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Tony Huzzard. Photo.

Tony Huzzard

Professor emeritus

Tony Huzzard. Photo.

Responding to funding scarcity : governance challenges in Swedish and South African development partnerships

Author

  • Jayne Jönsson
  • Tony Huzzard

Summary, in English

Purpose: In the context of the general funding scarcity in the nonprofit sector, this paper aims to inquire into the governance challenges facing nonprofit aid organizations in a donor–recipient partner relationship. In particular, the authors focus on the challenges of commercial diversification as the espoused alternative to aid-funding. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative design was deployed to collect and analyze data collected from interviews conducted in three case organizations in an aid development partnership. Findings: The various responses at the organizational level are presented as well as analyses of the inter-organizational aspects. All organizations have responded strategically to reductions in funding from state/government and other aid sources by attempting to diversify commercially yet at the same time maintain dependency on aid-funding. This entailed tensions between the logics of the market and mission. These tensions are manifest not only within the organizations but also in the relations between them. Originality/value: Analyses of the twin-track strategies have highlighted that maintaining aid dependency and resource diversification have different and conflicting relational prerequisites and require diverse and conflicting internal capabilities. The paper develops a conceptual framework for capturing the governance challenges of this strategic dilemma and concludes that the choices of pursuing continued aid-funding and seeking new commercial opportunities are invariably mutually exclusive.

Department/s

  • Department of Service Studies
  • Organizational Studies

Publishing year

2020-12-07

Language

English

Pages

91-110

Publication/Series

Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change

Volume

17

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Topic

  • Business Administration

Keywords

  • Aid-dependency
  • Alignment
  • Donor–partner relations
  • Governance
  • Legitimacy
  • Marketization
  • Nonprofit organizations

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1832-5912