One in four Americans has reported doing some form of volunteer work with a nonprofit. ... Family Foundation, approximately one-third of US Agency for International Develop- ment global health ..... This is especially true regarding. âoverhead ...
Nonprofit/Nongovernmental Organizations MATTHEW G. ISBELL Boise State University, USA
MATTHEW L. SANDERS Utah State University, USA
MATTHEW A. KOSCHMANN University of Colorado Boulder, USA
Significance of nonprofit organizations and the nonprofit sector Democratic societies have always involved extensive networks of voluntary associations. Today, nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations represent a large and rapidly growing sector of society where individuals and groups associate to create a space in which they can express a collective voice to address societal issues and pursue human interests apart from the market or state. Nonprofits are unique because of the legal constraints, revenue sources, types of personnel, and the nature of governance that characterizes these organizations. The goal of nonprofit organizations is to create and sustain civil society – associational life where citizens develop relational networks that enable them to participate in public debate, give voice to marginalized groups or concerns, and improve the human condition. Nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations have always existed in societies where citizens are free to organize and engage in collective action for the common good. With the advent of democracy in the United States and its subsequent spread around the world in various forms, the nonprofit sector has grown and thrived despite ongoing challenges such as securing adequate funding and addressing difficult, complex problems. In 2014, the Urban Institute reported that there were nearly 1.5 million registered nonprofits in the United States alone, up 8.6% from 10 years earlier. The nonprofit sector accounts for about 10% of wages and is a significant factor in the US gross domestic product. One in four Americans has reported doing some form of volunteer work with a nonprofit. Worldwide, the presence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs, the more commonly used term for nonprofit-type organizations worldwide) is similar to that in the United States. According to a report published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately one-third of US Agency for International Development global health distributions are given to NGOs. In India alone, it is estimated that there are more than one million NGOs doing work in the communities (Lewis, 2014). Since the mid-1940s (when the United Nations began registering NGOs) there has The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication. Craig R. Scott and Laurie Lewis (Editors-in-Chief), James R. Barker, Joann Keyton, Timothy Kuhn, and Paaige K. Turner (Associate Editors). © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/9781118955567.wbieoc150
2
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
been strong and continued expansion of this third sector of organizations, creating a space for organizing between for-profit and state organizations. In the 1990s, Salamon’s (1999) work was some of the first to document extensively the vast expansion of NGOs worldwide. By 2000, the World Association of Nongovernmental Organizations was formed as a larger connective network for NGOs across the world, tackling some of the most difficult issues facing society today.
Defining nonprofit organizations and the nonprofit sector Nonprofit organizations are most clearly identified by a legal constraint that requires that they not distribute profit or dividends to any stakeholder, investor, or leader. This nondistribution constraint requires that net profit – or additional income beyond the organization’s expenses – be used to further the social mission or strengthen the organization (e.g., hire more employees, improve/expand services, increase benefits). The nondistribution constraint then justifies the tax-exempt status (e.g., they do not pay corporate income or sales tax) that these organizations enjoy. The term “nonprofit” is generally an American term, referring to the US tax code that formally registers organizations. Outside the United States, the term “nongovernmental” is more commonly used to describe organizations dedicated to the common good. Section 501(c)3 of the US Internal Revenue Service Code designates nonprofit organizations as both “public-serving” organizations and “member-serving” or “mutual benefit” organizations. Together, these categories cover organizations that operate in almost every imaginable field of human activity, from hospitals and museums to credit unions and trade associations; from large enterprises with multimillion dollar budgets and thousands of employees to small community groups composed primarily of volunteers. The large majority of religious organizations are also included in this section of the tax code, though they are subject to different rules and policies. One of the challenges for understanding nonprofit organizations is that the nonprofit sector groups together for tax purposes vastly different organizations that otherwise would be considered separately. Thus, in an attempt to define this sector more in terms of the character of work rather than financial or legal status of organizations within the tax code, terms like “voluntary sector,” “third sector,” “civil society sector,” or simply “the commons” are often used instead of “nonprofit” or “nongovernmental.” Despite variations in name, the underlying purposes, principles, and theoretical assumptions remain fairly similar: collective association to pursue opportunities and address larger needs not met by the market, state, or other means. For the sake of convenience, we use the term “nonprofit” to collectively represent these organizations. The form and function of nonprofits varies globally depending on government structure, political freedom, and economic conditions. Most simply, nonprofits are defined as private, independent organizations that are dedicated to serving the common good (Salamon, 1999). They are distinguished by the requirement to pursue a social mission
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
3
that is of some public benefit. This work is primarily based upon values such as freedom, dignity of individuals, and a commitment beyond self. Although other types of organizations can also adopt such values, nonprofits are particularly and more explicitly connected to them. In addition, nonprofits exist in a space between the market (i.e., business) and the state (i.e., government) and exemplify the functions of both as they work privately – both legally and financially – to address public needs. This condition makes nonprofits seem at times very similar to both business and government entities. Nonprofits are marked by two additional key components that make operations, mission, and organizational life distinct in this kind of work (Frumkin, 2002). The first is that they are noncoercive in nature. Nonprofits cannot force participation in any way. Although some organizations earn revenue through fees for services, all nonprofits rely in some way on fundraising, charitable giving, and philanthropy for financial support. Volunteer support also becomes an essential part of providing the labor necessary to accomplish a social mission. A network of voluntary interorganizational networks enables the connection and collaboration necessary to address large, complex public problems. This financial, labor, and social capital required to accomplish a social mission is always given and not forced. The second key component that makes nonprofits distinct is unclear lines of ownership. Although nonprofits are private, independent organizations, their social mission and tax-exempt status create a very real sense among citizens and political leaders that they belong to the public. This creates distinct governance dynamics that include citizen participation on governing boards and a public accountability that requires most nonprofits (except religious organizations) to disclose all revenues, donations, and expenditures. Misuse of funds and other scandals are felt differently by the public because there is a sense of public ownership despite the private nature of these organizations. This creates a wide range of stakeholder groups that each nonprofit must understand, address, and work with.
Key communication terms for the nonprofit sector The following are key terms applicable to the nonprofit sector. • Civil society: A social sphere that exists between the state and the market where nonprofits come together to advance common interest through collective action. It is in this space that the self-organizing, public debate voice can be granted to community members and where the creation of social capital can occur. • Social capital: The value created in social networks. This value, which is the currency of many nonprofits, highlights who is known in the network and the norms of reciprocity, or predispositions to help each other. Elements like trust, mutual understanding, and shared vision are all facets of social capital that help create connections in the social network and facilitate larger community action. Social capital research introduces terms like bonding capital (the social ties that bind people of similar backgrounds) and bridging capital (the social ties
4
•
•
•
•
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
that bind disparate sets of people) that further differentiate the types of value in social networks and the importance of cultivating these forms of capital in nonprofits. Mission and drift: Most organizations create and publish a mission statement, but the nonprofit mission becomes the driving factor in creating social capital and facilitating connection in a community. Nonprofits thrive on their mission statements, which are focused on elements such as service, values, and constituencies (all factors that can be exceeding difficult to measure and assess). The mission can be the driving force, or anchor, that an organization must wrangle with when it comes to funding, attracting volunteers, and long-term survival. Mission drift occurs for several reasons but some of the primary causes are when (1) an element of the mission becomes practically difficult to enact, (2) funding ties shift the priorities of the nonprofit, and (3) individual stakeholder interests focus on new or particular elements of the mission. Mission drift can cause dramatic change in the character and culture of the nonprofit. Charities and donation funded: With almost 60% of all US based nonprofits reporting as charities (McKeever & Pettijohn, 2014), nonprofits are beholden to others for donations (both financial and labor) in order to operate. During economic downturns, giving is greatly reduced. Likewise, many donors experience “donor fatigue” and change up funding allocations regularly to “spread the wealth,” creating unreliable and inconsistent streams of revenue for nonprofits. The focus on revenue generation is another element that makes nonprofits susceptible to mission drift, as donations and grants can come with certain ties, regulations, and expectations that may or may not be in line with a nonprofit’s vision. Although giving has continued to rise recently, it is still well below its peak in 2007 (McKeever & Pettijohn, 2014). As the National Council of Nonprofits points out in its “2015 Trends to Watch” (Chandler, 2015), the resource squeeze and an upward spiral of need (due to government reductions in community service spending) are creating an environment where nonprofits have to do (and serve) more with less. Volunteer relationships: Nonprofits also rely heavily on volunteer labor in order to accomplish mission goals. This relationship causes a workplace with a blend of traditional and nontraditional work contracts and a group of workers not governed by financial motivation. With over 25% of the US population participating in some form of volunteer work over the last three years according to the Urban Institute, there is a large pool of potential labor available, but managing volunteers comes with challenges not readily experienced in other sectors. Governance: Nonprofit governance is complex, largely run by a system of selfappointed and self-perpetuating board members (Lewis, 2005). Unlike for-profit companies, nonprofits generally have fewer insiders on the board. Boards are generally larger, voluntary (with expectations that members will either give direct financial support or create connections to larger pools of donations in addition to serving on the board), and serve a major fundraising purpose for the nonprofit. Given these differences, nonprofit boards can have members who are more conflicted and processes that are less efficient than those of a for-profit organization.
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
5
Interdisciplinary foundations of nonprofit organizational communication research As organizational communication scholars have conducted research in the nonprofit sector, they have turned to interdisciplinary nonprofit research to find theoretical and contextual anchors that ground their work. This research in public policy, economics, management, sociology, and other disciplines is necessary and especially useful for organizational communication scholars, as they seek to remove theoretical blind spots, expand their understanding of nonprofit organizations, and employ additional modes of explanation to answer important questions. Four areas in particular ground and inform most organizational communication research in nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations. First, nonprofit scholarship has a rich tradition of conceptual and theoretical frameworks for understanding what the nonprofit sector is and how it works as well as important theoretical developments in the field. For communication scholars who are beginning nonprofit research programs, this literature is essential and offers key definitions and frameworks of the sector and related concepts such as civil society and philanthropy (e.g., Frumkin, 2002). Without this foundational literature, communication scholars will be unable to fully understand the distinctiveness of the nonprofit context and how it influences organizations and human interaction. Second, nonprofit scholarship also offers communication scholars with a vast contextual understanding of cultural and national issues of nearly all nonprofit phenomena. Particularly in journals such as Voluntas, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, and Nonprofit Management and Leadership, theories and concepts are explored in specific national and cultural contexts to understand how nonprofit work and the development of civil society operate throughout the world. Conducting nonprofit communication research in any cultural or national context should build upon the depth of this existing research that our own field simply does not have. Third, nonprofit scholarship offers a broad literature that explores economic modes of explanation as well as financial criteria and concerns in nonprofit work that can augment and inform communication research. Issues such as compensation, financial bottom line, cross-sector relationships, marketization, and hybrid organizations offer understandings of the economic realities that exist as nonprofit work connects to and overlaps with the market and the state. Such issues significantly influence interaction and organizational social realities and need to be accounted for in communication research. Finally, nonprofit scholarship has examined more traditional managerial theories, concepts, and contexts. These investigations offer communication scholars an alternative understanding of a wide variety of managerial and organizational concerns in nonprofit and nongovernmental work. Issues such as governance, effectiveness, accountability, volunteer recruitment and retention, boards of trustees, and government and private sector collaboration are explored in detail and offer a rich backdrop for exploring these issues.
6
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
Organizational communication research and the nonprofit sector Organizational communication scholars have been conducting studies in and of nonprofit organizations for decades, but until recently the distinct nature and context of nonprofits has been overlooked or glossed over while studying specific organizational phenomena. However, many scholars have more recently focused their research on the nonprofit context and its influence on the phenomena studied and theories employed. Doing so has expanded understanding of organizing, particularly as social mission and broader stakeholder groups increasingly influence corporate and government organizations. Now there is a distinct body of organizational communication research that studies nonprofits as unique organizational contexts with distinct communication issues. Lewis’s (2005) review of critical issues in the civil society sector gave a blueprint that spawned this new trajectory for research on nonprofits. In 2012, Management Communication Quarterly published a special forum of essays from communication scholars working in nonprofit research and unpacking key investigations since the Lewis piece (see Kirby & Koschmann, 2012). Most recently, Koschmann, Isbell, and Sanders (2015) provided a thorough review of the nonprofit communication literature and developed a metatheoretical framework for future communication research on nonprofits. Altogether, these works highlight several themes that constitute organizational communication research on nonprofits.
Themes of nonprofit organizational communication research The themes below represent topics, problems, and questions where communication scholars have made important contributions to our understanding of nonprofits. These themes are not mutually exclusive, and many articles addresses multiple themes within a single study.
Theme 1: Membership and socialization Research conducted on membership examines the communicative interactions of the actors within nonprofits. The contracts of those working in nonprofits can contain a range of traditional salaried employees to volunteers or partially paid employment. Membership research specifically explores how these different work contracts change and cultivate a different understanding of the organization. This area of research overlays some of our traditional research on organizations but examines it through the differences of a nonprofit organization that has both paid and nonpaid staff. Membership research has also examined the ways in which nonprofit management interacts with staff and stakeholders. Nonprofits challenge the traditional notions of superior–subordinate relationships, especially when financial remuneration may not be a form of motivation or punitive threat.
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
7
Theme 2: Volunteering and volunteer relationships It is important to acknowledge the relationship between volunteering and nonprofits. Why someone becomes a volunteer and the lived experience of these members is central to understanding nonprofit structure and process, especially when in many nonprofits a majority of the labor is accomplished through voluntary efforts. Research in this theme includes volunteer recruitment, socialization, and management, as well as membership identification, where ideas of altruism and emotions may take a more prominent role in membership coordination than in other forms of work.
Theme 3: Structure, governance, and decision making One of the largest areas of research by communication scholars in nonprofits is structure based research. Nonprofits may have more or less traditional structure and governance. Where some nonprofit hospitals may look and run like Fortune 100 businesses with very traditional work contracts, hierarchies, and bylaws, small grassroots nonprofits may be purely run by volunteer work with little to no budget and a flattened hierarchy with consensus decision making among all members. Communication scholars have unpacked what professional identities, models of management, and ways of leading look like in various nonprofit forms. Board composition and management is also part of this research theme, as well as inclusiveness of voices in decision making. Furthering this theme, as mediated technology becomes a presence in the development and growth of the organization, new branches of investigation have begun to examine technology introduction and use in nonprofits. Nonprofits now do not need to rely on a brick-and-mortar home but rather can live online and through the social connections and movements made in the digital world, thus expanding their stakeholder network and target populations beyond limited geographic boundaries.
Theme 4: Legitimacy, mission, and accountability A fourth theme for communication scholarship involves understanding how this organizational form creates legitimacy of purpose. The research branches of this area investigate how nonprofits communicate and achieve goals, the role of a mission statement, and creating and maintaining a recognized organizational identity. Nonprofits often live in a contradictory space where financial imperatives and mission are in tension with one another. As nonprofits become more legitimate, do they begin to function in more for-profit ways? Mission plays an important role in understanding effectiveness and accountability. It is used to attract members and judge goals attainment and mission drift. Legitimacy research also describes the informal efforts to create reputation and status in a nonprofit. Informal efforts may not directly relate to the goals or mission of a nonprofit but are nonetheless part of creating and exercising the reputation of the organization. Nonprofits can become the privileged voice of an issue or topic and thus create social agendas and wield influence at state and local levels. Finally, this theme incorporates the external measures of accountability instituted by these structures; for example,
8
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
asking questions such as who does the nonprofit serve, what happens when goals are achieved or not, and do funding and funding sources have an influence on legitimacy, accountability, and credit. Overall, legitimacy research helps us understand if value is being created (see section on social capital below) and work toward the betterment of an issue or community.
Theme 5: Organizational and financial distinctiveness Research on distinctiveness looks at how nonprofits come to know who they are and how they are different from other organizations. These studies question how nonprofits communicate distinctiveness and how members come to understand that difference (whether difference compared to government and for profit, or difference among competing nonprofit organizations). One line of research examines the sector difference between for-profit, state, and nonprofit organizations. These inquiries look at the effects, distinctions, and ways in which the three major sectors influence each other, come to know the roles that each has in the environment, and what it is to be a state, for profit, or nonprofit working in that space. Explorations into terms such as marketization, capitalism, and professionalism are a part of distinctiveness between this organizational form and others. Beyond investigations between organizational sectors, distinctiveness research also explores how nonprofits themselves carry different status. Comparing nonprofits, distinctiveness research looks at such issues as international distinctions (US based versus international based, developed nation versus developing nation based nonprofits), donation versus grassroots organizations, and local versus national organizations. Distinctiveness is also observed in funding sources for nonprofits and addressed by asking questions like what it means to be a donation based nonprofit versus a grant funded organization and how that affects other themes like membership, legitimacy, and structure.
Theme 6: Stakeholders and publics Stakeholder communication is a large and well-studied theme in nonprofit research. Researchers are investigating different types of stakeholder groups and how the interactions with these different stakeholders can affect nonprofit organizations. Stakeholder research also explores the connection nonprofits have with the clients they serve and the community they engage with in order to accomplish the goals of the nonprofit. A third way of addressing this issue looks at the connection and tension with government agencies that can enable, constrain, and regulate the operations of nonprofits. Finally, there is a branch of communication research on stakeholders that examines how nonprofits create agency among the clients it serves. Issues relating to marginalized voices and groups, along with the creation of an alternate space or discourse that counters traditional notions of stakeholder groups, offer perspectives on stakeholder communication from a critical/cultural tradition.
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
9
Theme 7: Communication strategies and fundraising Researchers have also examined messages and strategies nonprofits create and use with their clients and stakeholders. Although the previous theme looked at stakeholder communication in many different facets, the communication strategies theme is a more message oriented look at specific communication patterns and campaigns. Strategies research focuses on communication created by the nonprofit and evaluates the effectiveness of messages on target groups. Health campaigns, issue advertising, fundraising tactics, and corporate branding are common examples of research conducted in this area. Even though this is an important area of communication research, much of this research is less directly related to the creator of the message (i.e., the nonprofit organization) than the message itself and its effect on an intended audience. Strategies research also explicates the different client messaging used and investigates different external communication strategies.
Theme 8: Interorganizational relationships and linkages There is a large body of research on nonprofit collaboration, alliances, and networking. As mentioned above, linkages and collaboration are important elements of nonprofit organizations. In linkage research, communication scholars have unpacked such issues as collaborative membership, resources, and identity. Linkages research has also examined the effects of foundational membership in predicting alliance success, partnership patterns, and international alliance differences. In sum, this theme begins to parse out the numerous and complicated connections NGOs consistently make within and across sectors in order to work on a given topic or in a certain environment.
Theme 9: Social capital Social capital research examines how nonprofits interact with their target populations and clients to create connections and networks among individuals and groups, reach goals, and ultimately improve lives. This research is a process and outcomes based discovery where the effects of programs and the presence of a nonprofit in the community can change the discussions and behaviors of the larger target group. Research topics have ranged from mental health, community attachment, and the well-being of the aged population to the role of nonprofits in race relations, neighborhood cohesion, and crime rates. The role of social capital development is largely communicative, and thus organizational communication scholars are well positioned to investigate. A smaller area of investigation in social capital also examines the dark side of social capital creation and what happens when organizations are seen as the givers of such capital. Community reliance, self-importance, and organizational narcissism are all potential issues when a nonprofit is established around a problem or area of need.
10
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
Theme 10: Rethinking nonprofits from a communication perspective A final theme of organizational communication research in nonprofits involves taking a somewhat different approach toward many of the previous themes. Rather than studying communication as a unit of analysis, scholars working from a communication perspective ask how things are constituted communicatively, whose interests are represented in these constructions, how they are sustained or transformed through interaction, what identities are produced or suppressed, and what kinds of actions are supported or constrained. This approach to communication enables researchers to investigate and question many of the core concepts that define the nonprofit sector. The terms nonprofit, volunteer, mission, and fundraising can all be taken-for-granted terms, and investigating these concepts helps to see how language creates these social realities. It is through common experiences and the everyday communication of those experiences that participants come to know what being nonprofit or voluntary is for them in that moment and organization.
Patterns, trends, and implications from nonprofit organizational communication research As discussed in the previous section, foundational work on nonprofit studies relied on economic and managerial theoretical traditions, and early research in organizational communication and nonprofits followed a similar course. Yet the emergence of nonprofit research also coincides with the linguistic turn (a moving toward language producing rather than reflecting social realities) in organizational communication research. This turn ushered in critical and cultural approaches to understanding, and much of this is reflected in nonprofit research of the past decade. Consequently, nonprofit organizational communication research has investigated and become a champion in a body of research that evaluates the human and linguistic importance of organizational reality. The creation of social capital, the managing of volunteer identities, the cultural impact of mission directives, and the power wielded through controlling the preferred narrative on a specific issue are all areas of investigation that communication scholars are well positioned to examine. The nonprofit context is vast and multifaceted, and so too is the still burgeoning body of research on the topic. Within this growing body of research, there are some consistent methodological trends as well. First, although there are representative samples of research using quantitative, qualitative, and textual analysis, the vast body of research is case based qualitative research. There is a preference toward interview and observation techniques in the exploration of nonprofit phenomenon. A second and related trend is consequent epistemic foundation of these studies. Much of the nonprofit scholarship comes from an interpretive or critical lens. There are some notable exceptions to these first two methodological themes within the individual research themes above. Research into communication strategies has a greater representation of quantitative and postpositivist research than other areas of research. There is also a larger representation
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
11
of textual/rhetorical analysis in the strategies theme (and the mission theme). Some work is being conducted using social networking analysis in the linkages research, but by and large, there is a lack of sector wide or national dataset work overall. Likewise, there is a notably smaller pool of research that examines longitudinal trends (beyond the one plus year scope that many dissertation/thesis based research programs conduct).
Future directions Looking ahead, there are several important trends that will shape future organizational communication research on nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations. These includes both developments in the nonprofit sector that will guide organizational communication scholarship and developments in the field of organizational communication that will influence how scholars approach the nonprofit sector.
Key trends in the nonprofit sector One key trend shaping the nonprofit sector is marketization. This involves ongoing discussions among practitioners and in the research literature about whether or not nonprofits should be more “businesslike.” With the distinctions between the market and the state becoming increasingly blurred, there is a significant push for nonprofit organizations to become more businesslike in their practices, structures, and discourse. From an economic standpoint, this imperative appears to be a positive progression to many, though others caution against this development. Organizational communication scholars are poised to examine this phenomenon in ways that can help the nonprofit sector understand and communicate its distinctiveness in ways that will allow it to both adapt to changing conditions and preserve its distinct and irreplaceable role in society. Taking a “communication perspective” toward various nonprofit phenomena means exploring the processes and patterns of human interaction that constitute specific social realities and not just accepting them as given or inevitable. Terms like efficiency, bottom line, or effectiveness may have common dictionary definitions, but they do not refer to a neutral or natural state of affairs. Instead, they are used in practice to constitute particular social realities that may favor certain interests and marginalize others. A similar trend involves the changing financial attitude toward nonprofit organizations. There is growing recognition that conventional financial approaches to the nonprofit sector may in fact be undermining the ability of nonprofit organizations to adequately address the very issues they are created to tackle. Many social issues are massive in scale, yet financial norms and regulations around compensation, investment, advertising, and access to capital markets prevent nonprofit organizations from achieving a corresponding level of scale in response. This is especially true regarding “overhead expenses,” which has become the single most important measure of how people perceive the financial management of nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits are expected to minimize overhead expenses, assuring donors and the general public that
12
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
the vast majority of their resources go directly to the cause. Watchdog groups rate nonprofits based on the amount of money allocated to overhead expenses compared to the amount devoted to direct programs and services. Yet low overhead prohibits the growth and scale needed to have a substantive impact on the cause. Consequently, many nonprofit leaders are working to change attitudes and policies to financial management, and thus this area is an important one for future organizational communication research. A final trend in the nonprofit sector involves the ever-expanding use of technology and social media. This impacts everything from donor relations and volunteer management to service delivery and public relations. Advances in mobile technology significantly change the ways in which nonprofits can interact with their donors and volunteers, and these advances also revolutionize the work nonprofits can do to serve their clients and causes. Organizational communication scholars are well positioned to respond to these changes, especially in terms of studying how technology and social media impact various aspects of human interaction and organizing.
Key trends in organizational communication scholarship In addition to developments in the nonprofit sector that will impact future organizational communication research, there are also trends in the field of organizational communication that will shape how future research will consider nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations, especially the growing impact of constitutive approaches to communication. One key implication of a constitutive approach is elevating communication from a unit of analysis to a mode of explanation. This means that communication is not just a phenomenon to be explained but rather provides an explanatory framework from which to understand a host of other social phenomena. If our social realities are constituted in and through human interaction, then it stands to reason that communication can provide a framework from which we understand and explain the social world. For nonprofit scholarship, this relates to how we theorize and explain the nonprofit sector and the operations of nonprofit organizations. Most nonprofit theorizing is influenced by economic thinking, which attempts to explain why nonprofits exist and how they function in a market economy. However, economics represents only one way to understand the nonprofit sector, and assuming the primacy of the market economy to develop theoretical explanations has notable limitations. Future research will likely develop more communicative explanations of nonprofit organizations and the nonprofit sector to complement economic theorizing. A second and related implication of a constitutive approach to communication involves challenging the taken-for-granted or “natural” character or organizational concepts and phenomena. In the nonprofit sector terms like volunteer, nonprofit, mission, faith based, and sector are often taken for granted. A constitutive approach to communication helps us see that language matters because it calls into being specific social realities that enable or restrict social action with real material consequences – it is not just a matter of perception. Volunteers do not simply “exist” but rather are created and sustained through how we use this term. Labeling someone as a volunteer or categorizing specific actions as voluntary has important consequences, especially if
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
13
this is done by certain kinds of people or organizations. Rather than asking what things “are,” a communication perspective asks how things are constituted communicatively, whose interests are represented in these constructions, how they are sustained or transformed through interaction, what identities are produced or suppressed, and what kinds of actions are supported or constrained. When we understand communication as the production (not just the expression) of meaning we gain valuable insights into how important aspects of the nonprofit sector are constituted versus merely explaining that they exist. A constitutive approach to communication helps us see how the social realities we often take for granted are actually created, sustained, and/or transformed depending on how people interact with each other. A final trend in organizational communication scholarship likely to impact nonprofit studies involves developments in research methodology. Advances in computing technology mean that network analysis is much more accessible and manageable to a broader range of scholars. Qualitative analysis software has also expanded the kinds of qualitative investigations organizational communication scholars can conduct and the amount of data they can manage. The increase in empirical studies from a Communicative Constitution of Organizations perspective provides methodological examples and motivation to encourage more work in this vein. Future studies are likely to have larger and more diverse datasets, with increased levels of analytical sophistication, leading to novel insights that advance organizational communication scholarship of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations. SEE ALSO: Alternative Forms of Organization and Organizing; Alternative Work Arrangements; For-Profit Organizations; Government Organizations; Interorganizational Communication; Mission Statements; Stakeholder Communication; Volunteers/Volunteering
References Chandler, J. (2015, January 19). 2015 trends to watch [Online]. Retrieved from http://www. councilofnonprofits.org/thought-leadership/2015-trends-watch Frumkin, P. (2002). On being nonprofit. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Kirby, E. L., & Koschmann, M. A. (2012). Forum introduction: Communication-centered contributions to advancing scholarship in/of nonprofit and voluntary organizations. Management Communication Quarterly, 26(1), 133–138. doi:10.1177/0893318911432272 Koschmann, M. A., Isbell, M. G., & Sanders, M. (2015). Connecting nonprofit and communication scholarship: A review of key issues and a meta-theoretical framework for future research. Review of Communication, 15(3), 200–220. doi:10.1080/15358593.2015.1058411 Lewis, D. (2014). Non-governmental organizations, management and development (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Lewis, L. K. (2005). The civil society sector: A review of critical issues and research agenda for organizational communication scholars. Management Communication Quarterly, 19(2), 238–267. doi:10.1177/0893318905279190 McKeever, B. S., & Pettijohn, S. L. (2014). The nonprofit sector in brief 2014: Public charities, giving, and volunteering. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. Salamon, L. M. (1999). America’s nonprofit sector: A primer. New York, NY: Foundation Center.
14
NO N P R O F I T/ NO N G O V E R N M E N TA L OR G A N I Z AT I O N S
Further reading Isbell, M. G. (2012). The role of boundary spanners as the interorganizational link in nonprofit collaborating. Management Communication Quarterly, 26(1), 159–165. doi:10.1177/ 0893318911423641 Koschmann, M. A. (2012). Developing a communicative theory of the nonprofit. Management Communication Quarterly, 26(1), 139–146. doi:10.1177/0893318911423640 Kramer, M. W., Lewis, L. L., & Gossett, L. M. (2013). Volunteering and communication: Studies from multiple contexts. New York, NY: Lang. Salamon, L. M., & Anheier, H. K. (1996). The emerging nonprofit sector: An overview (Vol. 1). Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. Sanders, M. L. (2012). Theorizing nonprofit organizations as contradictory enterprises: Understanding the inherent tensions of nonprofit marketization. Management Communication Quarterly, 26(1), 179–185. doi:10.1177/0893318911423761
Matthew G. Isbell is assistant professor of communication at Boise State University. His research examines collaboration, boundary spanning, and nonprofit organizations. He has published in Review of Communication, Communication Monographs, Management Communication Quarterly, and the American Journal of Public Health. He is also the coauthor of a book on interorganizational collaboration. Matthew L. Sanders is associate professor of communication studies at Utah State University. His research interests include nonprofit organizing and communication pedagogy and has been published in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Management Communication Quarterly, Review of Communication, Organization, and Communication Teacher. Matthew A. Koschmann is associate professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research focuses on organizational communication and collaboration, especially in the civil society sector. His research on nonprofit organizations and the nonprofit sector appears in Management Communication Quarterly, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Communication, Journal of Applied Social Science, and Journal of Communication and Religion.
