Improving the financial sustainability of Maltese NGOs through business model and revenue stream innovations

Abstract

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) reverberate the silent, inaudible and unheard cries of society. They are modern-day watchdogs, dedicated towards rectifying market failures, environmental dilemmas and circumstances of human exploitation. As societal complexities increase in quantity, NGOs have proliferated across the earth’s axis. As global third sectors saturate, traditional forms of donor dependence no longer suffice as a financially viable means of assisting an NGO meet its mission output. As a result, entrepreneurial NGOs have started to pursue financial sustainability in the form of business model innovations which include, commercialization strategies and profit-making entity (PME) collaborations. To date, scholars have overlooked research concerned with Maltese NGOs, their operating environment and their approach towards innovation. Thus, the ultimate aim of this study was to understand whether Maltese NGOs were willing to reduce their dependence on traditional fund-raising mechanisms through business model and revenue stream innovations. In order to successfully fulfil this study’s research aim, four fundamental research questions were established. These research questions sought to explore and understand the importance Maltese NGOs place upon business model innovations, the resource dependence of Maltese NGOs, the willingness of Maltese NGOs to implement business model innovations, and the barriers which may potentially prevent such business model innovations from being implemented. The exploratory underpinnings of this research use the methodological traditions associated with qualitative data collection. As a result, five of the largest Maltese NGOs, working in different sectors were selected based upon convenience sampling and, face-to-face interviews were conducted.