Determinants of Nonprofit Board Size and Composition

Abstract

Recently, many empirical studies have examined the determinants of corporate boards of directors. Using an agency theory framework, the authors explain how nonprofit boards are structured. Although nonprofits cannot disburse profits to their contributors, the role played by their boards of trustees in monitoring and advising managers is analogous to that of corporate boards of directors. Using a sample of Spanish foundations, the authors show that nonprofit board determinants, such as organizational complexity and financing structure, are similar in many ways to those of corporate boards. However, nonprofit age illustrates the different natures of these organizations and their voluntary boards.

The Governance of International Nongovernmental Organizations: How Funding and Volunteer Involvement Affect Board Nomination Modes and Stakeholder Representation in International Nongovernmental Organizations

“…Several studies have discussed qualitatively different designs for the governance of INGOs (Fowler 1997;Lindenberg and Bryant 2001;Young 1992), but very few quantitative studies are available that provide an empirical overview of the sector and test the hypotheses gained by the qualitative endeavors. Further, existing studies do not deal with board nomination modes and stakeholder representation in particular (Andrés-Alonso et al 2009;Iecovich 2005a). Our study shows that board nomination modes and stakeholder representation in INGOs vary, how they vary, and why they vary.…”

Knowledge Transfer between For‐Profit Corporations and Their Corporate Foundations

“…Following previous studies, we included control dummies for the main characteristics of the CFs (De Andrès‐Alonso, Azofra‐Palenzuela, and Romero‐Merino ). We defined the complexity of the foundations’ activities by using six variables related to the size of the foundations (amount of annual budget, total number of full‐time equivalent in‐house staff), age of the foundations (year of constitution), governance (number of board seats held by non‐officers), and model of activities (grant model, operative model).…”

Does the presence of member assemblies in grant-giving foundations affect levels of stakeholder engagement in mission reporting? Evidence from Italian banking foundations

“…The role of stakeholders (Freeman, 1984;Freeman and Evan, 1990) in decision-making processes among non-profit organisations (NPOs) has been debated in the scholarly literature in reference to both an organisation's decision-making processes and to the relevance of their annual reports (Cornforth, 2003(Cornforth, , 2004De Andrés-Alonso et al, 2009;Gazley et al, 2010;Kreutzer, 2009;Miller-Millesen, 2003). We believe that the roles played by stakeholders in decision making processes within NGOs are crucial and that governance mechanisms should foster stakeholder engagement (SE) mechanisms in order to guarantee that a vast majority of stakeholders are involved in the management system.…”