Nonprofit Innovation Measurement and Regional Nonprofit Systems

Abstract: Nonprofit organizations are an important element of society. They provide services, and advocate for change, through their programs. But how do they create their programs? This thesis defines nonprofit innovation as the implementation of a new or significantly improved program, and suggests we borrow practices used to understand firm innovation, to understand nonprofit innovation. A Nonprofit Innovation Survey was created, based on the Community Innovation Survey and with reference to the Oslo Manual. A particular focus was placed on questions related to the systemic nature of innovation. The survey was sent to 120 charitable organizations in Canada. Of the 17 respondents, all had implemented a new or significantly improved program during the years 2012-2014 inclusive, and seven (41%) of those organizations had implemented a new program not previously offered by any organization. The responses suggested evidence that many linkages exist among organizations in the nonprofit sector and there is great potential for tacit learning. The concept of Regional Nonprofit System is proposed, and it is suggested that a nonprofit’s ability to come up with solutions to meet the community’s needs is not only dependent on the organization itself, but also on the local environment in which they’re placed.