Explaining Variations in the Nonprofit Founding Process

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21248
• Date: 01 December 2016
• Published date: 01 December 2016
• Author: Christopher P. Scheitle,Erica J. Dollhopf

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N M  L, vol. 27, no. 2, Winter 2016 © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/nml.21248

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

Correspondence to: Christopher Scheitle, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, West Virginia University, 307

Knapp Hall, Morgantown, WV 26506. E-mail: cpscheitle@mail.wvu.edu.

Explaining Variations in the Nonprofi t

Founding Process

FOUNDER AND ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS

Erica J. Dollhopf, 1 Christopher P. Scheitle 2

1  e Pennsylvania State University , 2 West Virginia University

Although the organizational founding process is subject to various isomorphic pressures,

significant variation is still found in the completion, ordering, and timing of founding

events. Prior research on entrepreneurship suggests the importance of education and previ-

ous experience in determining who is best positioned to recognize entrepreneurial opportu-

nities, which may explain some of the variation in the founding process. In this article the

authors present an analysis of an original survey of recently founded religious nonprofits to

better understand how founder, organizational, and contextual characteristics influence

the founding process in this specific nonprofit context. Overall, the authors’ findings show

that founder education and experience particularly affect the founding process as well as

organizational characteristics; however, these effects vary across different dimensions of this

process.

Keywords: entrepreneurship , nonprofit; leadership , nonprofit , organization , religion

A NUMBER OF isomorphic forces can restrict the organizational founding process. Founders

may attempt to mimic the steps other founders took in creating their organizations. Regula-

tions may also restrict the founding process.  ere is still room, however, for variation in how

individuals create organizations. In this article we examine variations in the founding process

for a sample of recently founded, noncongregational religious nonprofi ts.  is population

has experienced explosive growth since the mid-1990s and is increasingly infl uential as a pro-

vider of religious goods and services (Scheitle 2010 ).

Dimensions of Variation

We focus on three dimensions of variation in the founding process: (1) the length of time the

founding process takes, (2) the number of potential founding steps completed during the pro-

cess, and (3) the order of those founding steps. For purposes of this article, an organization ’ s

founding is defined as the IRS ruling date granting an organization ’ s 501(c)(3) status.

 e authors would like to acknowledge the guidance and assistance received from John McCarthy.  is research was supported by a grant

from the National Science Foundation (Award # 0960617).