Médecins Sans Frontières and Private Donors : A qualitative case study on dependence and efficiency in NGO – donor relationships

Abstract: Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) play an increasingly important role in the world and receive a growing amount of outsourced development work. Funding enables them to do the work necessary to provide aid. NGO work is influenced by the dependence on their donors and many NGOs increasingly take donations from private donors as a way to try to mitigate donor dependence and maintain neutrality in their work. However there is little research analysing this shift and the potential positive and negative effects. This study looks at dependence and efficiency in an NGO - private donor relationship. The objective is to contribute to the discussion about NGO dependency on donors by evaluating the positive and negative impacts of primarily private donorship on NGOs’ work efficiency. Little research has been done on the private donor relationship and this study is contributing to filling that gap. The study is a qualitative case study, with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) due to their private donor base’s recent increase. The data were obtained through interviews with MSF Sweden staff, other MSF primary source documents and secondary sources written by scholars on the topic of NGO dependency on their donors. The results of this study concluded that MSF works more efficiently with a primarily private donor base, due primarily to their increase in independence and control of their own operations. Since the shift from EU-funding, MSF can spend fewer resources on reporting and more on allocating the money to the field. A primarily private donor base has a positive impact on MSF and it is safe to say that other NGOs will likely follow suit. Further research should look into other NGOs to see whether a primarily private donor base benefits them too or if MSF is a one case exception.