Dr Anne Peachey

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how performance management systems in nonprofit organizations are influenced by their funding sources. It explains how resources motivate organizations to diversify their strategies with attended performance management systems. Design/methodology/approach It adopts a qualitative case study approach involving semi-structured interviews with key informants in a nonprofit organization to understand the evolving nature of performance management systems associated with different funding sources. Findings The findings suggest that the case study organization changed its revenue base along with its performance management systems to satisfy the reporting and accountability requirements of different funding sources. Despite external funding sources detailing different restrictions and requirements, the overall performance management system was able to manage these different expectations. Research limitations/implications This study is based on a single case study, and its findings need to be interpreted with care, as there are differences between nonprofit organizations because they differ in their environments, services and funding. Originality/value This paper contributes to extant knowledge on how organizational performance management is influenced by funding sources, providing insights at the operational and governance levels.

Improvements in governance and management are vital to the continued success of third sector organisations. This study investigated the governance and executive management in two case study organisations in the disability sector in Australia. The findings highlight the importance of the relationship between the board and the chief executive officer (CEO). The board's role is to make strategic choices about the governance structure for the organisation, including the manner of agency placed on the CEO. The benefits and risks of hourglass-shaped or accessible board-staff communication are examined in this context.

As part of a social change agenda, nonprofit organisations engage in activities that contribute to debate and influence the development of public policy. This article presents the initial findings from a study investigating whether nonprofit organisations do participate in advocacy activities and if they do, how are they advocating and engaging in public debate without risking their current and future sources of funding. The key findings from the research have identified that the extent of advocacy by the nonprofit organisations studied has not diminished. A model, built on the findings from the literature on how nonprofit organisations approach advocacy, is applied to explain the advocacy activities by the case study organisations. These nonprofit organisations are identifying what they see to be the appropriate advocacy strategies to fit their organisational objectives, policies, funding sources and resources.

Not-for-profit organisations are set up to do something positive in the community. Studies (Onyx et al. 2010; Mosley 2011) have identified various methods used by not-for-profit organisations to influence policy-makers. Not-for-profit organisations with limited resources, a volunteer workforce and a desire to participate in policy debate have used volunteers to advocate and activate. This paper examines the issue of volunteering and social activism, and how volunteers in not-for-profit organisations are involved in policy debate. The findings from four case studies of not-for-profit organisations are examined to demonstrate how not-for-profit organisations are using their volunteer workforce to advocate and influence the policy process.

This paper reports on the development of first year “core” units in the new Bachelor of Business (BBus) at Murdoch University. These units evolved from a curriculum renewal program and presented opportunities and challenges in their development. The units needed to develop not only the essential numeracy, literacy and research skills for students to transition successfully to university studies, but also the core technical skills in discipline areas common to all BBus majors. Developing these units in a collaborative manner with ongoing interaction between academic and professional staff helped to scaffold skills development on an inter-unit basis.

Homeless Connect, held annually in several Australian cities and fashioned along the lines of similar days in cities such as San Francisco, has now been conducted in Perth for a number of years. As the name suggests, Homeless Connect is designed to reconnect homeless guests, as well as those at risk of homelessness, with government, non-profit and business services, personal care services and social opportunities. The research question being addressed in this paper is: How can the strategies of Homeless Connect impact on the personal agency of those who attend on the day? The findings are based on feedback from guests, service providers and volunteers who contributed to Homeless Connect Perth 2011. The one-stop services approach, as well as affording opportunities for social connection for homeless guests, is critiqued in the context of providing an opportunity to address two of the components of personal agency: knowledge and activation. We propose a model which depicts the contribution of volunteers, organisers and service providers to homeless guests' personal agency via connections and reconnections.

What impact does competition policy have on entrepreneurship? An effective competition regime should theoretically facilitate an open, competitive environment in which new market entrants can flourish and give rise to high levels of entrepreneurial activity. But is this really the case? In this article, we test this argument by investigating whether the presence of a large suite of competition laws, and/or a highly ranked national competition policy, is significantly correlated to high levels of entrepreneurship. Twenty-one countries were examined, using three existing indices—the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the Global Competition Review and the Antitrust Index. Surprisingly, the results indicate that there is no discernible correlation between the level of entrepreneurship and highly-ranked competition policy.