Identifying Barriers and Opportunities to Funding Requirements in Human Service Nonprofits

Background and Purpose: Social work managers are often tasked with securing ongoing resources (in the form of money) to ensure programs remain sustainable. To achieve this goal, social workers commonly engage with external institutions in the form of writing grant proposals, stewarding donors, and connecting with funding groups (such as government bodies and foundations). Successful resource procurement hinges on an organization’s ability to adhere to a series of funding requirements, which can affect the application of dollars in pursuit of program development and increased social impact. The following study applies resource dependency theory as a framework to understand and identify restrictive and emancipatory approaches to funding requirements by capturing the experiences of social work managers when engaged in resource procurement and use.

Methods: This study utilizes a qualitative analytical approach with the aim of identifying emergent themes regarding ways in which funding requirements impact the use of procured dollars by human service organizations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with social work managers (n=31) of direct-service nonprofits in Canada, and a thematic analysis revealed specific patterns of funding requirements that resulted in barriers and opportunities to program sustainability and implementation. Resource dependence theory was used to organize findings by examining the extent to which respondents acknowledged control of resource use, availability of resources, and the number of resource-based connections maintained by an organization.

Results: Following resource dependency theory, respondents were apt to measure the importance of a given resource by assessing how much it could be accounted for in the services offered by the organization, as well as the outcome it produces. Themes generated in the qualitative analysis highlight barriers (such as a lack of operational support, misalignment in goals and values, and minimum service quotas) and opportunities (such as funder education, storytelling opportunities, and network development) experienced by social work managers when procuring and applying externally generated funds. Special consideration is also given to the ways in which funding requirements may or may not advance social work values, including a commitment to equity, anti-oppressive practice, and integration of the best available evidence.

Conclusions and Implications: Funding requirements implicate social work managers in a variety of ways as they seek consistent inflows of critical resources. Being able to anticipate ways in which funding dollars are distributed and applied to human service programs supports highly effective resource procurement. Following a resource dependency perspective, this study shows how human service nonprofits led by social workers may achieve organizational legitimacy through capturing funding, and how they may experience barriers and opportunities to applying that funding in an effort to address pervasive social inequities experienced by communities.