2007; Vos
et al. 2012). Nonprofit sports clubs are concerned with offering affordable sports
opportunities which are available to a wide range of the population. The clubs are
‘‘thereby promoting the idea of sport for all’’ (Enjolras 2002, p. 353). Moreover, the
intention of nonprofit sports clubs is to offer a sports supply which is welfare
oriented and produces social benefits (Vos et al. 2012). A major factor for the
existence of nonprofit sports clubs, apart from the voluntary work accomplished in
the clubs, is their financial health since a financially secured situation is vital for the
clubs’ overall success in fulfilling their broader mission (Allison 2001; Young
2007). This is particularly important since prior research showed that other types of
nonprofit organizations have more financial resources at their disposal than sports
organizations which makes the latter potentially financially vulnerable (Lasby and
Sperling 2007). Despite the importance of a stable financial basis, reaching and
keeping such a situation is a key challenge to many nonprofit sports clubs in
Western Europe (Lamprecht et al. 2012; SRA (2013).
Nonprofit sports clubs can be described as ‘‘community-based economy
voluntary organizations’’ (Enjolras 2002, p. 356) as they receive a combination of
public, voluntary, and market resources. This means that nonprofit sports clubs, like
nonprofit organizations in general (Grønbjerg 1991), are dependent on a wide range
of different income sources. This requires them to pay attention to their total
revenues, but also to the composition of their income portfolio since interactions
between different revenue categories (crowd-out and crowd-in effects) might exist
(Kearns 2007; Young 2007). The diverse revenue sources are among others
membership and admission fees, public subsidies, service-fees from nonmembers,
and sponsorship income (cf., Wicker et al. 2012). Additionally, an important
revenue source among nonprofit organizations in general is donations (Okten and
Weisbrod 2000; Rooney 2007). Different characteristics of nonprofit organizations,
particularly the nondistribution constraint, lead to the assumption that nonprofits are
more trustworthy (Hansmann 1987) which in turn makes potential donors more
willing to donate to nonprofits since the money will most likely be used for the
proposed purpose (James 1990). Also, in nonprofit sports clubs, donations are one of
the main sources of income, for example, in Canada (Lasby and Sperling 2007) and
Germany (Wicker et al. 2012), which makes this revenue source an important one
for the clubs.
Although different studies exist which have analyzed the characteristics of
individual donors to nonprofit organizations (e.g., Khanna and Sandler 2000; Okten
and Weisbrod 2000) as well as crowding-out effects of public subsidies on
donations (e.g., Payne 1998; Steinberg 1991), no focus has so far been put on factors
influencing donations from an organizational perspective. Since donations as an
income source for nonprofit organizations have been found to be more volatile than
other income sources such as public subsidies (Grønbjerg 1991), it seems
particularly important to detect which factors have an impact on the reception of
donations for nonprofit sports clubs to secure this important revenue source. Thus,
Voluntas (2015) 26:1219–1239 1221
123
this study advances the main research question: Which clubs are more likely to
generate revenues form donations than others? The findings help nonprofit sports
clubs to secure receiving donations and thereby have implications for the sports
clubs’ management. The study adds to the body of research on nonprofit finance in
sports.
Literature Review
The literature on financing nonprofits is widespread and has focused to a large part
on funding sources, the income mix, and revenue diversification (e.g., Chang and
Tuckman 1994; Fischer et al. 2011; Frumkin and Keating 2011). Moreover, various
studies have analyzed main revenue categories of ‘‘pure’’ nonprofit institutions
(Weisbrod 2004, p. 42), namely donations and public subsidies. On the individual
level, demographic and economic factors of donors such as age, income, and
educational level were investigated and found to be positively correlated with
individual giving (for an overview see Rooney 2007). Moreover, research
concentrated on the behavior of people and organizations and investigated motives
for donating to nonprofits (e.g., Ashley et al. 2010; Cordes and Sansing 2007). In
this context, particularly, the concept of altruism plays an important role to explain
individual giving behavior (Rose-Ackerman 1996). However, not all donors are
pure altruists as there are many other motives for charitable giving (Andreoni 1990).
It was found that donors prefer to pay for programmatic expenses, but not for
overhead costs (Rooney 2007), which shows that supporting the key product of
nonprofit organizations plays an important role for donors. This most likely applies
in situations of impure altruism where people donating also receive private benefits
from the contribution (Andreoni 1989).
Apart from individual motives for donating, determinants of donations in
different organizational forms of nonprofits have been investigated, for example, in
UK charities (Khanna and Sandler 2000) and different organizational types of
nonprofits in the USA, using economic variables such as price and other income
sources as determinants of donations (Okten and Weisbrod 2000). Alike the named
studies, further research investigated possible interactions, so-called crowd-out and
crowd-in effects, between donations and other revenue categories, e.g., public
subsidies and commercial income (e.g., Andreoni and Payne 2011; Herman and
Rendina 2001; Khanna and Sandler 2000; Payne 1998; Sokolowski 2013; Wicker
et al. 2012). The various studies on interactions between public subsidies and
donations come to different results, finding both crowd-out (Andreoni and Payne
2011; Kingma 1989; Payne 1998) as well as crowd-in effects (Khanna and Sandler
2000; Sokolowski 2013; Wicker et al. 2012). These divergent effects have recently
been confirmed by Sokolowski (2013) who concludes that the relationship between
donations and public funding is a very complex one. With regard to commercial
income and donations, an American case study looked at donors’ reactions to
commercial activities of nonprofits. The study showed that only a small part of the
donors cared about the nonprofit being involved in commercial activities. However,
if people did care about such activities, they mostly only approved commercial
action if it was used to advance the mission of the organization (Herman and
1222 Voluntas (2015) 26:1219–1239
123
Rendina 2001). In the sports context, a study conducted among Norwegian sports
clubs investigated crowding-out between commercial income and public grants as
well as voluntary resources (Enjolras 2002). The author found that neither public
funding nor voluntary work is crowded-out by commercial activities. However,
Enjolras (2002) put no focus on interactions between donations and other income
categories. This has been investigated by Wicker et al. (2012) who find crowd-in
effects between donations and subsidies.
As described above, a large stream of research in the field of economics and
finances of nonprofit organizations deals with questions of crowding-out and
crowding-in effects. Andreoni and Payne (2011) investigated interactions between
donations and public subsidies and put a special focus on fundraising. The authors
found that public grants crowd-out donations particularly due to reduced fundraising
activities. Like the study by Andreoni and Payne (2011), research focusing on
donations for nonprofits frequently concentrates on fundraising activities to acquire
donations. This is particularly true for studies conducted in the USA and the UK
(e.g., Marudas and Jacobs 2004; Okten and Weisbrod 2000; Weisbrod and
Dominguez 1986). However, fundraising activities in nonprofit sports clubs are
rather unusual which is documented by the fact that expenses for fundraising
activities are not even surveyed in different sports club studies (e.g., Breuer and
Wicker 2011; Lamprecht et al. 2012). This also applies to the underlying study
which makes it impossible to investigate fundraising expenses as a determinant of
donations. Thereby, the relevance for investigating determinants of donations for
nonprofit sports clubs is once more stressed as the clubs are in different positions
than other nonprofits which receive money through excessive fundraising and have
more financial resources at their disposal (Gumulka et al. 2005; Lasby and Sperling
2007). Nonprofit sports clubs on the other hand often have to deal with scarce
human and financial resources that foster organizational problems (Wicker and
Breuer 2013). The financial situation of sports clubs has been found to be a
challenge for clubs worldwide (e.g., Gumulka et al. 2005; Lasby and Sperling
2007). Allison (2001) detected that sports clubs are oftentimes financially
underdeveloped which is reflected by 41 % of the surveyed clubs stating to have
financial difficulties. In a recent British survey on sports clubs, it is reported that
52 % of the clubs see a challenge in accessing funding in the next 2 years and 48 %
find a challenge in generating sufficient income. For 41 % of the clubs, keeping
financial sustainability is found to be an issue (SRA 2013).
Despite the existing financial problems of nonprofit sports clubs, the literature
review shows that there is a lack of research in terms of investigating drivers behind
the various income sources that a sports club receives. However, to secure the
revenues for the clubs, it is important to know which clubs are more likely to receive
donations than other clubs. Since donations are one of the most important revenue
sources of nonprofit sports clubs, this study aims at beginning to close the gap in the
literature by investigating determinants of donations for nonprofit sports clubs in
Germany from an organizational point of view.
Voluntas (2015) 26:1219–1239 1223
123
Theoretical Framework
This study is based on economic theories of nonprofit organizations. Particularly,
two approaches which, according to Hansmann (1987) as well as Ben-Ner and Gui
(2003), can be regarded as complementary, build the theoretical framework: first,
the public goods theory of the nonprofit sector which explains the existence of
nonprofit organizations based on failure scenarios (Weisbrod 1986); second, the
contract failure theory which is based on information asymmetries and the
nondistribution constraint (Hansmann 1980). Both theories serve not only to explain
the existence of the nonprofit sector, but also give justification for why nonprofit
organizations receive donations.
Public Goods Theory
According to the public goods theory which has originally been developed by
Weisbrod (1986), nonprofit organizations produce public (or collective) goods
(Steinberg 2006) and exist due to market failure and government failure (Weisbrod
1986). A market failure situation arises when a private market ‘‘fails to cater
adequately for the full effects of the market on the welfare of society’’ (Gratton et al.
2012, p. 22). In such a situation, the government comes into play to compensate the
underprovision of the public good. However, if also governments fail to provide an
adequate level of public goods, nonprofits are able to satisfy heterogeneous demand.
In this case, following the public goods theory, ‘‘nonprofit organizations provide
public goods through donor support’’ (Anheier 2005, p. 123). The reasoning for
charitable giving is that donors want to secure the collective output of the nonprofit
(Kingma 1997). Thus, the theory serves to generally explain donors’ contributions
to nonprofit organizations.
Weisbrod’s theory (1986) in its original form puts a focus on nonprofit
organizations with an output of pure public goods. However, this theory has been
expanded to nonprofit organizations which produce mixed goods with public and
private components as well as goods with positive externalities (for an overview see
Kingma 1997). Nonprofit sports clubs can be described as such organizations.
Pertaining to the public goods aspect, the clubs are beneficial to society by
producing collective goods such as national sporting success which foster civic
pride (Gratton and Taylor 2000). The production of national sporting success is only
possible due to nonprofit sports clubs: they form the basis for elite sport in Germany,
and without the clubs, no squad athletes could arise. Thus, according to the public
goods theory, donors are willing to give money to nonprofit sports clubs to keep the
output of the public good ‘‘national sporting success’’ at an adequate level.
Following this argumentation, the first hypothesis is derived:
H1 Being involved in elite sports and talent promotion as a nonprofit sports club
has a positive impact on the reception of donations.
Apart from national sporting success, nonprofit sports clubs fulfill further
important societal functions and contribute to the social welfare of a nation
(Lamprecht et al. 2012). The output of the sports clubs includes goods with positive
1224 Voluntas (2015) 26:1219–1239
123
externalities such as youth promotion, integration, crime prevention, and health
(Handy and Brudney 2007; Ulseth 2004; Vos et al. 2012). Pertaining to such
externalities, Preston (1988, p. 496) assumes that organizations which generate
‘‘higher social benefits will receive more donations.’’ Social benefits can affect
different population groups, e.g., children and adolescents, older people, and people
with a migration background. Therefore, the second hypothesis is formulated as
follows:
H2 Caring for the youth, for migrants, and for the elderly positively influences the
reception of donations.
A further positive effect of nonprofit organizations is the creation of social capital
(Steinberg 2006). Nonprofit organizations are able to create ‘‘a lively and pleasant
social environment’’ (Ben-Ner and Gui 2003, p. 7) which has the character of a
collective good. The creation of social capital by community sports organizations
and voluntary sports clubs has been documented in various studies (e.g., Coalter
2007; Doherty and Misener 2008; Vos et al. 2012). Moreover, sports clubs
particularly put high value on social integration and aim at creating an atmosphere
of community, companionship, and conviviality (Lamprecht et al. 2012; Ulseth
2004). These aspects are covered in the third hypothesis:
H3 Caring for core social values positively influences the reception of donations.
Contract Failure Theory
In addition to the public goods theory, a further approach to explain the existence of
nonprofit organizations and the behavior of people donating to nonprofits is the
contract failure theory, also known as trust-related theory (Hansmann 1980).
Hansmann (1987) partly criticizes the public goods theory in its original form as he
states that some services of nonprofits are ‘‘difficult to characterize as public goods
in the usual sense’’ (Hansmann 1987, p. 29). Thereby, the rationale that nonprofits
rather than for-profit organizations fulfill the demand for such goods is unclear. In
response to these shortcomings he argues that nonprofit organizations rather exist in
the marketplace due to information asymmetries and contract failure. ‘‘Contract
failure occurs when the customer does not have sufficient information to evaluate
the quality or competitive value of goods and services available in the marketplace’’
(Grønbjerg 1993, p. 18). Moreover, the nondistribution constraint does not allow for
enrichment of staff as it prevents ‘‘excessive executive compensation and self-
serving dealings’’ (Ben-Ner and Gui 2003, p. 5). Thereby, nonprofits are more
trustworthy than for-profits in situations of information asymmetries. In other
words, nonprofit organizations are ‘‘less prone to contract failure than for-profit
organizations because they cannot gain from misleading customers’’ (Young and
Steinberg 1995, p. 35). This is particularly important for potential donors since they
are assured that their given money cannot be misused for enrichment of staff.
Thereby, the contract failure theory provides a rationale for nonprofits receiving
donations.
Voluntas (2015) 26:1219–1239 1225
123
Pertaining to nonprofit sports clubs, the contract failure theory leads to certain
assumptions. First, the clubs receive donations because people giving money trust
the clubs to use the money thoughtfully and for the proposed purpose. As described
in the literature review, research has shown that donors prefer to give their money to
finance programs of nonprofit institutions, but not overhead costs (Rooney 2007).
For nonprofit sports clubs, this would mean that the clubs receive donations mainly
for their core product, i.e., sports offers, but not for administrative expenses, e.g.,
paid staff. Thus, if nonprofit sports clubs only rely on volunteers and have no
professional structures, i.e., paid staff, donors would be more willing to donate to
this kind of clubs. Hence, the fourth hypothesis is derived:
H4 Employment of paid staff in nonprofit sports clubs negatively influences the
reception of donations.
Going along with donors trusting nonprofits that their money is used for the
proposed purpose, i.e., the core product of nonprofit sports clubs, the study of
Enjolras (2002) has to be considered. He states that voluntary sports organizations
are not very professionalized, but they are expected to become more and more
commercialized. If nonprofit organizations increase their commercial activities, this
might lead to a decrease in donations. That is, if donors regard increased
commercial activities as a failure in reaching the organizational mission, then they
might have an aversion to commercial activities and cut their donations. Based on
the contract failure theory and the assumptions of Enjolras (2002), the last
hypothesis is formulated as follows:
H5 Being commercially oriented as a nonprofit sports club has a negative impact
on the reception of donations.
Method
Data Collection
This study is based on primary data from the Sport Development Report which is a
nationwide online survey of nonprofit sports clubs in Germany. The project is
financed by the Federal Institute of Sports Sciences (BISp), the German Olympic
Sports Confederation (DOSB), and the 16 regional sports confederations of
Germany. The project started in 2005 with the first wave and has until now
continued to wave four being finalized and wave five just being in the works. Thus,
the project is designed as a panel study with the clubs being surveyed every 2 years.
The sports confederations of all 16 federal states in Germany provide the email
addresses of the clubs. From the existing 91,000 clubs in Germany (DOSB 2012), an
increasing number could be reached via email over the years. In 2005, the number
of valid email addresses amounted to 18,085, in 2007 the number grew to 37,206,
further to 58,069 in 2009 and in 2011, in the fourth wave, 67,708 email addresses
were provided by the confederations. In all conducted waves, the clubs received an
invitation email containing a personalized link to the online questionnaire. Each
1226 Voluntas (2015) 26:1219–1239
123
survey period lasts for approximately 3 months. Analogous to the provided email
addresses, the sample sizes have increased over the years (2005: n = 3,731; 2007:
n = 13,068; 2009: n = 19,345; 2011: n = 21,998).
The survey questionnaire typically consists of a set of core questions (e.g.,
members, sports offerings, organizational problems, volunteers, finances) and some
additional questions that address current issues (e.g., demographic change, doping,
cooperation with schools, migrant integration, paid staff, club philosophy). For this
paper, only data from the third (2009) and fourth wave (2011) have been used
because the relevant club philosophy questions were only asked in those waves.
Thus, data from the third and fourth wave were pooled in one data set, creating an
unbalanced panel data set with two measuring points. The pooled data set rather
than a cross-sectional data set from one of the waves was chosen to obtain a larger
sample size and thereby get more precise estimators and test statistics (Wooldridge
2013). Overall, the pooled data set consists of n = 41,343 cases but due to missing
values the number of cases included in the analyses amounts to n = 8,680 for
models 1a, 1b, 3a, and 3b and to n = 6,391 for models 2a and 2b.
Measures and Variables
The variables that have been used for the analyses are displayed in Table 1. The
clubs have been asked to state whether they receive donations (dummy_donations).
Moreover, they were asked to give the amount of money they received from
donations. For this study, the total logged donations were used (LN_donations).
Using the natural logarithm instead of the total values is common in financial
studies (e.g., Carroll and Stater 2009). Moreover, the share of donations in relation
to total revenues (share_donations) was integrated. The three described variables
serve as the dependent variables in this study.
To answer the overall research question and the stated hypotheses, various
independent variables were integrated in the models. To give an answer to
hypothesis one, two variables are included. The first variable is an objective
measure and asks whether the club has squad athletes at its disposal (squad_ath-
letes). The second variable is one item of the club philosophy which is measured on
a five-point Likert’s scale (from 1 = do not agree at all to 5 = totally agree). Items
of the club philosophy display the goals and mission of the sports clubs and have
previously been used as subjective measures in different sports clubs studies (e.g.,
Wicker et al. 2014). The item applied here asks to what extent the club is engaged in
the promotion of young talent (phil_youngtalent). Both variables are related to elite
sports since the existence of squad athletes and the promotion of young talent are
necessary conditions for a club being involved in elite sports.
The second hypothesis is examined with four more items of the club …
Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems 39 (2020) 6231–6243
DOI:10.3233/JIFS-189092
IOS Press
6231
Analysis of a new business model
to fundraise non-governmental
organizations using fuzzy cognitive maps
Irem Ucal Saria,∗, Duygu Sergib and Can Aytorec
a Department of Industrial Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Macka, Istanbul, Turkey
bDepartment of Industrial Engineering, MEF University, Ayazaga, Istanbul, Turkey
cDepartment of Industrial Engineering, Bogazici University, Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey
Abstract. Fundraising is one of the most critical issues for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to carry out their projects.
In this paper, a search engine project which aims to find additional financial sources and increase donations for NGOs is
proposed. The proposed search engine project is analyzed using fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) to define and manage factor
influences on the success of the project. FCMs are useful tools to define long term effects of important factors for a system.
First casual relations of the factors are determined and then using sigmoid function for learning algorithm, the equilibrium
state for the system is obtained. It is found that the factors generating monetary values are the most important ones for the
project to be successful in long term.
Keywords: Fuzzy cognitive maps, fundraising, non-governmental organizations
1. Introduction
Non-governmental organizations are independent
organizations from private sectors and the govern-
ment, which are operating in the fields of education,
health, political, social, cultural, legal and envi-
ronmental and helping to meet the needs. These
organizations continue to work to find solutions to
various problems and achieve a common objective
with the contributions of volunteers. As stated by
Nadira et al. [1], NGOs that respond to local needs are
flexible organizations; that’s why, they can develop
complex projects. These institutions, which volun-
tarily take their members and employees, generate
income through donations and members. Having a
∗Corresponding author. Irem Ucal Sari, Department of Indus-
trial Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Macka, Istanbul,
Turkey. E-mail: [email protected]
completely voluntary system is the most specific
feature that distinguishes NGOs from other orga-
nizations. Without any pressure, all individuals can
come together with their own desires at any time
and leave any time. In this respect, every resource
and beneficiary that can be used in NGOs by imple-
menting a participatory approach is included in the
development process [2]. Unlike other institutions,
individuals working in NGOs are highly motivated
due to fewer restrictions [1]. Further, membership
is not necessary to support NGOs, and assistance
also can be provided without membership. The main
goal of NGOs is to contribute to society by provid-
ing things. Activities in the service delivery of NGOs
include promoting volunteering, evaluating people’s
needs, providing new services, evaluating results.
Nowadays, the voluntary sector has a significant
place in terms of size and importance [3]. With the
increase in the number of charitable organizations
ISSN 1064-1246/20/$35.00 © 2020 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved
6232 I. Ucal Sari et al. / Analysis of a new business model to fundraise non-governmental organizations
seeking donors’ support, the existing competition
has increased more [4]. In this context, the issue of
fundraising has become dominant issue and NGOs
are undergoing more challenging processes than ever
before to become a charity in order to ensure the
welfare of society [5]. While most charitable orga-
nizations rely on additional external funding, many
of them cover at least portion of their costs through
revenue. In many countries, until recently, a signifi-
cant proportion of these external funds was obtained
from public funds [6]. NGOs play a role in facili-
tating organizations’ transformation of financial and
ideopolitical resources into organizational goals. In
the case of fund donors, NGOs close the gap between
expectations and monetary insufficiencies [7]. Foun-
dations and independent organizations support NGOs
in many other ways. Sometimes this support can
be a project-based grant to be a partner or collab-
orate on the organization’s projects, does not have
to be directly. In addition, embassies and consulates
support NGOs in line with their foreign policy objec-
tives in their countries. Within the scope of corporate
social responsibility, there are companies that run
their own projects and raise funds, and private com-
panies that carry out social responsibility projects
and provide resources. As a result, NGOs detect
opportunities for project financing and find innova-
tive ways to achieve this funding [7]. It is also possible
to use alternative methods to search for resources.
For instance, donations can be made over the
Internet.
Viewed from a different point, the interest in NGOs
has gradually decreased in recent years, and consid-
ering this situation, the study aims to fulfill the gap
experienced by NGOs and turn these into new oppor-
tunities. This paper aims to evaluate a new business
model that supports fundraising of NGOs. In addition
to providing financial support to NGOs with this busi-
ness model, it is aimed to raise social awareness and
satisfy people by bringing with it the moral benefits
of social assistance. This model, which has emerged
to help people in need, includes many NGOs work-
ing in different fields. The ability to make donations
without taking any money out of the donor’s pocket
makes the importance and ease of use of this project
even more obvious.
In this paper, proposed search engine project is
analyzed using fuzzy cognitive maps to understand
the dynamics of the factors which are the main con-
cepts that the system has. Long term success of
the proposed project is investigated using the factor
influences.
The rest of the paper is constructed as follows: In
Sec. 2, dynamics of NGOs is given with a detailed
literature review. The basic information on search
engine working principles are given in Sec. 3. In Sec.
4, the proposed search engine project is determined.
In Sec. 5, required information on methodology
(fuzzy cognitive maps) is defined. And finally the
application is done in Sec. 6. The paper is completed
with a conclusion.
2. Non-governmental organizations
This section highlights the major insights that have
been captured regarding NGOs. Due to the NGOs
having an important role on development of govern-
ments, they are generally powered by society and
have a good place. Awareness of people is increasing
throughout worldwide. Several articles are indicated
that NGOs are beneficial to society and the environ-
ment in many ways.
Lewis [8] explained the term of NGO that oper-
ates in a variety of areas that do not earn financial
gain and are not part of the government sector. It is
also expressed that while NGOs, which mean “non-
profit” and “voluntary” based organizations working
on welfare issues in Western industrialized countries,
express institutions that are trying to help develop in
non-industrialized countries. Hudock [9] referred that
non-profit and NGOs are independent organizations
from private sectors and the government and work to
achieve a common objective with the contributions
of volunteers. Johnson and Prakash [10] expressed
that NGOs are different from governments and firms.
People living in a particular region are not expected
to legally comply with the laws and rules of NGOs.
The profit is not distributed to the right holders, hence
NGOs are non-profit. Martens [11] described NGOs
as whose main goal is to develop common objec-
tives in national or international areas, are formal
and independent social organizations. Lewis and Wal-
lace [12] and Vakil [2] pointed out that NGOs are
corporations in which individuals come together to
achieve common goals. Keck and Sikkink [13] dis-
closed that NGOs follow normative goals, different
from the companies that pursue instrumental targets.
Some researches [14–16] concluded that today,
most companies cooperate with NGOs within the
scope of corporate social responsibility to create
value. Delisle et al. [17] mentioned that NGOs can run
as a mediator in providing feedback to societies and
in planning, implementing and monitoring of fresh
I. Ucal Sari et al. / Analysis of a new business model to fundraise non-governmental organizations 6233
interferences, policies or other activities. Akkucuk
and Sekercioglu [18] stated that the importance of
voluntary organizations which are contributing envi-
ronment is increasing all over the world and Turkey.
NGOs, which have a large volume in this area, are
able to reach broad masses by using traditional and
social media channels effectively.
Zukin et al. [19] expressed that civil participa-
tion is voluntary movement focused on helping the
people in need, providing a public good or solving
a social problem. Thus, encouraging civil participa-
tion plays an important role in achieving the NGOs’
objectives. According to Goksel and Gunes [20],
NGOs attach importance to principles and values
such as participatory democracy, rule of law, human
rights and responsibilities, ethics, transparency, and
accountability. Besides, NGOs in the development
of Turkey’s pace of globalization and integration has
great influence. According to Johnson and Prakash
[10], scientists and popular press highlight the role of
civil society organizations in maintaining democratic
governance. International organizations like the WB
and the UN state that civil society plays an important
role for good administration and economic growing.
Further, Delisle et al. [17] state that NGO actions
can be local, national or even international. NGOs
might contribute to the growing of societies all over
the World and are independent of governments, but
are important partners of many governments.
NGOs, which are now referred to as the third sector,
have a vital role for society and the state. The fact
that the state is insufficient to meet the needs of the
society and to solve its problems and that the NGOs
are concerned and able to solve the problems at all
levels has caused a rapid increase in the number of
NGOs and their fields of activity.
2.1. Activity fields
There are NGOs involved in different professional
activities and working areas such as humanitarian
aid, health, education, child welfare, nutrition, human
rights, sustainable development, and entrepreneur-
ship etc. [21].
In a globalized world, education is necessary, espe-
cially in order to enable technological skills and
knowledge to be included in the economy and to reach
social mobility and economic stability. For this rea-
son, there are many NGOs to ensure that everyone
benefits equally from education. According to Gok-
ler and Bademci [22], social responsibility projects
are integrated into undergraduate programs, based on
the idea that students learn better if a practicable and
problem-based, society-oriented active learning pro-
cess is engaged. Yang and Alpermann [23] indicated
that NGOs play an important role in the education
of disadvantaged groups and have a major impact
on the chances of life for young people. Addition-
ally, Xiong and Li [24] uttered that NGO in China
aims to empower students in raising awareness and
activism related to citizenship. Moreover; accord-
ing to Kallioniemi et al. [25], universities serve as a
bridge reflecting civil society needs in the curriculum.
Laszlo and Cescau [26] proposed that environmen-
tal protection is one of the main areas in which civil
society organizations operate. The importance of the
concept of sustainable value increases year by year.
It is advantageous for the companies to have recip-
rocal relations with the organizations which work
for benefit of environment. According to Gemmill
and Bamidele-Izu [27], NGOs in environmental man-
agement with diverse missions for environmental
protection, sustainable development, poverty reduc-
tion, animal welfare and other issues are diverse,
including local, national, regional and international
groups.
NGOs, which work to protect all natural assets such
as water, forest, biodiversity, and the creation of poli-
cies and social awareness on human-induced climate
change, and also draw attention to the environmental
problems that threaten the country and contribute to
the development of this struggle as a state policy.
The NGOs are working in the field of social meet,
the social and cultural needs of the society and are
active in activating and developing cultural and social
activities; besides, they operate in additional artistic
and sportive areas.
NGOs that help people provide the opportunity to
trust each other and the capacity to work together
towards common goals increase “social capital”.
Becerikli and Armatlı Koroglu [28] stated that the
development of social capital and human capital,
maintaining local resources and values, strengthening
social-cultural and physical structure can be deter-
mined as the activity areas of NGOs through projects.
Nathan et al. [29] emphasized that an activity that
will develop in terms of health, well-being, equity
and people’s development plays a key role for NGOs.
Piotrowicz and Cianciara [30] mentioned that the
fields of activity of NGOs are in the whole area of the
health system. The main tasks of NGOs in the health
system are service provision and health advocacy.
From another perspective, especially in
recent years, NGOs, generally seen as sign of
6234 I. Ucal Sari et al. / Analysis of a new business model to fundraise non-governmental organizations
democratization, have indicated rapid development
in Turkey [31]. The number of nongovernmental
organizations which stand the responsibilities of
the society voluntarily, is increasing every day. In
addition, the vast majority of these organizations
establish relations with similar-minded international
or foreign organizations.
Project management in the field of NGOs plays an
important role in the development of civil society in
many different areas such as health, education, gov-
ernance, gender equality, agriculture and economic
development [32].
2.2. Fundraising of NGOs
NGOs have an emphasis on the unity, solidarity and
cooperation of society. Different segments of soci-
ety come together to help, to get help, to exhibit an
example of unity and solidarity. People can become
a member of NGOs and participate in their activi-
ties and make material and moral contributions to the
works.
There are national and international institutions
and organizations that provide resources to improve
the activities of civil society organizations.
2.3. Types of Donations to NGOs
In this section, two ways of donation are consid-
ered. These are unplanned and planned donations.
In unplanned donation, there is no need to establish
a formal structure or open a separate organization. If
it is not preferable to place the donations on a plan,
the control of donations will be easy and flexible.
Individuals can support any subject or organization.
The amount of donations and focused areas in time
can be changed. Further, donations can be made at any
time during the year. The type of donation providing
direct financial resources to an NGO is so simple.
Despite these comforts, unplanned donations have
some disadvantages. It may not be possible to see
the impact of the contributions made with unplanned
donations. The contributions to different projects or
organizations are so fragmented that it becomes dif-
ficult to understand which one contributes to which
result.
Volunteering is one of the most common ways to
support an NGO. The donor is satisfied by involv-
ing directly in any activity at the NGO. NGOs may
need to train volunteers to participate in some of their
activities. Besides, NGOs sometimes need volunteers
with special skills and expertise. Volunteers can pro-
vide support to the organization with the knowledge
and experience in a wide range of areas, ranging
from the preparation of business plan to manage-
ment, from information technologies to accounting,
to which an NGO normally has difficulty to meet and
where human resources are limited. In brief, NGOs
act as trigger that make connections easier between
donors and local actors [7].
Research conducted by Varon et al. [33] shows that
the majority of the NGOs try to survive with rev-
enue less than 10.000 TL per year. Most organizations
don’t even have enough resources to be a professional
employee. The majority of the income of NGOs is
composed of membership fees. After that, the project
revenues are coming but these projects include sup-
port from one to three years. Volunteer support plays
an important role in the activities like planning,
resource management and development, information
technologies, human resource management, change
management and legal expertise. According to data
from 2014, only 13% of the population of Turkey is
the member of an organization and so, one associa-
tion is for every 747 people. Further, it is noteworthy
that 1,5% of the associations and 0,5% of the new
foundations operate in the fields of human rights and
advocacy.
Donation from individual to individual is the oldest
and most common type of donation. It is difficult to
ensure whether this person is really in need where the
recipient is not known. In general, the solution is to
fund NGOs that support individuals and families in
need. For example, a donor who wishes to provide
support in the field of education may choose to rely
on an NGO working in this field instead of trying to
reach the individuals.
Crowdsourcing is a resource development tool for
NGOs to collect donations to their projects easily.
These platforms provide a connection for meeting
NGOs and the individuals who want to support social
issues. In this case, the supporters can both provide
financial support to the growth of the social move-
ment they care about and contribute to the awareness
of the movement by including others in the support
activity.
Using web applications, the donors are actively
involved in the campaign they support and make
donation more interactive. While donors are donat-
ing their time or money, they are able to follow
up information and reports about the development
of the project they support. Thus, NGOs can easily
reach a large number of supporters in many different
I. Ucal Sari et al. / Analysis of a new business model to fundraise non-governmental organizations 6235
profiles, collect donations, find volunteers and
increase the visibility of their activities without any
cost of resource development.
On the other hand, there are many options and tools
for planned donation. Planned donation gives a for-
mal structure to donations. In this way, donations are
carried out in a continuous manner, independent of
the activities. In addition, it is possible following the
effect of the donations and getting the results.
When a new NGO such as association, foundation
or cooperative is to be established, firstly, it is exam-
ined whether there are other actors working in the
field of study. If the needs in this area are already met,
resources and activities should not be used unneces-
sarily. Therefore, the best starting point would be to
conduct a feasibility study or any other research to
determine whether the services of the organization
are needed, whether these services are met by others,
and whether there is a potential for adequate resources
to survive.
As examined in [10], individuals can establish or
participate in environmental NGOs instead of acting
alone to protect the environment. Further; citizens can
establish NGOs and this is the basic story of the emer-
gence of NGOs. It thus fills the lacks of the public and
private sectors.
Many foundations have been established to grant
grants to other NGOs. They serve as a legal tool for
transferring some of the assets of a person, family or
company to voluntary organizations. Investments are
made through the funds, and the grant is allocated
by the proceeds from the investment. The focus of
these foundations is to support certain types of orga-
nizations, a specific geographical region or objective.
Foundations also act as intermediaries. They col-
lect donations from public or other donors and grant
grants to other NGOs.
Donors can also identify social entrepreneurs who
work in areas of interest and invest in their work. Even
though investing in a social entrepreneur is seen as
more risky than donating to a known NGO, it might be
said that the impact it creates is greater. Donors can
support social entrepreneurs either directly or indi-
rectly by providing long-term support like providing
mentorship.
One more view is that the term of social
entrepreneurship is gaining popularity day by
day. Social entrepreneurship is the area where
entrepreneurship activities are carried out with the
aim of creating social value [34]. Social entrepreneur-
ship aims at reaching wider social, cultural and
environmental goals, often focusing on areas related
to the voluntary sector, such as poverty reduction and
community development [35].
3. Search engines
To understand how the project works, first need to
learn how search engines work and how they gen-
erate revenue. Most of the internet search engines
work similarly. Search engines deliver proper results
through some special words called “keywords”.
When the user types the question or term in the
search bar, the search query begins. The search engine
enters the index to find the most relevant answer to
the users query. Certain “keywords”, how often users
search the browser, and many other factors, such as
these, affect the process of searching for appropriate
answers. In addition, for specific searches up-to-date
content might be considered more relevant. The like-
lihood of content being appropriate and reliable is
more likely than ever if recommended by many. The
user’s location and language need to be taken into
consideration for the efficiency of the search results.
If the factors specified in the search settings are spec-
ified, it will have a positive impact on the search
results. The search algorithm is defined as the piece of
code responsible for finding information about spe-
cific features such as language, relevance, and so on.
For all search engines, the search results are presented
probably in the same way. At the end of the search, the
most relevant results will appear at the top, while the
less relevant results will be listed below. Advertise-
ments are shown alongside the search results in most
search engines. When a user clicks on any of these
advertisements, the search engine receives a payment,
because the user is redirected to the advertiser’s site.
The amount gained per click on an advertisement
differs depending on the competition and popularity
of the “keyword” and which advertisement is being
made. Clicking on one of the more profitable “key-
word” advertisements may result in higher revenue at
a time than others give. Besides, revenue per search
is lower than expected, given that not every user has
to click on advertisements while searching.
4. Proposed business model to fundraise
NGOs
In recent years, with the widespread use of the
internet, the computer science and the information
technology have started to enter our lives and the way
6236 I. Ucal Sari et al. / Analysis of a new business model to fundraise non-governmental organizations
of doing businesses has been changing dramatically.
In this time, the channels of reaching and obtain-
ing information have been also evolving. Formerly,
people used to go to the library or skim encyclope-
dias to find what they were looking for. In course
of time, thanks to search engines, the information
have become much more accessible without exerting
effort.
From another perspective, the interest in NGOs has
gradually decreased in recent years, and considering
this situation, the study aims to fulfill the gap experi-
enced by NGOs and turn these into new opportunities.
To create this opportunity, a new business model that
serves to make a free donation, which is focused on
NGOs and its projects in Turkey, has been developed.
The proposed social business model is basically
provides a search engine service which fundraise
NGOs whose strive for the development of society
in any field [36]. It includes many NGOs that serve a
specific purpose and work in different fields such as
social, education, environment and health that solve
specific problems inherent to society. This fund will
be derived from the revenue generated by sponsored
clicks from future users.
In the process, the project gets search results from
search engine providers and develops the received
data with its own algorithms and displays them to
the user. The most important source of income in
the project is advertisement display, and in this field,
a revenue-sharing agreement is made with the col-
laborated search engine provider. The search engine
shows ads next to its search results and payment is
charged whenever a user is directed to an advertiser
through a sponsored link.
In detail, search engine providers place ads on
sites that they consider reliable and suitable for their
algorithms, for a fee per call from sites. From the
providers’ perspective, it is aimed to reach the num-
ber of sponsored link searches that providers should
deliver within a certain period of time. In this case,
where the mutual gain is provided, since any search
result targeted from the site will be covered by the
same search engine provider, it needs to share a cer-
tain part of the earnings to be obtained. This income
system is valid only for clicks on sponsored links.
The search engine project will provide accurate
and fast search results to people who want to find
what they are looking for on the internet in a timely
manner collaborating with a built-in search engine
providers such as Google and Bing. One lovelier fea-
ture is that users can choose the specific NGO that
they want to donate according to their number of
searches. In order to keep users sustainably, the finan-
cial reports showing the amount of donations made
to NGOs in order to show transparency of the social
enterprise will be shared, and motivation and effec-
tive marketing techniques designed for users will be
implemented.
In order to create a more livable society for the
present and future generations, this model is a social
enterprise dedicated to delivering excellent service,
giving superior value to people and providing fair and
equal returns. It is highly committed to creating and
delivering assistance in a variety of different areas.
The search engine project, which aims to fulfill
the shortage of funds of NGOs, is called as a social
business model. In other words, this search engine
project is a completely non-profit organization due to
its social business model, and it is also a fully prof-
itable organization, since it aims to achieve higher
incomes in order to maximize support for NGOs. The
gap between donor and NGO is filled by extending
helping a hand to NGOs with this model. Eventu-
ally, it helps to achieve a society consciousness that
is extremely sensitive to public problems and to also
spread this awareness.
The main point that the project will be distin-
guished from the search engines already in the market
is that the awareness of helpness, and the social con-
sciousness will be developed through that business
solution by adding value to any web search. Besides
enhancing social consciousness, the project also pro-
vides a new fund collection platform for NGOs to
reach the potential donors faster, and creates new
interactions between donors and NGOs.
Search results are served to users either at the web-
site that includes search bar, or with installation of
as extension to browsers such as Google Chrome,
Safari, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, and Edge,
or via applications on smart phones which conduct
the operation systems iOS or Android.
In addition to giving accurate result for searching,
this platform is designed to collect the points from
users’ each search and to donate these points they
accumulated to the NGO or NGOs which are also
the users’ choices. With these collected points, the
user will be able to support NGOs in any time, to use
for shopping environmental items available on the
project’s online shop, or to save the points for later
use.
The strategy is mainly based on delivering a strong
and agile customer value proposition in market. This
project is looking to offer the people who are eager to
do goodwill or want to receive accrued and fast search
I. Ucal Sari et al. / Analysis of a new business model to fundraise non-governmental organizations 6237
results a new choice for making donations with no
cost.
The marketing infrastructure is built so that the
search engine project can eventually reach more cus-
tomers and users with the same service offering. In
this way, it focuses on meeting the needs of each inter-
net users in Turkey, and each NGO in need of fund
or whose is open to collaboration.
Considered by some factors, the project seems
to have a good profile that is widely regarded as
respected business model. In the recent years, the use
of social media has increased steeply. Increased use
of mobile devices is also an uptrend having positive
implications. The increased awareness of NGOs and
social businesses will also lead to increase the use of
proposed search engine. Demographic …
