Abstract
The effectiveness of conservation organizations is determined in part by how they adapt to changing conditions. Over the previous decade, economic conditions in the United States (US) showed marked variation including a period of rapid growth followed by a major recession. We examine how biodiversity conservation nonprofits in the US responded to these changes through their financial behaviors, focusing on a sample of 90 biodiversity conservation nonprofits and the largest individual organization (The Nature Conservancy; TNC). For the 90 sampled organizations, an analysis of financial ratios derived from tax return data revealed little response to economic conditions. Similarly, more detailed examination of conservation expenditures and land acquisition practices of TNC revealed only one significant relationship with economic conditions: TNC accepted a greater proportion of conservation easements as donated in more difficult economic conditions. Our results suggest that the financial behaviors of US biodiversity conservation nonprofits are unresponsive to economic conditions.
Highlights
The decade of the 2000s was characterized by highly variable economic conditions globally and within the United States (US), including a period of rapid growth followed by the largest recession since the Great Depression (Poole 2010; Fig. 1)
Three of the four financial ratios considered in crosssectoral analyses were affected by biodiversity conservation nonprofit size (Table 2)
We propose that the effect of economic fluctuations on biodiversity conservation will be determined in part by how conservation organizations buffer themselves against and respond to change
Summary
The decade of the 2000s was characterized by highly variable economic conditions globally and within the United States (US), including a period of rapid growth followed by the largest recession since the Great Depression (Poole 2010; Fig. 1) How these economic fluctuations have affected biodiversity conservation has been a subject of conjecture but little empirical evaluation. Others caution that recessionary conditions may impair biodiversity conservation through diminished government revenues and related program cuts or by reduced charitable giving to nonprofit organizations (Bakker et al 2010; Elliott 2011; Sayer et al 2012) These divergent predictions regarding the impact of changing economic conditions on conservation may hinge on conservation organizations’ responsiveness or ability to adapt to change. Economic theory suggests nonprofits may be less responsive than for-profits (Alchian and Demsetz 1972; Glaeser 2003), but empirical tests among nonprofit organizations remain scarce and primarily confined to sectors other than biodiversity conservation that have for-profit equivalents, such as health care (Duggan 2002; Malani et al 2003)
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