Beyond Donations: Isomorphism and Revenue Mix in Nonprofit Startups
Elizabeth Searing has written some fascinating stuff on “field isomorphism,” or why fields tend to use the funding streams their peers use as central sources. This article was published in the Administrative Sciences journal in March 2023.
We posit that nonprofit entrepreneurs choose to mimic larger organizations in their field for growth rather than rely on the revenue mix of their start-up stage. This study uses two different dynamic econometric models to estimate the role of revenue type and other organizational factors in the growth of young and small nonprofits. We find that mimicking the revenue habits of larger organizations is generally (but not universally) advisable, with most conclusions sensitive to subsector.
