The Adaptive Capacity of Social Change Nonprofits

Revision with unchanged content. In order for nonprofit organizations to sustain themselves in today's environment, they need to learn from their experiences and adapt to changing circumstances. This 'adaptive capacity', considered one of the essential organizational capacities for enabling nonprofits to achieve their mission, requires nonprofits to act as 'learning organizations' and to use evaluation as a tool to enhance organizational learning and performance. Nonprofits at the 'growth' phase face a particular set of challenges in maintaining their adaptive capacity. A theoretical framework for assessing a nonprofit's 'organizational readiness' to improve its adaptive capacity was developed and applied to ten emerging social change nonprofits in Israel. The results demonstrate the utility of the conceptual framework while providing insight into the day-to-day realities of organizational life that help to shape the adaptive capacity of the ten nonprofits in the sample. Practical implications can be drawn regarding the development of strategies and possible focal points for the strengthening of adaptive capacity. This book can be of interest to practioners, funders, and nonprofit organizational consultants.