Financing Nonprofits and Other Social Enterprises: A Benefits Approach

Benefits theory connects an organization's mission, the public and private benefits it produces, and the societal groups that it benefits, to an appropriate income mix. This book applies benefits theory to the financing of nonprofit and other social purpose organizations to guide managers and leaders towards finding the best mix of income sources for their organizations, to help educate future managers about resource development and to stimulate additional research on the financing of nonprofits and other forms of social enterprise. Individual chapters are devoted to organizations primarily reliant on earned income, gifts, government support and investment income, respectively, as well as to organizations that are well diversified in their sources of operating support. Each type of income, as well as mixed income portfolios are analyzed in depth. Detailed case studies of contemporary social purpose organizations are discussed throughout the book, and templates are provided to help leaders apply benefits theory to analyze the income opportunities and portfolios of their own organizations. Comprehensive and practitioner-friendly, this book is suitable not only for teaching graduate and undergraduate students in non-profit management, social enterprise, public administration and business management, but also for informing practicing managers, teachers and researchers, and funders of social purpose organizations.