Luis Ignacio Álvarez-González

How to encourage social innovations: a resource-based approach

During the last decade, social innovation has emerged as an outstanding topic for scholars, businesses, and public institutions. This growing interest is due to its potential positive effects on well-being and sustainable development. This study analyzes social innovation under the umbrella of the transformative service research framework. Adopting a resource-based perspective, the research attempts to determine whether the deployment in service organizations of two types of factors that support dynamic capabilities, i.e. internal market orientation, and information and communication technology competence, impacts the extent to which these organizations develop different kinds of product, process, marketing, and organizational social innovations. The study also assesses the impact of these innovation activities on the organizations transformational performance in terms of increased access to new targets. Empirical research is based on a two-step survey to a sample of Spanish nonprofits (particularly, a representative sample of foundations), since the nonprofit sector provides services that possess inherent transformational characteristics. Results confirm the expected positive effects of these two factors on social innovation and performance, and provide several guidelines for implementing social innovations in service industries.

The Evolution of National Fundraising Campaigns in Spain: Nonprofit Organizations Between the State and Emerging Civil Society

The general aim of this article is to analyze the evolution of national fundraising campaigns for charitable causes in Spain. Qualitative and quantitative perspectives are combined to contextualize features specific to Spain while allowing for comparisons with the other large international emergency campaigns. Main conclusions of the research confirm the historical and continuing importance of the role played by the State while explaining the basic change in the national campaigns. That change embodied a transition from an oligopolistic model of deeply rooted institutions enjoying corporatist agreements with the State that facilitated them privileged access to charitable lotteries, to a model of increasing competition. According to that more modern model, new nonprofit organizations have grown in importance by tapping into emerging philanthropic markets, both through State-mediated mechanisms such as campaigns related to tax-designation schemes, and through direct competition for donations to international aid campaigns from both individual and corporate donors.

Business-nonprofit partnerships as a driver of internal marketing in nonprofit organizations. Consequences for nonprofit performance and moderators

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) confront competitive pressures derived from complex economic and societal challenges. Their capacity to fulfil their mission increasingly depends on developing successful alliances with key external and internal stakeholders, including cooperative interorganizational relationships. In this context, the aim of this research is to analyze: (1) to which extent business-nonprofit partnerships (BNPPs) foster the development of an internal marketing approach by NPOs; (2) the impact of this approach to human resource management on nonprofit performance; and (3) the possible moderating effect of the funding strategy of the nonprofit. This empirical research, based on a survey to a representative sample of Spanish NPOs, shows that cooperative relationships between nonprofit and business organizations are closely associated with a process of knowledge transfer, resulting in improved nonprofit performance; although these positive effects depend on the capacity of NPOs to generate income from commercial sources.

To Found or to Fund? Comparing the Performance of Corporate and Noncorporate Foundations

The implications of the organizational alternatives of corporate philanthropy are yet to be properly understood. This is particularly the case when contributions are channeled through corporate foundations, instead of going directly to nonprofit organizations independent from the firm. Data on the resources, undertakings, and effects of corporate foundations are scarce; conceptualization is poor; and their rationale has been mainly explored from the perspective of the potential benefits for the company. This study aims at contributing to conceptual debate and empirical research on corporate foundations from the perspective of how well they perform as nonprofits. The performance of corporate and noncorporate foundations is compared across three different productivity indicators, based on a survey to a representative sample of 325 foundations. Results of linear regression models suggest that, all else equal, corporate foundations have a greater capability to make resources available for charitable purposes with lower levels of human and financial inputs.

Nonprofit Organizations at the Crossroads of Offline Fundraising and Social Innovation: The Influence of Promoter Behavior on the Success of Donation-Based Crowdfunding Through Digital Platforms

The purpose of this research consists of exploring the extent to which the behavior of promoters or fundraisers - explaining the success of offline fundraising campaigns for charitable causes - may influence as well the success of donation-based crowdfunding (DCF) campaigns promoted through digital platforms. First, the literature on the influence of the promoter behavior on the success of offline fundraising campaigns for charitable causes is reviewed. Second, hypotheses are proposed linking the determinants identified in the literature to DCF campaigns. Thirdly, their explanatory capacity is measured through quantitative analysis based upon a database of 360 campaigns fostered by nonprofits via Microdonaciones, a donation-based crowdfunding digital platform, for the period 2012–2017. Logistic regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses proposed. Results confirm in the light of the promoters behavior, that fundraising campaigns fostered by nonprofits organizations for charitable causes behave similarly offline and online.

The impact of professionalization and partnerships on nonprofit productivity

ABSTRACT This research evaluates the influence of professionalization and partnering with firms on nonprofit productivity. Professionalization is measured in terms of the ratio of paid employees to volunteers, and productivity is measured through the ratio of total assets to number of beneficiaries, and the ratio of total revenues to number of paid employees and volunteers. Empirical analysis combines a survey to a representative sample of Spanish nonprofits, with information available from public sources. Results confirm the existence of a ‘U-shaped’ relationship between professionalization and nonprofits’ capability to reach more beneficiaries with lower assets; a positive effect of professionalization on revenue generation capability; and a positive effect of partnerships with businesses on the nonprofit’s asset-per-beneficiary ratio. Discussion sheds light on the on-going debate about the implications of professionalization and partnering with firms for the capacity of nonprofit organizations to attract resources and to extend their reach in a more efficient way.