A Social Network Analysis Approach to Strengthening Nonprofit Collaboration

Abstract

IntroductionBuilding capacity and expanding services are difficult tasks for nonprofits, particularly if they are younger and smaller. The administrative and financial tasks and delivery of services can easily overwhelm administrators and volunteers. Nonprofits can be established and dissolved easily especially when they lack the human, intellectual, social, and physical capitals necessary to develop and sustain an organization. Capacity building efforts help them reach the missing components for their survival and growth; yet, most of the time they need external support for building capacity (Kapucu, 2012; Kapucu, Augustin, & Krause, 2007).There are different capacity building opportunities for nonprofits helping for better service delivery. Federal, state, and local governments act as nonprofit incubators and provide financial and physical resources, and management consulting via various programs (Hu, Kapucu, & O'Bryne, 2014). Furthermore, nonprofits develop capacity through the collaborative ties they build with their environment. There is a rich literature on the relationship between nonprofits and their environment. Nonprofit organizations' formal and informal ties with the public organizations and other nonprofits help them gain legitimacy, access additional resources, and build capacity over time (Gazley, 2008; Guo & Acar, 2005).Collaborative ties are not formed in a vacuum and understanding the factors influencing how nonprofits build collaborative ties can set the ground work for devising better managerial decisions. There are studies examining the collaboration between government agencies and nonprofits (Gazley & Brudney, 2007), preferential attachments patterns of nonprofits (Guo & Acar, 2005; Harrow, 2011), and collaborative dyadic tie building patterns of nonprofits in general, or relationship between bigger nonprofits and smaller ones (Guo & Acar, 2005). In this study, we concentrate on the collaborative relationships among small nonprofits and try to explain some of the predictors of their collaborative tie building. The literature on collaborative tie building highlights two major predictors: past collaborations and friendships (Isset & Provan, 2005). Following the footsteps of the earlier studies, we examine the role of past collaborations and friendship on new collaborations for small and younger nonprofits. Specifically, in this study, we try to answer the following research question: what relative roles do informal (friendship) ties and past collaboration ties play in the formation of new ties between small nonprofits and their environment? Given the study's focus on collaborative network ties, practitioners and researchers of nonprofit managers could use the findings in understanding how to foster organizational ties with the environment and enhance organizational capacity.We examined small nonprofit organizations in Florida that participated in Strengthening Communities Funds (SCF), a federally funded project aiming to increase the capacities of small nonprofits in economically depressed regions. The program was conducted by the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management (CPNM) at the University of Central Florida (UCF). The purpose of the program was to provide technical, managerial, and financial trainings, as well as financial support in the form of small grants ($30,000 total) to the participants. In other words, the center served as a nonprofit incubator. This research also contributes understanding of how small nonprofits build collaborative ties. Findings of the study can guide policy makers and nonprofit managers nurture their organizations, avoid their demise, and help them grow successfully.The paper is organized as follows: section one presents the theoretical rationale behind this research and the hypotheses being tested; section two provides an overview of the Strengthening Communities Funds and context of the study; and section three provides a detailed explanation of the methodology and the statistical procedures we followed in this research. …