Getting down to business : An exploratory study of Swedish nonprofits’ commercial responses to revenue loss

This paper examines whether commercial activity within Swedish nonprofits engaged in international humanitarian assistance stems from previous losses in private and government revenue. Resource dependence theory suggests that nonprofits, as rational actors, will shift their resource-earning strategies in response to competition or a lack of resources. Swedish research has not focused heavily on nonprofit finances and commercial activity. Through constructing a unique dataset with organizational data and sources of revenue for members of the Swedish Fundraising Control (Svensk Insamlingskontroll) from 2011 to 2015, this study tests panel data for patterns in commercial revenue use. Trend analysis, as well as fixed-effect and OLS estimations do not support previous research claiming that increased commercial revenue results from decreases in public and private revenue. Instead, preliminary results suggest that revenue growth and organizational age are positively associated with commercial revenue. Isomorphism is explored as a mechanism and calls for more Swedish research and databases are made