Abstract
This paper explores the organizational traits that increase the likelihood of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to engage with businesses in order to enhance their mutual economic, environmental and social goals, consistent with UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17, Targets 17.16 and 17.17. The research is based on a survey of 364 randomly selected environmental and social NGOs in Mexico. A probit model is used to analyze the data and generate insights whereby an NGO’s proclivity to engage with the private sector is associated with a number of fundamental organizational characteristics that make them distinct from other NGOs active in their field. The main findings show that likelihood of NGO engagement with firms is correlated with making corporate donations deductible for businesses, NGO size and scope, activities and level of professionalization, sustaining broader stakeholder relations, and showing transparency about the mission and goals of the NGO. The paper includes an analysis of the determinants of specific forms of engagement and discusses some implications for NGO–business engagement and its support of the SDG targets.
Highlights
In the early 1990s, examples of collaboration between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and businesses to support social and especially environmental goals were scant in the U.S, but as the tenets of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) took hold in the mid-90s, such partnerships became more common [1,2]
In Mexico, many new NGOs were created after 2000, when they became regarded as vehicles for democratization and as a counterweight to government, by opening up channels of communication and participation, providing a training ground for activists, and promoting pluralism
Because our results are based on a designed random sample of Mexican NGOs, they are generalizable to the target population of environmentally and socially oriented NGOs listed as operating in Mexico as of 2016
Summary
In the early 1990s, examples of collaboration between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and businesses to support social and especially environmental goals were scant in the U.S, but as the tenets of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) took hold in the mid-90s, such partnerships became more common [1,2]. By the mid-2000s both companies and NGOs had become very active in establishing partnerships, in recognition of the fact that NGOs had certain expertise, especially in the environmental area, that could help companies achieve their CSR objectives This stage was set, so-to-speak, by global initiatives such as the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and many other UN entities which emphasize private sector collaboration. In the sustainability arena, NGO–business partnerships are conceptualized as interactions that seek to go beyond philanthropy by pooling expertise and resources They are a specific manifestation of cross-sectoral collaboration that have been widely invoked as a mechanism to address complex social and environmental problems which no one party can solve individually [12,13,14,15]. We discuss a number of practical implications of our findings for NGO–business engagement and conclude with some reflections on the SDG targets in light of our work
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