Performing on boards: the link between governance and corporate reputation in nonprofit arts boards

This paper is built on the hypothesis that good governance and reputation are inextricably linked. It takes the governance of performing arts organizations in Queensland, Australia as a case study, and focuses on the role of the nonprofit arts board and its practices of governance and measures of effectiveness. Because of the financial constraints under which arts companies operate, their sustainability relies on audiences and on government or corporate support. The reputation of the company flows from the board's capacity to manage finances, stakeholders and mission. In-depth interviews with board chairs and general managers revealed that strong management systems and rigorous financial reporting are the drivers of good governance. Innovation in product development and artistic excellence are secondary in reputation to these measures. The paper proposes a model of good governance for arts boards.

Intra-organisational attitudes to marketing and the Implementation of the marketing concept in nonprofit organisations

This paper explores the market orientation and marketing culture of all staff within a nonprofit organisation to ascertain the extent to which members of the organisation support or create barriers to the implementation of the marketing concept. Of particular interest in this research is the role of nonprofit organisations, which are often thought of as having a production, rather than marketing focus. Consequently, there may be cultural and behavioural conflicts between, for example, marketing personnel and production personnel. This paper provides a brief overview of the existing literature in the field of market orientation and marketing culture. After detailing the general research design, a summary of the results of 11 initial focus groups, consisting of all staff in one nonprofit organisation, is presented. The findings indicate that while all areas within this organisation are committed to marketing, there are various interpretations of marketing and how it should be implemented.

Entrepreneurship in the markets of nonprofit performing arts organisations

This paper explores how managers in nonprofit performing arts organizations balance the interests of the various funding sources and market opportunities to service their revenue requirements. It reviews a tension in nonprofit performing arts organizations: the relationship between limited funding and the subsequent need to act entrepreneurially and innovatively amongst the various funding sources. Using a longitudinal analysis of annual reports in six major nonprofit performing arts organisations in Australia since 1975, the paper uncovers some of the interplay essential to entrepreneurship. From this discussion, different strategies and tensions are highlighted that nonprofit general managers have used. Comparisons are made with nonprofit art museums which previous research has shown have the same funding tensions.

Orientation and impact of nonprofit museum web sites

Museums face increasing pressure to attract wider audiences. This requires an understanding of visitor expectations and motivations for visiting the ‘real’ museum. Websites can act as an attracting mechanism for ‘real’ museum visits. However, for the most part, museums have concentrated their efforts on attracting visitors to promotional efforts and collecting statistical data on the demographic profiles of visitors. Museum websites as a means of attracting audiences have been ignored in the research literature. This paper researches the role of museum websites in developing audiences with special attention to the attracting power of the websites for visitors. Content analysis of 40 Australian museum websites was conducted using a structured tool, WebNPattract, designed and tested specifically for the purpose. Content analysis results can be used for the purpose of strategic positioning of the museum and cultural tourism. The paper outlines five aspects of museums—museum offer; corporate governance; finding the museum; characteristics; and governance communication—and two approaches to museum websites: the ‘aesthetic’ and the ‘services’ perspectives. Marketing implications can be deduced from website orientation.

Building capacity in an indigenous nonprofit artistic enterprise

Growth in Indigenous artistic enterprises has attracted government funding, cultural tourists, and arts managers with a strong interest in cultural democracy and, more recently, an interest in business models for these artists. This paper documents a case study of Arilla Paper, an artistic enterprise in Queensland, Australia, where a group of Aboriginal women, worked on making paper from natural materials, to create a sustainable non-profit arts business. Sections of the business manual developed for these women, together with primary and secondary data supporting the Indigenous creative industries, are presented. The paper concludes that success in such ventures requires a social entrepreneurship model of funding that recognises the challenges of Indigenous cultural ownership and capacity building in business practice.

Managing strategic versus tactical green collaborations : a nonprofit perspective

This exploratory study examines how non-profit organisations view collaborations with other organisations, based on the objective of the collaboration. This perspective has not been previously considered within the literature. Our findings suggest that non-profits believe there are differences in the management of collaborations depending on whether they are designed
to achieve strategic or tactical goals. The variables of power and managerial imbalance were found to impact on the perceived effectiveness of strategic collaborations while organisational compatibility was found to impact on the perceived effectiveness of tactical collaborations.