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Abstract
A report by Abila.
“Growth is the only evidence of life,” said priest, poet, and theologian John Henry Newman. We’ve all witnessed, experienced, and measured growth throughout our lives – whether by marks on a door frame; accumulation of dollars in a bank account; or the grass, trees, and flowers in our yard. But how do we define growth when it comes to nonprofit organizations? Do we define it by an increase in donation dollars? By more services and programs being offered? More staff being hired? Well, in a word, yes.
Growth can mean different things to different organizations, and managing growth in a responsible way is essential – regardless of the shape, size, or flavor of that growth. Too little growth can cause an organization to stagnate; too much can overwhelm an organization and cause detrimental effects, such as delays in delivering on the mission.
In this study, we set out to answer a series of questions related to growth in the nonprofit sector, including:
• How do nonprofits define growth?
• How and what types of growth are nonprofits planning for in the next few years?
• How much does growth contribute to compliance and complexity challenges?
• How does Millennials’ view of growth differ from other generations?
What we discovered is that growth is important to most nonprofit organizations, and the search for additional revenue dollars (whether from donations, grants, services, or other sources) is constant. We also discovered growth changes the culture of an organization – sometimes this is a good thing, and sometimes, not so much.
