Chapter Three
The primary goal
of this research is to understand how the organizational climate of a nonprofit
organization can influence a fundraiser’s ability to secure funding for the
nonprofit organization. The methodology
will be an exploratory study of the lived experiences of fundraisers and their
perceptions regarding how the organization’s climate has impacted their ability
to secure funding. Since there is little
in the literature about the actual experience of being a fundraiser, this
research will contribute to the research on nonprofit organizational
effectiveness.
A social
constructionist worldview that seeks understanding, social and historical
construction, multiple participants and theory generation may help to determine
if the organizational climate of any nonprofit organization will enhance or
deter the ability of its fundraisers to function most effectively. If the fundraiser resides in an environment
with less than an ideal climate, the ability to create and maintain an
effective relationship (secure funding) will be hindered. Social constructivists do hold some
assumptions. Individuals create meaning
for their experiences. Individuals seek
to make sense of the world in which they live and work.
Nonprofit Funders
are individuals who create meaning based on their experience with the Nonprofit
Organization and the Nonprofit Fundraiser.
Nonprofit Fundraisers are individuals who create meaning based on their
experiences with the Nonprofit Funders and the Nonprofit Organization. The Nonprofit Funder and the Nonprofit
Organization are the primary relationships for this study. In particular how this relationship impacts
the Nonprofit Fundraiser and Nonprofit Funder relationship.
Social
constructionists rely on the participant’s perception of the situation. The focus of this research is to understand
the nonprofit fundraiser’s perception of the organizational climate within the
nonprofit organization. Both survey data
and phenomenological interviews will contribute to having the participants
create meaning from their experiences.
Meaning is negotiated from social and historical interactions of the
participants. It is not imprinted on
them. Meaning is interpreted through the
interaction of people (social) and through the history the participant brings
to the situation. This history can be
both personal (what they bring to the organization) and organizational (their
time with the organization).
Social
Constructivist Worldview
|
This Research
|
Understanding
|
Impact of
Organizational Climate
|
Multiple
Participant meanings
|
Fundraisers’ lived
experiences
|
Social &
Historical Contribution
|
Personal and
Organizational
|
Theory generation
|
Finding the meaning
|
Social
constructionists tend to bring themselves into the research. Their social and historical experiences
influence their interpretations. They
want to understand the meaning others share about the world. Theory is developed as a result of the
meaning.
Qualitative Design Approach with Supporting Survey Data
The primary goal
of this research will be to understand any relationship that may exist between
organizational climate and an organizational member’s role in funding
acquisition. A exploratory study has
been chosen for this research. This
strategy of inquiry was chosen because the research will study the individual’s
lived experience through documenting their stories in a survey format. This qualitative approach would be considered
intermediate by Edmondson and McManus (2007).
They define intermediate as (a) proposing new relationships between new
and established constructs (organizational climate and fundraiser success), (b)
exploratory testing of new propositions (organizational climate and
organizational funding), and (c) provisional theory – often one that integrates
previously separate bodies of work (organizational climate, fundraising success
and nonprofit funding) (p.1160).
Survey data will
be solicited from target subjects. The survey items will focus on their
perceptions about the current organizational climate of their organizations.
Various demographic variables will also be measured and subjects invited to share
their lived experiences as a fundraiser in their organization. Random participants will be selected to participate
in an interview process to further enhance their written stories.
Role of the Researcher
Some of the
subjects will be known fundraising colleagues through networking and conference
attendance. The impact of researcher bias is being considered and analyses
processes are designed to minimize the effects of this bias. The researcher is
a nonprofit fundraiser. In chapter one
some real life examples were given to demonstrate the importance of
organizational climate and funding acquisition.
These are my stories. The
researcher believes this to be true more often than not in many nonprofit
organizations. It would be delightful to
find otherwise.
Target Participants and Sampling Plan
Nonprofit
fundraisers are defined as individuals, described as full-time employees of a
nonprofit organization, hired to do fundraising in support of programs and services
provided by a nonprofit organization.
Size and type of nonprofit will not be considered. For those nonprofits with several team
members in the advancement department, each member will be asked to
participate.
From my network,
255 individuals are known to participate in either the Association of
Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Wichita Chapter or the Association of
Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Mid-America Chapter. “The
Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) is the professional
association of individuals and organizations that generate philanthropic
support for a wide variety of charitable institutions. Founded in 1960, AFP advances philanthropy
through its 30,000 members in 207 chapters throughout the world”
(www.afpnet.org).
These groups
consist of professional fundraising staff, faculty, consultants and other
individuals interested in fundraising. A
diverse group of nonprofits are represented.
The plan is to invite the members of both of these groups to
participate. This study will focus on
those in these groups that are full-time employed fundraisers by their
respected organizations. These groups
represent less than 1% of the overall AFP membership. Approximately 21 of these
individuals are personally known by the researcher.
Data Collection Strategy
Data collection
will involve a two-step process. First,
an electronic invitation will solicit their participation in a survey on
fundraising and invite them to participate in a follow-up phone interview. Individuals who are a part of the two
selected AFP Chapters will receive an email communication inviting them to
participate in an online survey. This
first email will ask them to identify whether they are described as a full-time
employee hired to fundraise for their organization and provide informed consent
for the research process. Once participant
has agreed, a second email will be sent with a link to the online survey. The online survey will be created using
Goggle® Drive (formerly Google Docs).
This survey tool allows for unlimited questions and responses. This site also provides reports based on
input from the participants. The site is
easy to navigate for participants. The
tracking process is accomplished anonymously for the participants. The original list contains the participants’
contact information. Once the survey
link is sent, the participants are tracked as anonymous. The researcher is not informed whether the
participants completed the survey or not.
Following the second email, providing the link, a third email will be
sent ten days later to remind the participants to complete the survey. This third email reminder will be sent to all
participants requesting them to complete the survey. If they have already dome so they can ignore
the email
Questionnaire Description
The questionnaire
will consist of three sections. Section
One will ask some demographic information about their length of time with their
current organization, gender, education, etc.
Section Two will have questions about their perception of Organizational
Climate using a Likert type scale.
Section Three will have open-ended questions about their fundraising
success or failure due to the interactions of organizational leadership and
non-fundraising staff with nonprofit funders.
The questionnaire will provide an explanation of terms, such as
organizational leader, that may be unfamiliar terms to the participant.
The questionnaire
was created using three existing surveys as a model. The Personal Leadership
Questionnaire as developed at Tarleton State University of Texas. The Leadership Assessment Personal
Satisfaction Survey as developed at the Learning Center by Dr. Arky Ciancutti
(2011). The Organizational Culture
Assessment Instrument as developed by Cameron and Quinn (2000) and downloaded
from the Illinois State University website
(http://my.ilstu.edu/~llipper/com435/survey_ocai_culture.pdf). Permission was obtained by Dr. Cameron to use
the OCAI to conduct this research. “Dr.
Cameron grants you permission to use the OCAI, and your variation on the
instrument, free of charge” (Mecham Smith, 2012).
The survey
instrument was submitted to fellow colleagues who have experience in the
organizational development field.
Feedback was incorporated into the instrument. The instrument was validated as capturing
organizational climate within the particular organization of the
fundraiser. The survey instrument was
also provided to other colleagues to test its functionality and layout. Feedback was incorporated to make changes in
the answer choices and which answer would default. A “select a rating” option was added to make
sure the participant understood they were to rate the statement.
Question structure
was developed by the researcher based on questions in the featured
resources. No direct questions were
quoted from either of the instruments. Some
of the questions were used to form the structure of the questions asked in this
survey. The questions also focus on the
concept of fundraising. Since
organizational climate is a construct based on perception, I wanted to capture
the perception of the fundraising professional about their organization’s
climate.
Interview Process
Using an exploratory
survey process, two specific fundraiser experiences will be explored:
1. Describe an experience where a funding opportunity was lost
considering conditions within your organization and/or a donor’s experience
with your organization separate from your relationship.
2. Describe an experience where you were successful in securing a
donation considering conditions within your organization and/or a donor’s
experience with your organization separate from your relationship.
The result of the exploratory
study process is a picture of the lived experiences of the nonprofit fundraisers
and the impact of the organizational climate on their success. In the qualitative approach, the benefits for
this research are discovering the lived experiences of the individuals
involved. The stories of how the
organizational climate of the nonprofit organization impacted the ability of
the nonprofit fundraiser to secure or lose nonprofit funding. The only envisioned downside for this
research is do we really want to know the answer?
Human Subject Considerations
According to
Frankel and Siang (1999) there are three principles for protecting human
subjects: autonomy, beneficence, and justice.
“The first principle, autonomy,
requires that subjects be treated with respect as autonomous agents and affirms
that those persons with diminished autonomy are entitled to special
protection. The second principle,
beneficence, involves maximizing possible benefits and good for the subject,
while minimizing the amount of possible harm and risks resulting from the
research. The last principle, justice,
seeks a fair distribution of the burdens and benefits associated with research,
so that certain individuals or groups do not bear disproportionate risks while
others reap the benefits” (pg 2).
To address the
first principle of autonomy, all participants will be treated as autonomous
agents. There will be special attention
given to make sure that all participants are treated equally and have equal
access to participating in the study. Personal tracking information will only be
used to increase the number of respondents to the survey. This personal tracking information will be
used to follow-up with respondents that are selected and agree to be
interviewed. Following data collection,
all personal information will be detached from the data and identity codes will
be maintained under lock and key to protect the individuals.
“Benefits can be
defined as gain to society or science through contribution to the knowledge
base, gain to the individual through improved well being, or empowerment of the
individual by giving him or her a voice” (Frankel, et al., 1999, pg 3). A benefit of participating in this research
will be the opportunity to contribute to the knowledge base and empowerment of
the individual.
An identified
burden of this research is the time it will take to complete the survey as well
as participate in a possible follow-up interview. Another burden may be the emotional aspect of
telling the stories of organizational climate impacting the fundraiser
negatively. The balance between the
benefits and the burdens are fairly equal. As an incentive for participation,
Participants will also be placed in a drawing to receive a gift card of a yet
to be determined value which should help offset the burden of the time invested
in completing the survey.
As potential subjects
are all adults and not part of a protected class of individuals, this research
poses only a minimal risk and qualifies to be considered Exempt research. “(M)inimal risk exists when the
probability and magnitude of harm or discomfort anticipated in the research are
not greater than those ordinarily encountered in daily life or during
performance of routine physical or psychological examinations or tests” (IRB
Guidelines Ch III, 1993).
Another area of
concern may be confidentiality. “Confidentiality is necessary
when personal identifiers such as name, birth date, telephone number,
photograph, email address or mailing/street address are collected” (Society for
Science, NA). The email addresses and
names will come from membership roles of the two identified AFP chapters. This information will be used to send the
survey to the participants. Participants
that elect to participate will be contacted for follow-up interviews. The follow-up interviews will allow for a
more dynamic telling of the stories documented in the survey instrument. Once the phone interviews are completed
personal information will not be carried forward with the data. Any identifying information will be
maintained under lock and key in my home office for a period of five (5) years.
Proposed Analysis
The responses from
Section Two, the questions about organizational climate, will give a good
reflection of how the fundraiser perceives the organizational climate. Questions also solicit information of how
they feel about being a part of their organization; whether they feel
appreciated; and whether they have clear expectations and feel committed to the
organization. Perceptions of
organizational leadership’s and member’s role in funding acquisition will also
be obtained. Individual responses will
be presented using frequency distributions and select measures of dispersion
and central tendency.
The open-ended
questions in section three require some reflection by the fundraisers. “The initial step in qualitative analysis is reading”
(Maxwell, 2004, pg 96). As I review the open-ended questions, I will
organize the data along concepts such as significant statements, meaning units
or an essence description. The method of
the qualitative research is inductive.
The researcher creates meaning from the collected data. In social constructionist approaches, “the
inquirer works more from the “bottom” up, using the participants’ views to
build broader themes and generate a theory interconnecting the themes”
(Creswell and Plano Clark, 2007, p23).
The responses to
Section Three of the questionnaire are the primary focus of this research. I will seek to allow the open-ended answers
to reflect themes or groupings. These themes
or groupings will create an initial coding definition. “(T)he goal of coding
is not to count things, but to
fracture” (Strauss, 1987, p.29) the data and rearrange them into categories
that facilitate comparison between things in the same category” (Maxwell, 2004,
pg 96). Codes or groupings discovered
during the reading of the data will be checked for drifting.
Follow-up
interview transcripts will be using the Section Three questions of the survey
instrument. The phone interviews will be
tape-recorded following consent of the subjects. It is estimated the phone interview process
will take approximately 30 minutes.
