Beyond Cans and Capacity

• Date: 01 September 2017
• Author: Stephanie Moulton,Jamie Levine Daniel
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21267
• Published date: 01 September 2017

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N M  L, vol. 28, no. 1, Fall 2017 © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/nml.21267

Journal sponsored by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University.

Beyond Cans and Capacity

NONPROFIT ROLES AND SERVICE NETWORK OBJECTIVES

IN AN EMERGENCY FOOD NETWORK

Jamie Levine Daniel ,1 Stephanie Moulton 2

1 Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis ,

2 Ohio State University

Many essential public services are provided through networks of community-based non-

profit organizations. Previous research has demonstrated that simply providing additional

resources to these organizations is insufficient to better address demands for public services.

We also know little about how and why these organizations adopt network-level objec-

tives related to service provision. In this analysis, we expand the focus of service provision

beyond capacity to incorporate the unique roles that define the very existence of nonprofit

organizations, and how these roles affect organizational behavior with respect to service

network objectives. We use focus group, survey, and administrative data from one hundred

community-based nonprofit organizations in an emergency food service network to explore

the relationships among capacity, roles, and specific program objectives.

Keywords: nonprofit , capacity , service provision , roles , networks

Correspondence to: Jamie Levine Daniel, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, School of

Public and Environmental Aff airs, BS 4032–3 801 West Michigan Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202.

Email to: jlevined@iupui.edu.

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS that began in 2008 led to growing demand for essential social

services, such as emergency food and housing assistance, job training, and community devel-

opment. Many of these services are administered through networks of community-based

nonprofi t and voluntary organizations. Prior research has indicated that within any given

service provision network, nonprofi t organizations have varying capacities that may infl uence

their abilities to adapt or enhance their services in response to changes in demand.

Additionally, nonprofit organizations have their own values and serve diverse purposes that

may not align with their stated purposes of service provision. These purposes may influ-

ence their responsiveness to increased demand. Here, we conceptualize nonprofit purposes

through the framework of nonprofit roles. Aside from service provision, common nonprofit

roles include social capital creation, citizen engagement, political advocacy, innovation, and

value expression. This framework allows us to explore the extent to which a nonprofit orga-

nization’s identification with particular roles helps explain its willingness to adopt particular

service network objectives.

For this study, we collected data from organizations that are part of a large emergency food

network in central Ohio. Motivated by changing economic circumstances, the coordinating

agency (Foodbank) established service objectives to double annual food distribution, increase

Research Article

Nonprofi t Management & Leadership DOI: 10.1002/nml

48 LEVINE DANIEL, MOULTON

Background and Theoretical Expectations

Community ser vice provision networks consist of three or more organizations that consciously

agree to coordinate and collaborate with one another to deliver services, address problems

and opportunities, transmit information, innovate, or acquire needed resources ( Provan and

Kenis 2008 ). Unlike information-sharing networks or informal collaborations, service provi-

sion networks are goal directed and intentional (Kilduff and Tsai 2003 ), with the ultimate

task of ensuring the delivery of some essential social service. Service provision networks vary

substantially in structure, centrality, density, and coordinating mechanisms (Isett and Provan

2005 ; Provan and Milward 2001 ; Tolbert and Zucker 1983 ). Here, we focus on those service

provision networks whose members participate voluntarily, rather than networks whose mem-

bers are legally or otherwise mandated to participate (Kenis and Provan 2009 ).

What factors influence the extent to which nonprofit organizations embrace network objec-

tives? Building from prior studies, we expect organizational capacity to be an important

factor. Capacity can be broadly defined as the attributes and processes that enable an orga-

nization to achieve its mission, including the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and

meet demand for services (Christensen and Gazley 2008 ; Doherty, Misener, and Cuskelly

2014; Eisinger 2002 ). Dimensions of capacity can be physical, for example, infrastructure,

material, and financial resources (Christensen and Gazley 2008 ; Doherty et al. 2014 ). Other

capacity factors include managerial processes and planning (Nye and Glickman 2000 ; Sowa,

Selden, and Sandfort 2004), and collaborative capacity (Doherty et al. 2014 ; Glickman and

Servon 1998 ; Graddy and Chen 2006 ).

In an early study of community development corporations, Glickman and Servon ( 1998 )

concluded that intermediaries wishing to improve the performance of organizations

within their networks should move beyond providing grants and supplies (“bricks and

sticks”) to facilitating more holistic capacity building of community development cor-

porations. Funders and network coordinators launched a capacity-building movement

in the late 1990s and early 2000s in an attempt to increase the effectiveness of their

partner organizations (for example, De Vita and Fleming 2001 ; Light 2004 ). Despite

some evidence of these efforts, researchers have noted limitations of conceptualizing and

measuring capacity, particularly pertaining to mission achievement and accounting for the

the use of evidence-based practices, and enhance pantry networking. To achieve these objec-

tives, the Foodbank turned to its network of more than two hundred nonprofit and volun-

tary partner organizations. Employing a mixed-methods research design, we identified those

factors that are associated with the perceived ability (and willingness) of partner organizations

to respond to these service objectives. We leveraged focus group and survey data to explore

the extent to which nonprofit roles provide additional explanatory power—beyond tradi-

tional measures of capacity.

The findings from our analysis have implications for both practice and research. Practically,

coordinators of service networks often rely on the voluntary participation of diverse organiza-

tions. Our study highlights the importance of understanding the resource-based and percep-

tual factors that influence the likelihood of organizational compliance with service objectives.

Empirically, we extend research analyzing nonprofit capacity with an approach to assess non-

profit roles, providing a more complete picture of factors that influence nonprofit organiza-

tion responsiveness to changes in the external environment.