1. Conceptualizing small community groups as organizations:...or How Communities Create Nonprofits Carl Milofsky, Bucknell University May 29, 2008 London/IVAR

2. Focus on: Small Nonprofits and Associations Budgets usually under $200,000—few paid staff, overworked Often new organizations—in the “collectivist phase” Organizational evolution—towards more rational structure?—Miriam Wood. Limited usefulness of strategic management ideas

3. Defining Nonprofit or Voluntary Sector Organizations From Anheier and Salamon Formality (ownership, boundaries) Independence (vs. embeddedness) Self-governance (hierarchy? vs. external direction) Voluntarism Private benefit vs. Public benefit (add technology)

4. Tacit assumptions of the bureaucratic model Evolution from participatory to bureaucratic Evolution implies isomorphism In the functionalist model, elements of bureaucracy are adopted as a matter of operational necessity Assuming that organizations are the same makes organizational analysis possible Ignores empirical diversity of organizations If evolution is correct, does that mean organizations began having diverse forms?

5. Organizational features Communal organizations are highly organized systems that operate at the community level where corporate organizations do not exist or are weak Unitary organizations are bounded and autonomous but lack elements of formal organization

6. Communal organizations Primordial ooze Social problem definition Symbolic community building Network organizations Intermediate organizations

7. Unitary Organizations Passionately committed, citizen projects Enduring, anti-authority organizations Political and cultural movements Communities in themselves

8. Building Social Treasuries Where is the value in community- based/civil society organizations? Can we manage them more effectively without becoming slaves to management theory? What fosters the development of the organizations in communities?

9. Value added from Civil Society Organizations Belfast Peace Walls problem and economic development—the need for ongoing and effective cross-community groups Intrinsic value of engaged community involvement as a life style Symbolic community development Community efficacy Social innovation

10. Communities Grow Civil Society Organizations Dense social capital—networks and trust Citizen history and experience with civil action Stock of community moral entrepreneurs Receptive government and institutional structures Leveraging and conservation of community resources to build the social treasury.

11. Improving management Move people along the hierarchy of experience and skills. Access basic management skills Use effective strategic visioning Recognize and use non-cash community resources Have a long-term horizon, not the short-term bottom line of business organizations Value intermediate organizations

12. Conclusions Need to adopt a “market analogy” model of organizations Seek to grow the whole system Allow particular organizations to die rather than to become resource dependent Value, feed, and support community moral entrepreneurs Emphasize long-term partnership/consultations Develop coordinative, whole community stewardship, planning, and accountability