Katie Misener -The University of Western Ontario
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Strategic relationships and partnerships have emerged in sport policy as a key mechanism of service delivery (McDonald, 2005). The concept of “enhanced interaction”, as a pillar in the Canadian Sport Policy, can be theoretically tied to relationship and network capacity, which has been shown to be a critical dimension of overall organizational capacity, impacting the ability of the organization to produce the outcomes it desires (Hall et al., 2003). Relationship and network capacity represents the ability of a nonprofit organization to draw on relationships with clients, members, funding agencies, partners, government, media, and corporations. It may be of particular interest to small, community-based nonprofits as they are likely to be operating with inadequate resources, are particularly vulnerable to a lack of staff competencies, and often struggle to deliver their missions (Garvey, 2006, Gumulka, Hay, & Lasby, 2006; Light, 2004). As small nonprofit organizations, community sport organizations (CSOs) provide recreational and competitive sport opportunities for children and adults in the community, generating physical and mental health benefits, social capital benefits, and economic returns (Bloom, Grant & Watt, 2005; Bowen, 2004; Doherty & Misener, 2008). However, the importance and complexity of relationship and network capacity in this context has not been previously examined.
Following Alexander et al.’s (2008) call for research which integrates three phases of relationships (formation, process and outcomes), this study explored relationship and network capacity in nonprofit CSOs through semi-structured interviews with Presidents of these organizations (N=20). Research shows that larger, well-resourced, more professionalized nonprofit organizations have substantial competitive advantages over smaller, mostly volunteer-operated nonprofits (Hall et al., 2005). However, this study revealed that by strengthening relationship and network capacity, smaller nonprofit organizations can acquire needed resources, increase program quality, improve operations, and develop a stronger presence in the community. Through generating a picture of the multiple, cross-sector relationships for CSOs, the current study contributes a greater understanding of the role and nature of relationships as a dimension of overall organizational capacity, in these important community organizations.
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