Browsing by Subject "Nonprofit organizations"
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Item 501(c)Social video series : social media best practices for nonprofits in the digital age(2012-12) Cool, Bailey Anne; Watkins, S. Craig (Samuel Craig)This video series and report act as an educational tool to help small to mid-sized nonprofits use social media in the most beneficial way for their organization, by offering advice and tactics based on actual stories from nonprofits in Austin, Texas. As the landscape of marketing and media changes, nonprofits must be willing to utilize social media for their development strategies, event planning, volunteer recruitment and engagement, and have an up to date social media policy. Six nonprofit organizations tell their success stories and discuss the importance of integrating social media into their marketing strategies and campaigns.Item Communication in collaborative interorganizational relationships: a field study of leadership and stakeholder participation(2008-05) Koschmann, Matthew Alan, 1977-; Browning, Larry D.; Lewis, Laurie K.The purpose of this study is to further our understanding of organizational communication in collaborative interorganizational relationships (IORs) in the nonprofit sector. The specific communication practices of leadership and stakeholder participation were investigated during a 10-month ethnographic field study, which included meeting observations, in-depth interviews, and document analysis. Results indicate that collaborative IORs demonstrate a form of leadership that is distributed throughout the collaborative partners that mediates between common and competing interests and is sustained through communicative practices of casting vision, translating, asking, & listening. This enables collaborative IORs to foster collective action, despite the absence of formal authority structures. Additionally, this study demonstrates the reciprocal process of stakeholder participation needed to sustain collective action in collaborative IORs. Authentic participation is both provided to collaboration members through voice and opportunity, and provided to collaborative structures by collaboration members through contribution and commitment. Furthermore, the participation of multiple stakeholders in collaborative IORs gives rise to three communicative tensions: focus/inclusion, talk/action, and sector discourse/collaborative discourse. These tensions are balance through interaction between collaboration members as the continually negotiate the social order that constitutes collaborative IORs. Overall, these findings help us better understand the practices of human interaction that foster collaborative relationships among organizations, particularly health and human service organizations. This gives much-needed attention to the process of interorganizational collaboration, which complements the literature's dominant focus on antecedent conditions and outcomes. This research also draws more attention to the important social issues of communication and interaction in interorganizational collaboration, beyond the economic and resource-based theories so prevalent in past research. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are also discussed.Item Community engagement and financial vulnerability during an economic crisis(2015-05) Moore, Margaret Shelly Barker; Streeter, Calvin L.; Schwab, A. J.; Busch-Armendariz, Noel B; Rehnborg, Sarah Jane; Springer, David WAs donors of time and money analyze nonprofit organizations to determine where they can best invest their donations, comparative information is difficult to find. Without clear and compelling metrics to compare one potential nonprofit recipient to another, how can these donors make informed decisions about where their time and money will best be utilized? Due to the difficulties of comparing the value of one mission to another in an objective way, the metrics used in this study consider nonprofit organizations and their readiness to use donations effectively from an organizational perspective rather than a mission-focused one. The Community Engagement Index (CEI) assesses an organization’s commitment to integrating volunteer support throughout all its operational realms, while the Financial Vulnerability Index (FVI) considers the long-term financial stability of the organization. In this study, a purposive sample of nonprofit organizations in Texas was examined through the lens of the FVI in seven biennial time periods from 2000 to 2012, while CEI results were considered in 2010. The intention was to determine whether the Great Recession of 2007-2009 caused meaningful changes in FVI scores for this sample. Due to inconsistent filings of Form 990 from which FVI data was pulled, consistent FVI information was available for only 29 of the organizations in the sample. The organizations in this sample showed little statistically significant change in their FVI during the time of the recession, though it is difficult to know whether this lack of change is due to the small size of the sample or the strong economic performance of Texas throughout the economic crisis that hit other states more severely. Further testing with a larger sample, as well as CEI data from additional years, would strengthen a future study of this question. The unique nature of the information provided by each of these metrics is shown by the fact that they do not correlate with standard financial indicators.Item Conspicuous participation : what is it & how does it impact communication strategies of nonprofit organizations?(2011-05) Schlissel, Erin Nicole; Drumwright, Minette E.; Wilcox, GaryThe following report defines the concept of conspicuous participation and it demonstrates how it impacts nonprofit marketing efforts through social media. This is accomplished through providing an in-depth theoretical background, a detailed typography describing how conspicuous participation is currently being used to promote interactions with nonprofit organizations, and through two case studies, which offer real-world examples of how nonprofit organizations are utilizing this concept. Conspicuous participation can be defined as The act of publishing original or existing content in an online space that is visible to others, either all members of the general public or members of a private social network, in order to interact with and/or show support for a defined community or organization.Item Market orientation and successful not-for-profit marketing: direct relationships and the influence of professionalism, entrepreneurship, competition, and demand(Texas Tech University, 1992-08) Bhuian, Shahid N.The purpose of this study is to develop and empirically test a model of market orientation in the context of NP organizations, identifying the antecedents of market orientation, as well as the consequences. Figure 1.1 illustrates the proposed model of market orientation for NP organizations. The model posits that the degree of market orientation (market intelligence generation, dissemination, and responsiveness-Figure 1.2) in any given NP organization, depends on the levels of the professional commitment, professional education, and professional ethics the senior management; the entrepreneurship of the organization; the perception of the competition as a source of threat; and the perception of the demand faced by the organization as under (below the desired level of demand) and/or over (exceeds the desired level of demand). The model specifies that the degree of market orientation influences the overall performance of the NP organization.Item Nonprofit relationship marketing: the role of identification(Texas Tech University, 1997-08) German, Steven DNot availableItem Nonprofits and social media : can online actions translate into social good?(2010-05) Menezes, Eva Lopes Telles de; Gil de Zúñiga, Homero; Cash, Wanda G.With the large growth in use of social media by teenagers, young adults and adults alike, there has also been a boom in the number of charitable nonprofit organizations that are adopting the medium to reach out to existing and potential supporters. But has social media been an effective tool in spreading out the word about a cause while retaining and recruiting donors and volunteers? This multimedia report aims at analyzing how three Austin-area nonprofits are using Facebook and Twitter to connect to constituents, as well as how online and offline constituents are responding to this relatively new approach. In order to do that, a series of interviews were conducted with nonprofit professionals, supporters, and industry and academia experts. In addition to that, constituents were surveyed about their engagement with the organizations both online and offline. To view this project in its entirety, including the video interviews, please visit http://evamenezes.com/mastersreport/.Item Social theology and religiously affiliated nonprofits in migration policy(Texas Tech University, 1998-08) Hoover, Robert LaneIn this dissertation I present argument and evidence that social theologies do not neatly divide religious groups into two camps, especially along a one-dimensional "liberal-conservative" continuum. Instead, I offer evidence that social theology in large measure accounts for the political behavior of a wide variety of denominations that create and maintain nonprofit organizations to work in public policy areas. Social theology counts, but not in the ways usually depicted. I offer evidence that social theology is mediated through denominational organizations. The organizational context is a significant factor in the process. Elements of this context include: the executive directors, governing bodies, mission statements, denominational affiliations, funding sources, legal considerations, and denominational accountability structures.Item Survival of nonprofit community health clinics(Texas A&M University, 2006-08-16) Schemmer, Ruth AnnIn the provision of public goods such as health care for the uninsured, nonprofit organizations serve important functions in society. Because they often rely on volunteer labor, and funding is frequently unstable, their survival depends on factors not present in either private enterprise or state agencies. This comparison case study examines three clinics, one surviving clinic and two that did not survive, to find patterns that characterize organizational success and survival. Theories about public goods, volunteering, and organizational coordination and communication provide insight into different aspects of the case study. Data was gathered from 19 in-depth interviews with individuals connected to the three clinics. The analysis employs Ostrom??s characterization of eight principles of longstanding common-pool resource organizations, with slight adjustments for the public goods setting. As expected, the successful clinic reflects more of the characteristics, or possesses them to a greater degree, than the unsuccessful ones. Specifically, the successful clinic reflects a greater degree of congruence between organizational rules and local conditions (as evidenced by community support), and collective-choice arrangements (as indicated by the presence of an actively engaged board of directors). In addition, the successful clinic is loosely nested with other organizations, whereas the nonsurviving clinics were more tightly nested within local organizations; the looser nesting allows for greater autonomy in decision-making. Finally, an unexpected finding drawn from the interviews concerns the manner in which the clinics framed their message and mission. The successful clinic framed its mission in terms of serving the ??working poor,?? whereas the nonsurviving clinics stated their mission as charity for the poor and needy. This variance may have contributed to greater community support for the successful clinic.Item Survival strategies: how social service non-profits succeed and fail in the public arena (a case study of sexual assault and domestic violence centers)(Texas Tech University, 1996-08) Delehanty-Abuelghanam, Debbie A.This study will examine the following question: How and why do social service agencies survive and in some cases even flourish in the early stages of development? To answer the question, this research will create a new theory of social service nonprofit survival. It will advance the literature by (1) giving a complete picture of all the relevant, important techniques of survival; (2)demonstrating which factors are significant during different phases of the early evolution of an agency; (3) illustrating these techniques by examining the experiences of sexual assault and domestic violence centers; and (4) contending, contrary to Salamon's theory, that the foundation of the government-nonprofit partnership is not nonprofit failure.Item The creation of a strategic planning model for small not-for-profit theatres: an internship project(Texas Tech University, 1996-08) Davis, Ginny A.Although business management practices have been studied since the late nineteenth century, only recently has the not-for-profit world of arts administration begun utilizing basic business principles. Even though the business world has proven the effectiveness of those principles, many arts organizations still resist integrating business principles into their daily working activities. The field of strategic planning has received very little attention from the not-for-profit world of theatre. An absence of knowledge about the field as it pertains to theatres, as well as a fear of the time consuming nature of planning, limits the uses of this type of planning which ultimately has the potential to enhance the efficiency of these organizations. This study combines current theories of strategic planning from the business world with working knowledge of small not-forprofit theatre organizations gained through an internship program at Theatre Three in Dallas, Texas, in order to create a general planning model specifically for small not for-profit theatres. The implementation of worksheets and formats at Theatre Three helped refine these tools. Planning systems offer small not-for-profit theatres a way to examine their relationship to the outside world, and to account for changes in that world as they plan for their future.