David O. Renz

Theses on Nonprofit Organizational Effectiveness

This article draws from the general literature on organizational effectiveness and the specialized literature on nonprofit organizational effectiveness to advance six theses about the effectiveness of public benefit charitable nonprofit organizations (NPOs). (a) Non-profit organizational effectiveness is always a matter of comparison. (b) Nonprofit organizational effectiveness is multidimensional and will never be reducible to a single measure. (c) Boards of directors make a difference in the effectiveness of NPOs, but how they do this is not clear. (d) More effective NPOs are more likely to use correct management practices. (e) Nonprofit organizational effectiveness is a social construction. (f) Program outcome indicators as measures of NPO effectiveness are limited and can be dangerous. The article concludes by considering three possible futures for NPO effectiveness research.

Multiple Constituencies and the Social Construction of Nonprofit Organization Effectiveness

Based on the social constructionism perspective and a multiple constituency model, this study investigates stakeholder judgments of nonprofit charitable organization effectiveness. ThestudyalsousesaDelphiprocesstoidentifycriteriathatsomepractitionerw-experts regard as objective indicators of effectiveness. Data on various stakeholder judgments of organizational effectiveness and on the objective indicators were collected for a sample of 64 organizations, allowing for examination of the extent to which stakeholder judgments are consistent and for examination of the extent to which judgments are related to objective indicators. Among the major results of the study are that practitioner-experts define objective effectiveness as employing correct procedures; stakeholders frequently vary substantially in their judgments of the effectiveness of the same organization; stakeholder judgments of effectiveness seldom are related to objective (correct procedures) effectiveness; and differenttypesofstakeholdersusesomeofthesame-mostnotably,boardeffectiveness-as well as different bases for making effectiveness judgments. Conclusions and implications are discussed.

Board Practices of Especially Effective and Less Effective Local Nonprofit Organizations

This study reviews evidence in support of the hypothesis that nonprofit organizations’effectiveness is related to the effectiveness of their boards of directors. It also asks whether various recommended board practices and processes affect board effectiveness. The study focuses on a subset of especially effective and less effective nonprofit organizations from a larger sample. The results show that the especially effective organizations (as judged by multiple stakeholders) have more effective boards (as judged by different multiple stakeholders) and that the more effective boards use significantly more of a set of recommended board practices. The results also show that nonprofit organizations using more of the prescribed board practices are also more likely to use other correct procedures. The results support the practical implication of urging the dissemination and adoption of the recommended practices.

Nonprofit Management Alumni Knowledge, Skills, and Career Satisfaction in Relation to Nonprofit Academic Centers Council Curricular Guidelines: The Case of One University's Master's of Public Administration Alumni:

Drawing on a survey of 88 alumni of a master of public administration program with a long-standing emphasis in nonprofit management, this article addresses three questions: (a) Are alumni who are more satisfied with their careers more satisfied with course work? (yes, substantially); (b) is reported learning in nonprofit management course work related to satisfaction with career and with graduate program? (yes, to some degree); and (c) is alumni satisfaction with careers and graduate program more strongly related to extent of learning in some areas rather than others? (yes). Implications for curricular content of nonprofit management programs are considered, particularly the sort of enterprise nonprofit management education is (and the sort it should be). We conclude by suggesting that nonprofit management education distinctiveness is based on its moral imperative and urge some consideration of such in curricular design.