Identifying how U.S. nonprofit organizations operate within the Information Process Maturity Model

Abstract

In this paper, the researcher investigates grant writers' perspectives on knowledge management practices within nonprofit organizations. The researcher uses survey data (n = 448) to assess where organizations fall within JoAnn Hackos's Information Process Maturity Model (IPMM) [1]. The paper asks, how do proposal writers perceive current documentation efforts within their organizations? Is there a relationship between an organization's annual operating budget and employees' satisfaction with documentation efforts? Results indicate that most nonprofit organizations fall within the Ad hoc or Rudimentary stage of the IPMM. However, this classification may be due to grant writers' preferences to create individual rather than organizational documentation systems. Organizational documentation practices have both short- and long-term economic implications for the nonprofit industry, particularly fundraising, where employee turnover is a problem.