Predicting Mission Alignment and Preventing Mission Drift: Do Revenue Sources Matter?

Abstract

Activities of nonprofit organizations do not always align with their missions, a managerial problem termed as “mission drift.” Mission drift is difficult to operationalize and quantify; thus, as a critical issue, only a few conceptual pieces or empirical case studies have explored this topic. This paper develops innovative measures to operationalize “mission alignment” using data science methodology, and examines the impact of revenue sources on mission alignment. By using the cosine similarity of text between a mission statement and program description, four measures of mission alignment are devised: the sum cosine similarity, average cosine similarity, weighted sum cosine similarity, and weighted average cosine similarity. Text analysis indicates that a majority of the programs evidence educational purposes, and for-profit business plays an important role in foundations’ projects and funding. The regression analysis shows that personal donation and service revenue can increase mission alignment,while organizational donation and membership dues decrease mission alignment.

The financial and green effects of cultural values on mission drifts in European social enterprises

“…Ramus and Vaccaro (2017) and Ma et al (2018) argue that greater openness to the market can lead to changes in incentives that impact the management of SEs.…”

“…It is very difficult to identify mission drift as it can manifest itself with hidden changes in the methods and nature of work or the quality of the services provided (Cornforth, 2014). Ramus and Vaccaro (2017) and Ma et al (2018) argue that greater openness to the market can lead to changes in incentives that impact the management of SEs.…”

Online social network fundraising: Threats and potentialities

“…Charities have become increasingly dependent upon a smaller number of large donors (Wait, 2022). Enlarging the donor base by placing greater emphasis on social network giving provides charities somewhat greater insulation from large donor influences which may divert charities from their core missions (Ma et al, 2018). RQ10 What is the relationship between resource provider diversification and mission adherence?…”