An extensive literature identifies conditions under which markets and states work efficiently and effectively toward their stated missions. When these conditions are violated, these institutions are deemed to show some level of failure. In contrast to the study of market and government failures, scholars have tended to focus on non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs) successes instead of failures. This is probably because they view NGOs as virtuous actors, guided by principled beliefs rather than instrumental concerns, not susceptible to agency conflicts, accountable to the communities they serve, and working cooperatively with each other. A growing literature questions this “virtue narrative.” When virtue conditions are violated, NGOs could exhibit different levels of failure. In synthesizing this literature, we offer an analytic typology of NGO failures: agency failure, NGOization failure, representation failure, and cooperation failure. Finally, given NGOs’ important role in public policy, we outline institutional innovations to address these failures.

Growing social, political, and economic uncertainties have shown that organizational resilience is becoming increasingly important for nonprofit organizations (NPOs). To ensure their long-term survival, NPOs need to respond to extreme events and adapt their services and processes. The theoretical premise of resource dependence theory assumes that interactions between an organization and its environment are crucial for the long-term adaptation to adversities. The present study investigates the contributions of nonprofit–private collaborations to organizational resilience of NPOs in light of the refugee crisis in Germany in 2015. Findings from a multiple holistic case study design indicate that collaborations of nonprofits with for-profit organizations support NPOs with stability, resources, expertise, and compassion to overcome resource-based, conceptual, and emotional challenges.

The government of the Communist Party of China (CPC) rolled out a national policy to contract out social and welfare services to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 2013. This study explores how government contracting of services affects NGOs. We examine three areas: marketization, financial dependency, and autonomy. We find significant convergence of the effects of contracting on NGOs in China with NGOs’ experiences in liberal democratic countries, despite divergent political regimes. Found effects are explained by the combination of the authoritarian government of the CPC with the neoliberal governance structures introduced by contracting. Convergence with international experience despite divergent political regimes is attributed to the neoliberal essence of the policy of contracting of services.

Despite the role that non-government organisations, including community development organisations, play in social transformation, their approach to managing projects has received little attention. Employing a processual approach and participatory methodology, this paper investigates how a small, distributed, community-based organisation negotiates the challenges associated with managing its geographically dispersed development projects. It examines lessons that this organisation’s project management approach offers for managing projects at a distance in ways that encourage community ownership, partnership with project beneficiaries and their maximum participation in the process. The paper underlines the need for positioning people’s participation in development projects as a key component of development, rather than as a tool for project implementation. It concludes by advocating a blend of participation and empowerment with technical assistance for recipient communities.

Partial privatization creates organizational hybrids that can generate conflict between professional and institutional logic among social workers. Research is scant but necessary to identify better organizational approaches. Using the social and economic exchange (SEE) model, we examined Israeli social workers’ perception of their relationships with their workplaces. To examine organizational affiliation and seniority impact on SEE, we conducted a two-way ANOVA on data from 824 social workers: 55.1% from government sector (GSO) 30.8% from ‘third sector’ (TSO), and 14.1% from for-profit sector (FPO) organizations. Our findings showed the SEE model identified ways organizations and their social workers manage sector hybridity. Social exchange among TSO social workers was higher than GSOs, but similar to FPOs. Economic exchange was higher in FPOs, compared to GSOs. Seniority related only to economic exchange, possibly signaling change among newer social workers. TSOs must strengthen their social exchange to maintain their advantage among social workers.

An increasing number of nonprofits have shifted their microfinance operation to a for-profit format. Little has been explored on how these for-profits are being legitimized. This paper draws on the legitimacy theory to explore how nonprofits use substantive actions to seek legitimacy within the community to commercialize microfinance operations. Findings from case studies on two Indian microfinance organizations reveal that these organizations use three sets of substantive actions focusing on performance, legal suitability, and community participation. Implications include the use of substantive actions by SEs to balance the dual purpose and to ensure downward accountability toward the community. This study extends our understanding of efforts undertaken by social enterprises to seek legitimacy with the community as the evaluator. The identification of substantial actions offers tools for managers to incorporate commercial processes within nonprofits.

Many volunteer organizations offer short-term international voluntary service (IVS) opportunities as an avenue for participants to provide aid and humanitarian relief in international communities. This study empirically examines four potential antecedents of IVS performance among short-term IVS participants in developing countries: IVS participants’ intention to serve in similar IVS roles in the future, whether their IVS is at their preferred geographic location, IVS participants’ prior experience in the host country, and their performance in the sending organization’s trainings prior to the IVS. Utilizing both analyses of variance and OLS regression analysis of 147 IVS participants across 18 developing countries, we find evidence that short-term IVS performance is positively associated with future intentions to participate in IVS, previously having visited the host country, and performance during pre-travel trainings. Further, we analyze 158 blog posts written by 19 sample IVS participants, which provides a unique ‘inside look’ into the relationship between host country language skills and IVS performance.

While the international literature has significantly addressed the “new forms of voluntary action,” there has been limited attention paid so far to the reintermediation processes of contemporary volunteering. This paper intends to fill this gap. First, a research approach based on a renewed sociological consideration of volunteering, path dependency and strategic field theory is presented and four ideal–typical traditions of volunteering (active membership, direct, program-based and organize-it-yourselves) are introduced. Then the Italian case is explored. Although the analysis is only exploratory, it enables us to understand the coevolutions of the four traditions and to identify a new restructuration model based on professional agencies coming from the membership tradition. The paper can help future studies to reconsider the magnitude and dynamics of second modernity trends and to tackle continuities and changes in the reintermediation of volunteering in situated and processual terms.

In the context of super-diverse cities, scholars and policy makers are increasingly interested in the potential of volunteering to establish identification for newcomers and locals alike. In this paper, we address the question of how young volunteers in Rotterdam and Vienna negotiate belonging within their super-diverse surroundings. Our exploratory study builds on a cross-national research project in which we collected qualitative interview data from volunteering youth. We follow a weak-theory approach and conceptualise belonging as emotional, procedural, and relational. We trace identification processes of newcomers and locals in terms of belonging through volunteering in urban contexts of super-diversity. Our paper demonstrates that volunteering serves as a vehicle for feelings of belonging and inclusion for young volunteers, specifically addressing the urban super-diversity of Vienna and Rotterdam. Our research also indicates the partiality and temporality of volunteering as a source of belonging and the function of volunteering as a structure of inclusion, not necessarily enabling structural inclusion.

There are ongoing management and societal challenges affecting volunteering participation. These place a premium on organizations identifying individuals that currently do not volunteer but have the willingness and capacity to do so, the “Potentials”. Supplementing the limited non-volunteer literature, we seek to quantify this potential volunteer pool using constructs aligned to the willingness, capability and availability dimensions from Meijs et al.’s (Volunt Action 8:36–54, 2006) volunteerability framework. Using binary logistic regression testing with a nationally representative sample of Australian volunteers and non-volunteers, we found partial support for the framework’s willingness and capability dimensions determining volunteer status. We then applied a predictive equation to the non-volunteer sample to calculate their percentage likelihood of volunteering, to identify a cohort of “Potential” volunteers. Further testing revealed statistically significant differences between this cohort compared to other non-volunteers based on various interventions for promoting volunteering. The implications of our novel study and an associated research agenda are discussed.

This study tests how changes in social background (homeownership status and employment status) and changes in household structure (marital status, number of children, and volunteering behaviors of other household members) influence an individual’s volunteering decision. We use a complex dataset from the US Current Population Survey Volunteer Supplements from 2002 to 2015. We captured the short-term “shock” effect of the changes in life circumstances on the changes in volunteering status; different factors influence start and stop in volunteerism in different ways. A person is more likely to start volunteering when the person became unemployed, when other household members increased their volunteering time, or got married, within a one-year period. Meanwhile, a person who experiences changes in employment, homeownership, or marital status, or has an increase in the number of children is more likely to stop volunteering. Based on the findings, we provide recommendations for those who are interested in volunteer management strategies.

Extensive variable-centered research guided by Self-Determination Theory (SDT) has provided insights into volunteers’ motivations in nonprofit and voluntary sports clubs. However, volunteers may have multiple reasons for engaging in volunteer work. By adopting a person-centered approach, the present study aimed to identify volunteers’ motivational profiles in sports clubs based on combinations of different motivational regulations as distinguished within SDT. Six profiles were retained, which differed in terms of volunteers’ need-based experiences, job satisfaction, work effort, and turnover intentions. Specifically, the findings pointed out the crucial role of relatively high levels of autonomous motivation for volunteers’ need satisfaction, job satisfaction, and work effort while relatively high levels of controlled motivation and amotivation were associated with need frustration and turnover intentions. Practical suggestions on how leaders can optimize their organization’s motivational environment are provided. This study urges researchers to develop motivational profiles in other nonprofit contexts.

This research analyzes how gender equality influences the participation of European senior citizens in a range of volunteering activities (Social Awareness, Professional and Political, Education, and Religion). The main contribution is the simultaneous consideration of different levels of data aggregation: individual, national and welfare system. This allows conclusions to be drawn on the effects of variables linked to sociodemographic characteristics, gender equality and welfare systems. The empirical estimation utilised microdata from the World Values Survey (2005/09 and 2010/14) and the United Nations Development Programme. Results suggest that the European senior citizens appear to believe that they are more equal than the official statistics of their countries indicate. Men are more likely to participate in professional and education activities; women are more likely to be involved in religious organisations. Welfare systems influence volunteering behaviours. The promotion of macro-policies for gender equality could be important for increasing participation in non-profit organisations.

This paper examines myths and misconceptions about university student volunteering. Our study explored the experiences of students, host organisations and universities participating in volunteering in Australia, identify good practice, and discover barriers to success. A qualitative approach involved 60 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. Students were often seen as being energetic, having flexible time and having skills associated with their studies. Some organisations, however, viewed students as unreliable, hard to manage and requiring specific programs. Some hosts were viewed as not valuing student volunteers, or not having the capacity to supervise. These perceptions were found to be nuanced. Erroneous myths were seen to develop from a single event, later confirmed by a ‘related’ event; in scenarios with multiple players, motivations, and complexities. The potential for misconceptions to undermine the true value of student volunteering for all stakeholders is ameliorated when there is common understanding, clear expectation setting, and ongoing dialogue.