Non Profit Organizations in the United States

Introduction

Starting from the mid-eighteenth century, Voluntary organizations have significantly contributed to the wellbeing of the society in the United States of America. From those early days up to mid nineteenth century, less importance was placed to the organizations despite their immense contribution in the society. However, analyzing the data on the progress of non-profit making organizations, it can be noted that in the year 1940, USA had only 12,500 secular charitable tax-exempt organizations and by the year 1992 the number had surged to over 700,000 organizations and the number continues to soar even further currently (Dobkin Para. 1). Therefore, a noble question that is normally asked is why the need for non-profit organization.

First, all established organizations get involved in collecting resources and systematically arranging them to accomplish a stated or set goal. Basically, the organization may be doing so depending on the kind of motivation presented to it by getting involved in a given activity. While some organizations may be interested in making and distributing profits, others are basically interested in improving or raising the living standards of the community and therefore, their activities largely get divorced from profit motives and instead rest on the general welfare of the people in the community.

A non-profit organization may be defined variously. For instance, Dobkin states that non-profit organization implies “a type of business that serves a particular purpose of public or mutual benefit other than the pursuit or accumulation of profits” (Dobkin Para. 1). In this case, many non-profits organizations do not gain profits but this does not mean they are totally restricted from doing so, as they are only allowed to gain such revenue if the outlined profit making activities are largely related to “recognized nonprofit purpose” (Dobkin Para. 1). In USA, it is the responsibility of the Congress and state legislatures to evaluate and propose which particular non-profit making organizations qualify to be exempted from paying taxes. In the same measure, the society has constantly been reminded to give its full support to such organizations and at the same time, ensure the organizations prosper.

The society has had different perceptions and views about the non-profit organizations. For instance, many individuals have regarded these organizations to be essentially religious and charitable or just organizations concerned with public benefit (Dobkin Para. 1). What can be said is that, these organizations are largely involved in providing essential social services that are vital to the communities and at the same time, get involved in addressing the key needs of a community. In addition, the organizations have largely centered their actions in providing services to needy people, and the services normally range from the humanitarian, religious, healthcare, social services, education, and environment sectors and it is issues like, poverty, unemployment, education, and health, all of which affect mostly people from lower classes in the society (Dobkin Para. 1). Therefore, non-profit organizations have thrived specifically from the donations and funding from government and other donor agencies. To ensure efficiency and transparency in their activities, the non-profit organizations are usually and regularly audited by internal or external independent bodies. This is in addition to being forced to seek approval from relevant regulatory bodies in relation to the activities they decide to engage in.

In all cases, the operations of non-profit organizations have not escaped challenges. Many of these organizations face numerous challenges that originate from multiple sources, some of which have even overwhelmed the organizations to an extent of halting or suspending their activities. The challenges include hiring qualified personnel, pursuing unrealistic expectations, lack of enough facilities, lack of funds and sometimes stiff competition from other organizations involved in the same programs. One evident effect of these challenges is the derailment of attainment of set goals in most organization and therefore the failure/collapse of these organizations. Indeed, Angelica notes that many non-profit organizations are experiencing ‘storm’ due to the current non-favorable economic environment (Angelica, par 1). In her observation, a lot of government budget for these organizations has reduced and at the same time, foundations, corporate and individual contribution to the organizations has totally gone down as a result of their ‘financial meltdown pockets’. And as such, the author gives advices to non-profit organizations that aspire to get attention of key funders and other investors.

To overcome the challenges, these organizations need to demonstrate that they are making a difference in the world and this has to be accompanied by relevant evidences that show the outcome of their activities in society (Angelica, Para. 9). Secondly, the specific organization needs to prove to the funders that it is relevant today and that its activities are purely a reflection of the current issues facing the society. Lastly, the organization has to demonstrate that it is flexible enough and that it has the capacity to change in response to the environment (Angelica Para. 9).

Purpose

One of the greatest challenges that non-profit organization experience relates to carrying out business; indeed, this challenge will be deeply analyzed in the subseq2uent parts of the paper. Since the organizations are affected by both internal and external factors, some questions need to be evaluated, such as: do external environment(s) affect the operation of non-profit organizations, to what extent do factors available in the environment contribute to the success or failure of these organizations, how has the introduction of technology in these organizations affected the operation of the organizations and lastly, how well are the organizations prepared to deal with the challenges present. Such questions can only be dealt with by analyzing and evaluating the sector of non-profit making organizations in depth. Therefore, the purpose of this study will be to look at the business environment of non-profit organizations in United States of America.

History of non-profit organizations

What is a non-profit organization?

Carter McNamara gives a unique overview of the concept of nonprofit and suggests that the phrase, ‘nonprofit’ can give different meanings to different people (McNamara par 4). He continues to observe that nonprofit organization can be formed by people with common agenda who come together and in the process they end up forming a legal group. Such organizations formed from networks of friendships are known as informal nonprofit organizations (McNamara par 4). And in order to ensure the survival of such organizations, the author outlines some basics to be fulfilled: incorporating the organization so as to operate as a separate legal organization that has its own properties and independent bank account; measuring the organization continuity even after the members are gone; making the operations of the organization independent from the individuals, and requiring members to acquire and fill the articles of incorporation with the relevant local and legalized state offices (McNamara par 4). Therefore, the author sees nonprofit organizations to be made up of people who must acquire the legal existence of the organization while at the same time operating independently, with their activities being spearheaded by a board of directors.

Putnam Barber (Cited in McNamara Para. 10) describes nonprofits organizations as “a type of business – one which is organized under rules that forbid the distribution of profits to owners.” Further, the author observes that most of the non-profits are established basing on the corporations laws of a particular state and in this case, every state is presumed to have provisions that guide the formation of non-profit organizations. In regards to regulations of corporations, the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) enforces the rules that require corporations to pay federal corporate income taxes generally on their net earning. However, Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code specifies several instances in which corporations that are registered as nonprofit may be relieved from these taxes. For example, Section 501(c) (3) provides the definition of nonprofit organization as one: “1) serving charitable, religious, scientific or educational purposes; 2) no part of the income of which ‘inures to the benefit of’ anyone” (McNamara Para. 11).

Generally, the exemption extended to no-profit corporations does not mean they operate differently from other corporations, for instances, non-profits corporations do have bank accounts, they largely own productive assets of all types, they sometimes receive income by making numerous sales and also device other methods of generating income such as donations and grants. At the same time, these non-profit corporations participate in passive investments, recruit qualified personnel and participate in initiating contracts of all kinds (McNamara Para. 11).

According to, ‘Entrepreneur’ (Para. 1), non-profit organization may be viewed as “a business organization that serves some public purpose and therefore enjoys special treatment under the law and contrary to their definition the organizations can make profits but cannot be primarily established for profit-making purposes.” This view further clarifies the difference between the profit business and nonprofit organization where it states that, in profit businesses, the owners are entitled to get profits whereas for the nonprofit organizations, sum of money that remains after all costs have been paid is ploughed back into the organization (Entrepreneur Para. 1). However, the state laws require non-profit organizations with revenues exceeding $ 25,000 per year to file periodic performance reports through the IRS Form 990.

The legal information Institute has also provided definition to what nonprofit organization is by stating that “it is a group organized for purposes other than generating profit and in which no part of the organization’s income is distributed to its members, directors, or officers” (Legal Information Institute Para. 1). At the same time, the institute observes that in some cases, nonprofit corporations are referred as ‘non-stock corporations’ and they normally take the form of corporation, individual enterprise, unincorporated association, partnership, foundation or condominium (Legal Information Institute Para. 1). Moreover, once the nonprofit organizations are established, they need only to foster obligations that they have been licensed to by statutes that govern non-profit organization. In this perspective, non-profit organizations may include “churches, public schools, public charities, public clinics and hospitals, political organizations, legal aid societies, volunteer services organizations, labor unions, professional associations, research institutes, museums and some government agencies” (Legal Information Institute Para. 1).

Non-profit organizations over time

The formation of distinct non-profit organizations has gained momentum in the recent times especially when placed in the perspective of the political economy of the modern Western states. But what needs to be remembered is the fact that the actors and institutions that have been at the forefront in driving the process forward have received less attention, and in a long time the process has been characterized by neglected history (Powell and Steinberg 13). These key agents of change have for a long time contributed to the formation of vital parts of the nonprofit sector as it is now seen in the United States of America.

Looking at the history keenly, it becomes evident without any doubt that the contemporary nonprofit organizations draw their originality and assured support from the public-spirited generosity of the philanthropists who are convinced that it is both spiritual and moral requirement to contribute to the commonwealth of humankind (Powell and Steinberg 13). Moreover, it can be observed that most people in the developed countries, accounting to almost 70 per cent, regularly make charitable donations while 25 per cent of the population participates in volunteering and helping other people in the community (Powell and Steinberg p. 13). For a long time, this manifestation of benevolence in the society has been attributed to different reasons. For instance, philanthropic agencies extend their benevolence in order to ensure the sustenance of integrity of the communities they work with and they do this through enhancing the good quality of life and also, through providing for those regarded as “misfortunate, marginalized and disenfranchised” (Powell and Steinberg 13).

In USA’s nonprofit organizations, it can be traced how the sector got its name. Basically, it was largely the work of economists, lawyers and policy scientists who coined the term after the Second World War. Before 1750, USA as a nation was a stage for the rivalry of several European powers such as Spain, France, Sweden and British. These early settlers participated in constructing schools and churches that had the role of maintaining the public welfare. From these activities, the settlers contributed part of their time and treasure to boost these communal efforts. As a result, religion and material circumstances affected the ways in which colonists drew on Old World institutions and practices.

In colonies such as Rhodes Island and Pennsylvania, religion formed the basic foundation in the lives of many people and as such, religion toleration was the rule. Due to this, many self-supporting and self-governing congregations enjoyed an autonomy that anticipated the status of voluntary associations of the nineteenth century. Indeed, looking at the nature of the philanthropy, it can be seen that it draws its roots in “religion beliefs, in the history of communal assistance, in democratic principles of civil participation, in pluralistic approaches to problem solving, and in American traditions of individual autonomy and limited government” (Council on Foundations Para. 1).

Non-profit organizations may be viewed to have also emerged from the early settlers in North America who were experiencing various hardships especially having been neglected by the government, thus being forced to form groups among themselves in order to some community objectives such as setting up their own schools and churches. From constantly doing and participating in such activities, there originated the tradition of citizens putting their initiatives together, supplemented by individual efforts in order to promote the public welfare (Council on Foundations Para. 2). As time went by, immigrants became significantly involved in community work, more so through forming associations, whose mandates were to alleviate poverty and collectively provide assistance to the immigrants to adapt to the new environment. From these, the Native Americans together with the African Americans become deeply involved in practices of giving to the communities. Indeed, it’s religion that was at forefront, providing guidance and advice to its members on the importance of giving to the poor in addition to charity works in their churches. Many church members therefore came to see the act of “giving to needy people in their communities, to the poor in other lands, to the victims of natural disasters and to their churches as a strongly felt obligation for many people” (Council on Foundations par 3).

Early Foundations and their Philanthropists

Some notable personalities have been associated with early philanthropists’ acts in the United States of America. For example, Benjamin Franklin, who was the originator and statesman of the era of colonialism, is credited as being the earliest philanthropist in USA, where he provided opportunities for the people to help themselves in the community while at the same time contributing a lot for the improvement of the community (Council on Foundations Para. 4). Some of the notable achievements he provided for the community include: “local civic organizations such as the volunteer fire company and institutions such as the Pennsylvania hospital, the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia public library” (Council on Foundations Para. 4). Indeed, as from early 20th century, many people began to utilize their philanthropy to find ways to solve problems carry out research and promote science.

Another notable philanthropist of early times is Andrew Carnegie, who was a wealthy entrepreneur and saw wealth to be a product of natural selection emanating from the forces of competition. One of his notable contributions is the role he played in starting public libraries and other related agencies which he described as, “ladders upon which the aspiring can rise” (Council on Foundations Para. 5).

The 20th century also saw business leaders such as John Rockefeller and Olivia Sage become philanthropists in many ways. In the same measure, Fredrick Goff was the founder of the first community foundation in Cleveland, Ohio; the new foundation was meant to be tool of initiating reforms, alleviating poverty and protecting the community from potential ailments (Council on Foundations Para. 5). Currently, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, it is estimated that there are 1, 514, 821 tax-exempt nonprofit organizations that have received IRS certification. In addition, the organizations are required to pay four per cent excise tax in each year on their annual investment income (Martin par 5). Moreover, the largest nonprofit organization in USA estimated to have an endowment of almost $34 billion is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which is involved in providing grants that are used to foster health care and education in many countries around the world (Martin Para. 5).

Business challenges facing non-profit organizations

Since the emergence of free market, new opportunities have been created, which have witnessed revolution in technology. Today, free market is viewed as the primary engine that is responsible for the progress and growth of many societies across the world. To further solidify the concept of free market, entrepreneurship, competition, new wealth creation, efficiency and the consumer sovereignty have become to be the dominant values of free market revival. At the same time, the values have become influential and dominate the private commerce, stimulate globalization of the economy and impact the public policy in many countries around the world (Salamon and Aspen Institute 423).

The non-profit organizations just like other business organizations have not been immune from the impacts of the widespread marketization of social and economic life. As a consequence, this has presented profound challenges to the non-profit organizations. However, some have reacted to the challenges by creatively integrating them into their operations and as such, non-profit organization as a sector can be seen to significantly undergoing commercialization or what is known as marketization (Salamon and Aspen Institute p.423).

Competition

Commercialization that has taken place in non-profit organizations has resulted into attraction of for-profit competition into the fields that were perceived to be dominated by non-profit organizations. Generally, there have been concerns especially from small business that non-profit organizations have promoted unfair competition in the traditional for-profits fields (Salamon and Aspen Institute p.426). Interestingly, this concern has shifted giving way to the big concern of the increased competition from the for-profit organizations in the traditional non-profits fields and in many of these fields, for-profit organizations pride in having certain structural advantages. For instance, the for-profits have been concentrating and concerning themselves on the most profitable segments of the specific service markets divorcing themselves from the population that cannot afford to pay for the services or the population that is most severe at risk. On the other hand, non-profits in most cases have to adhere to the mission of the organization which is not profit motivated but that obliges the organization to extend the services to the needy persons (Salamon and Aspen Institute p.426). This particular approach disadvantages the non-profits especially when considerations in fields such as the healthcare is put into focus and the cost of providing for the increased risks has to be made.

In other instances, for-profits organizations possess the advantage of having the access to sources of capital and which in most cases is unavailable to the non-profits organizations. For-profits are able to generate equity capital through the sale of stock and since it is less costly, it attracts more ownership in the organizations. However on sad note, the non-profits do not have owners who can share in profits earned and hence equity capital is not accessible to them. Basically, the importance of large capital to any organization is great since it is doubtless that the more access to capital in a field the greater is the comparative advantage of for-profit organizations than non-profits. Due to these variations in access to equity capital, for-profits organizations have been experiencing great expansions at a faster rate than non-profits organizations specifically in the fields that were traditionally monopolized by non-profits (Salamon and Aspen Institute p.426). Indeed, statistics from various sources prove this assertion, for example, between 1982 and 1997, the non-profits control of jobs in childcare sector decreased from 52 to 38 per cent while at the same time, that of home healthcare jobs recorded a 32 per cent decline from 60 per cent to 28 per cent (Salamon and Aspen Institute p.426). Furthermore, the share of non-profit in health care facilities went down drastically between mid-1980s all the way to late 1990s in a number of notable fields where decline was experienced from 58 per cent to 32 per cent among the kidney dialysis centers, from 70 per cent to 35 per cent among the rehabilitation hospitals, from 65 per cent to 26 per cent among the health maintenance organizations and from 89 per cent to 76 per cent among hospices (Salamon and Aspen Institute p.427).

No only are non-profits organizations experiencing competition from the for-profits organizations, but they are also facing stiff competition from other non-profits. Primarily, the competition is being witnessed in fields such as higher education and the arts where they compete for clients and patrons among themselves.

Marketing and customer Demand

Non-profit marketing has been regarded as the use of marketing tactics used to further the goals and objectives of non-profit organizations. Marketing tactics in these organizations have been used to build the organization’s image and reputation in the society which in turn enables the public to remember the organization and its cause. Further, the tactics are used to attract, win and retain donors and other useful volunteers in the organization. Analyzing information and data collected from a non-profit marketing survey that involved almost nine hundred leaders of non-profit organizations, Schwartz (Para. 1) found out that most “leaders were doing a poor job in connecting with their audience and community” at large. Schwartz observed that,

“Nonprofit marketers say their key messages are failing to connect with the people who need to hear them and that is a serious problem. The way nonprofits talk about themselves to the public is a core competency critical to any organization’s success. The bad news is that most nonprofits admittedly are doing a very poor job, despite a great deal of effort. The good news is that fixing the problem is highly do-able and promises vastly greater success than they are experiencing now” (Schwartz Para. 1).

From her findings and conclusions, it became evident that most of the messages that non-profit organizations communicate do not connect in a strong way with the key audiences. From this, most organizations were of the view that their messages lacked inspiration (73 per cent), the messages were poorly targeted to audience’s wants and needs (70 per cent), the messages were difficult to remember (86 per cent) and only 13 per cent viewed their messages to be potent (Schwartz Para. 2). Possible reasons given by the leaders as to why their messages were failing included: the messages needed to be more concise to communicate how successful the organizations are; the organizations did not vigorously move their base to action; individual elements of the messages were fine but the problem was the lack of unified path; the messages conveyed to the audiences were not hard-hitting or targeted enough and therefore they fell flat; there was the need for messages to be shaped in a more simpler way in order to give the staff the opportunity to remember and hence feel comfortable in repeating to others; and lastly, the messages directed at audiences were full of complex jargons and therefore hard to understand (Schwartz Para. 3). Lastly, marketing in the organizations was affected by designing of inconsistent messages that, upon reaching customers and other audiences, became confusing and created annoyance.

Financial

No-profits organizations continue to experience rising clients’ demands thus their number keeps on rising. But today, these nonprofits organizations are faced with financial problems as the federal government and other key stakeholders have decreased their contributions to these organizations. Generally, most non-profits organizations are experiencing limited resources; but at the same time, pressured by unlimited demands for their services and balancing the available resources with the results have become a difficult task since there is always much to do but funds are limited. In addition, following the financial doldrums that the country experienced in the recent times, most non-profits organizations had their financial grants from key donors: government and foundations being scaled down.

According to survey done by Nonprofit Finance Fund, it was found out that the financial and economic health of most nonprofit organizations was deteriorating at a faster rate (Kathyei Para. 1). The survey further found out that in 2009, only 12 per cent of the surveyed organizations were in a position to operate above the break-even point compared to 40 per cent of the previous year. Also, only 16 per cent were just ‘anticipating’ being in a position to cover their costs of operation in the years of 2009 and 2010 (Kathyei Para. 2). From these figures, it becomes clear that many non-profit organizations are experiencing economic crisis since major funding bodies such as foundations have been experiencing losses from the stock market failures and as such they have been cutting back on their often and assured charitable contributions.

Human resources

Many of the modern nonprofit organizations are facing the challenges as far as human resource is concerned. For instance, it has been noted that these organizations are facing a small and shrinking pool of board members, staff members, volunteers and donors and this is contributed partly by the lowering of the economies of scale. From this, it has become evident in most organizations that the ability to recruit and deploy paid staff and volunteers within the organization has gone down and this in turn has led to compromising in key areas of competence, knowledge, attitudes, motivations and behaviors of the staff and volunteers who are recruited. At the same time, many organizations are faced with the problem of recruiting and retaining volunteers who are willing and committed to make long-term stay in the organization. However, the biggest problem has originated as a result of less or no paid staff being recruited as funding environment has made it difficult for the nonprofit organizations to hire enough and dedicated staff, to hire staff with skills and at the same time to pay staff well enough that they find it rewarding to remain in the organization for a longer time.

Technology

Nonprofits organization may acquire technology with the vision of using it to achieve the set objectives. But in reality, the organizations have been facing problems in achieving technological goals in their operations. These problems are contributed by the fact that technological planning in many organizations is an explicit part of the organizational practice and as such, many nonprofits organizations end up ‘getting stuck’ in regards to the use of current and relevant technology. Despite the potential benefits of the technology, many organizations have failed to put up a comprehensive strategy that can be used to incorporate useful technologies such as email and websites in their organization (Merkel et al. p.2). For instance, in UK, studies have found that most nonprofits do not use their websites for more strategic purposes such as expanding the organization instead they utilized the technology to address the administrative and operational issues (Merkel et al. p.2). But the important observation which has been associated with this behavior in technology planning is that most nonprofits organizations lack enough and real resources to institute these technologies.

Legal, regulation and political

Devolution has been the major regulation that has affected most nonprofits organizations in USA. The term refers to a trend whereby the federal government, through legislation, embarks on a series of cutbacks to the nonprofit organizations. The allocated funds (blocks) are channeled to the states and it becomes the responsibility of the state to decide which organization qualifies and which one does not (McNamara par 11). Therefore, what was initially known as entitlements guaranteed from the federal government has been ‘killed’ by this idea of devolution. At the same time, the federal and states governments are increasingly engaged in establishing fund-raising laws and enforcing them strictly to the nonprofit organizations.

Ethical

The recent times have witnessed many nonprofit organizations being faced with ethical problems negatively impacting them. Basically, ethical lapses in many nonprofit organizations have occurred in the areas of honesty, respect, openness and transparency, conflict of interest, fundraising issues and privacy (GuideStar par 13). These organizations have found themselves either contravening these ethical principles, with some of the factors highlighted to be fuelling the lapse of ethics in organization being the increased competition and reduced funding.

How the Industry has responded to challenges

The sector has responded to the challenges it faces in different ways, through what can be described as reinvention and re-engineering. First, the sector has experienced overall sector growth. Despite the economic crisis, many organizations have been able to expand their operation business in key areas of arts, culture, social services and health organizations which as a result of their demand are resulting into robust revenues for the organizations.

Secondly, many nonprofit organizations have initiated successful marketing to paying customers. From this strategy, the organizations have boosted their fee income by aggressively venturing in business-type opportunities such as “museum gift shops and on-line stores, church rentals of social halls, and licensing agreements between research universities and commercial firms” (Salamon and Aspen Institute p.429). At the same, the organizations have embraced ‘social ventures’ which are business designed not only to generate profits but also to build key skills, develop self-confidence and teach work habits to the unemployed people.

Thirdly, the organizations have also intensified their strategies of effectively pursuing their public funds and have adapted well to the new government funding requirements. To supplement the government support, the nonprofits organizations have increased charitable fundraising. The organizations have re-invented the charitable funding and the process has been professionalized and “new techniques such as telephone solicitation and direct mail developed to reach a broader cross-section of the population” (Salamon and Aspen Institute p.429).

Fourthly, the nonprofits have adopted and intensified their marketing culture whereby the organizations are involved in intensive marketing of their products through various marketing techniques such as segmentation, differentiation, and embracing the need to address business language, all of which are essential to enhance market share.

Lastly, the organizations have intensified the need to form partnership through strategic alliances, enabling them to generate ‘reputation capital’ (Salamon and Aspen Institute p.429). This capital is being used to further the activities of the organization, creating and increasing the competitive advantage of the organization or being used to advantageously restructure the organization for greater efficiency.

Recommendations

To further compete well in the new century and with the increasing challenges of doing business, the following recommendations are made to the nonprofit sector for consideration and possible adoption: 1) Organizations need to adopt effective risk and survival analysis techniques. As the operation environments continue to change, the nonprofits organizations need proper mechanisms to balance between organizational extension and risk-taking and the organizational security. By carrying out risk and survival analysis, the organizations will be creating opportunities to understanding what needs to done, how it should be done and how efficient the program can be done. Indeed, lack of analysis in most organizations has led to make opportunities or service delivery being compromised; 2)

Nonprofits organizations also need to concisely identify and involve the targeted constituency in their activities. What is evident with many organizations is that, they do not have a clearly defined knowledge of the constituency they should serve and this has led to a lot of ambiguity in service design and delivery. Therefore, it is necessary for the organizations to establish and ‘mark’ the constituency they need to serve, create effective structures that serves the established constituency well, be willing to involve the constituency at all levels in the organization and lastly, be committed to provision of programs and activities that reflect a true commitment to the constituency;

Finally, the nonprofits organizations need to establish objectives and missions that appeal to donor funders. In this respect, the organizations need to integrate efficient information technology (IT) in their activities, which will help in areas like online funding and online marketing as well as promotion activities that have become important in the present competitive environment.

Conclusion

Nonprofits organizations in USA continue to greatly impact communities and in many cases, they have traversed to places where other organizations fear to operate. At the same time, the role of the organizations working with the disadvantaged members of the community has greatly elevated these organizations and today, it is impossible for the larger society to function without these organizations. One point to be sure of is that these organizations are here to stay as community’s needs continue to press. What is required is for the organizations to adopt effective strategic planning processes that will increase opportunities sustainable future. Also, other key stakeholders need to come together in order to formulate policies that will see the sector continue to operate with less obstacles. Basically, building strengths for these organizations will ensure future opportunities presented to these organizations does not slip away. Lastly, it will be wise to nonprofit organizations to set long-term goals within the budget limits they operate within as this will enable them to achieve the most effective and efficient goals to the community.

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