Purpose

People donate to charities with the aim of improving society. Yet, many charities fail to use donations efficiently or have ineffective interventions. The authors explore the strategic operational priorities and processes that enable charities to efficiently implement their interventions and have a positive impact on society.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors first review the literature on charities to gain a deeper understanding of the current state of knowledge on charity operations. The authors then employ the lens of paradox theory and perform a qualitative investigation of six case studies to explore various aspects of the operations of charities that are known for being cost-effective.

Findings

The authors reveal how the strategic operational decisions of charities, as well as the processes they implement, help them resolve the tensions arising from the cost-effectiveness paradox. The authors show that cost-effective charities make strategic operational decisions that help maintain two diverging priorities: prioritizing the status quo and prioritizing change in how they deliver value. Another set of strategic decisions helps balance these two diverging priorities. The authors then show how these charities create and then maintain cost-effective operations.

Originality/value

The authors address recent calls for research on non-profit organizations in the field of operations management. To authors’ knowledge, it is the first in-depth study of exemplary charity operations. The results can be used by charity executives as a benchmarking tool when they develop and implement their charitable interventions and by government agencies and potential donors when they select charities for their donations. Finally, the results should have implications for other organizations trying to have a positive societal impact.

中文翻译：

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具有成本效益的慈善机构的运营：定性研究

目的

人们向慈善机构捐款的目的是改善社会。然而，许多慈善机构未能有效使用捐款或干预措施无效。作者探讨了战略运营重点和流程，使慈善机构能够有效实施其干预措施并对社会产生积极影响。

设计/方法论/途径

作者首先回顾了慈善机构的文献，以更深入地了解慈善机构运作的知识现状。然后，作者采用悖论理论的视角，对六个案例研究进行定性调查，以探索以成本效益着称的慈善机构运作的各个方面。

发现

作者揭示了慈善机构的战略运营决策及其实施的流程如何帮助他们解决因成本效益悖论而产生的紧张局势。作者表明，具有成本效益的慈善机构做出的战略运营决策有助于维持两个不同的优先事项：优先考虑现状和优先考虑改变其提供价值的方式。另一套战略决策有助于平衡这两个不同的优先事项。然后作者展示了这些慈善机构如何创建并维持具有成本效益的运营。

原创性/价值

作者回应了最近对非营利组织运营管理领域研究的呼吁。据作者所知，这是首次对慈善典范运作进行深入研究。慈善机构高管在制定和实施慈善干预措施时可以将结果用作基准工具，政府机构和潜在捐助者在选择慈善机构进行捐赠时可以将其结果用作基准工具。最后，研究结果应该对其他试图产生积极社会影响的组织产生影响。