Strategy in nonprofit organizations. Understandings of coherence, future sustainability, and voluntary work.

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Based on the idea that all organizations have a strategy regardless of their typology (Whittington, et al., 2011), we recognize that in Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs) it can be formal or informal, deliberate or emergent. In any case, they comply with the constituent elements of the strategy: (1) The context, understood as the pre-existing conditions and forces in the environment. A distinction is made between internal, related to organizational culture, organizational structure and policies, and external, in which the organization has less control. These are economic, social and competitive. (2) the content, i.e. the options for achieving the purpose. (3) The process, referring to formulation and implementation (AL-Tabbaa, Leach and March, 2014).
In the sense of understanding the context, content and process of the strategy in the NPOs, we approach its understanding from its coherence, future sustainability and volunteering. We approach it in light of the results of three research studies, as follows:
The first study is “Organizational arrangements in the nonprofit and solidarity sector. A strategy for change with a humanistic perspective”, In this paper we understand how in the framework of social and solidarity sector organizations, the question of coherence between what they do and the principles from which they arise, solidarity and common living, has been relevant. The category of organizational arrangements emerges to understand the strategy and the organizational capability of influencing politics to impact on social challenges from organizational arrangements.
The second study, which is still in progress, presents preliminary results on the “Resourcing and strategy formation in Community Water Organizations”. Based on Resourcing theory and the strategy-as-practice approach, it analyzes how resources are enabled by practices, to format strategy in community water organizations. For this purpose, a systematization of experiences is developed as a qualitative methodology.
Finally, an approach to volunteers as practitioners of strategy in SNPOs is provided, through the relationship found in the study "Open Strategy and volunteering practices in NPOs", in which through seeking operational resources, sharing experiences, and guiding other practices, volunteers include others, circulate information and influence shared decision making..
The organizations in which these investments were developed, currently face several challenges, among them, their maintenance and sustainability over time, without losing coherence with their values and objectives; this panel allows understanding the ways in which these organizations manage to maintain and achieve their objectives, showing three cases that illustrate this problem from three angles: inter-organizational relationships, volunteering and resources.
In this panel, we present three research studies that assume qualitative perspectives, with a participatory approach (Bradbury, 2020). In theoretical terms, this panel contributes elements to understand how strategy practices emerge (Jarzabkowski et. al., 2019) everyday, for the achievement of goals in nonprofit organizations. Likewise, it contributes to understanding the dynamics of SNPOs, especially how volunteering, resources, and interorganizational relationships contribute to the generation of social change

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Sub Unit

• Third Sector organizations and civil society under different political regimes and contexts: role and regulations

Moderator

• Lenis Yelin Araque, Fundación Huellas

Individual Presentations

• Organizational arrangements in the nonprofit and solidarity sector. A strategy for change with a humanistic perspective - Diana Lopera-Montoya, Autor

• 2. Resourcing and strategy formation in Community Water Organizations - Manuel Henao-Restrepo, Ponente

• Open Strategy and volunteering practices in NPOs - Lenis Yelin Araque, Fundación Huellas