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Mission-Based Objectives, Market-Based Funding: The Relationship between Earned Revenue and Charitable Mission

Levine Daniel, Jamie
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1408542288

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Public Policy and Management.
All organizations need resources. This resource dependence may offer one reason for nonprofit organizations to pursue earned revenue--to provide an “independent” stream of resources to the organization, thereby reducing dependence on other sources of income, such as private donations (Froelich 1999). Yet, nonprofit organizations may pursue earned income for reasons other than revenue diversification. James and Young (2007) suggest that nonprofit organizations may pursue earned income to increase their investment in - and thus expand - their mission-driven services. The goals of this study are to consider the relationship between earned income and charitable mission, and to introduce a more robust measure of earned revenue that links to service-level outcomes. Prior literature on earned revenue starts with a broad, mostly conceptual approach towards commercialization, or total earned revenue (Gilbert 1985; Salamon 1993; Dees 1998; Young and Salamon 2002). With this work, I attempt to address previous shortcomings by (1) developing a more nuanced, theory-based approach to measure earned revenue; and (2) testing the new measure of earned revenue with a newly available dataset from the Culture Data Project. My sample of 2115 organizations from 2007-2010 includes information on both revenue variables and program level outputs, allowing me to measure the relationship between earned income and indicators of charitable mission, measured as (1) donated income and (2) service level outputs. This study demonstrates that the nature of earned income activity matters for charitable mission. By categorizing earned revenue activities on dimensions of organizational technology and target markets, I demonstrate that different types of earned revenue have different effects on charitable mission. Organizations tempted to maximize the cost complementarities afforded by using the same technologies for multiple programs or services might end up generating revenue at the expense of their charitable missions, rather than in their support. Using existing technologies to deliver new goods and services may ultimately damage charitable mission, while offering new goods and services with new technologies may be able to complement certain mission-related service-level outcomes. At least for arts and culture organizations, the connections between the nature of an organization’s earned revenue stream to its core technology and markets, can help shed light on the relationship between earned revenue and charitable mission.
Stephanie Moulton, PhD (Advisor)
Craig Boardman, PhD (Committee Member)
Trevor Brown, PhD (Committee Member)
169 p.
Management; Organizational Behavior; Public Policy
nonprofit organizations, nonprofit enterprise, service delivery, mission

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Levine Daniel, J. (2014). Mission-Based Objectives, Market-Based Funding: The Relationship between Earned Revenue and Charitable Mission [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1408542288

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Levine Daniel, Jamie. Mission-Based Objectives, Market-Based Funding: The Relationship between Earned Revenue and Charitable Mission. 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1408542288.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Levine Daniel, Jamie. "Mission-Based Objectives, Market-Based Funding: The Relationship between Earned Revenue and Charitable Mission." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1408542288

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1408542288
659
© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.