Can Nonprofit Capacity Be Measured?. (June 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Despard, Mathieu R.
• Is Part Of: Nonprofit and voluntary sector quarterly. Volume 46:Number 3(2017)
• Page Start: 607
• Page End: 626
• Publication Date: 2017-06
• Subjects: nonprofit capacity -- human services -- capacity building -- confirmatory factor analysis -- measurement; Nonprofit organizations -- Periodicals; Voluntarism -- Periodicals; Charity organization -- Periodicals; 361.763
• DOI: 10.1177/0899764016661425
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0899-7640

Abstract

Organizational capacity is the set of structures and functions a nonprofit organization needs to effectively serve the community. Although capacity is defined in the nonprofit literature, no standardized measures exist, making it difficult to accurately assess organizational capacity. Data from a survey of nonprofit human service organizations ( N = 1, 221) that participated in a capacity-building demonstration project are used to assess the fit of two conceptual models of capacity using confirmatory factor analysis. Results indicated that a model that measured capacity with more than 40 performance-related indicators did not fit the data well. However, a model using fewer (19) indicators of organizations' self-assessed capacity-building progress fit the data well and was invariant by tenure. Implications for measuring nonprofit organizational capacity are discussed.