The Big Picture of Non-Profit Organisational Sustainability: a Qualitative System Dynamics Approach

Abstract

The assistance of the non-profit sector in providing for needy, disabled, sick, aged and vulnerable members of society is invaluable to private and state actors already overburdened with trying to do the same. Nowhere is this impact more evident, than in the work of international non-profit organisations (NPOs) with affiliates throughout the world. However, such NPOs occupy a precarious position in terms of sustainability as their sustainability is influenced by the actions and generosity of numerous stakeholders such as donors, volunteers, funders and government agencies to name a few. In addition, they are often embedded in volatile and ever-changing political, economic and/or geographic settings which add to the complexity of their endeavours to remain successful and sustainable. This study, in response to the dire lack of an integrated and holistic account of NPO sustainability, adopted a qualitative System Dynamics (SD) methodology for understanding the plethora of factors that influence the overall sustainability of an international NPO. Through this methodological approach, it was found that seven themes were integral to the sustainability of this particular NPO, namely: (1) Human Resource capacity (2) Credibility of the organisation (3) Partnerships (4) Competition in the non-profit sector (5) Co-financing and funding arrangements (6) Navigating the North-South Dilemma and (7) the dynamics involved in attempts to remain apolitical. The impact of this research lies in the recognition of NPO sustainability as not being simply about the amount of funding and donations received and social impact achieved, but rather charts sustainability as an emergent and fluctuating result of the way in which the themes mentioned above (and the many variables that constitute such themes) systemically interact and influence one another.