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Factors Holding Back Small Third Sector Organizations’ Engagement with the Local Public Sector
Author(s) -
Thompson Piers,
Williams Robert,
Kwong Caleb
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
nonprofit management and leadership
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.844
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1542-7854
pISSN - 1048-6682
DOI - 10.1002/nml.21260
Subject(s) - variety (cybernetics) , public sector , business , standardization , process (computing) , public relations , isomorphism (crystallography) , service (business) , service provider , marketing , accounting , public administration , public economics , economics , political science , law , chemistry , economy , artificial intelligence , computer science , crystal structure , crystallography , operating system
In many developed countries there has been a shift from grants to contracts as a source of local public sector funding of the third sector. Smaller third sector organizations may struggle to compete for this funding due to the complex process of accessing and maintaining this funding and conveying their capabilities to funding providers. This study utilizes data from the United Kingdom to determine what factors increase these administrative and communication barriers for smaller organizations. Resources in income and volunteers affect perceptions of the process of obtaining funding. A solution may be standardization of evaluation and monitoring, but this may lead to isomorphism and loss of variety of provision. Better two‐way communication may allow local authorities to retain variety in public service provision through improved knowledge of their partners.