Study of nonprofit resilience emphasizes importance of broad-based ties

LAWRENCE — According to a new study from the University of Kansas, nonprofit organizations that seek to build resilience — or the capability to enact a rapid, robust response to challenges — should cultivate a broad network of relationships and view those ties as assets on par with financial and other important resources.

In a new article titled “Nonprofit Resilience and Adaptive Capacity: Bonding and Bridging Social Capital in Local Collaborative Networks” in Management Communication Quarterly, Cameron Piercy, KU associate professor of communication studies, and his co-author, KU doctoral candidate Molly Han, present the results of a study of a network of 240 nonprofit organizations in a midsize, Midwestern city conducted in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

Perhaps counterintuitively, the KU researchers write, their findings show that “NPO resilience was associated with ... bridging social capital ... but unrelated to bonding social capital.” In other words, broad-based ties with access to novel opportunities were more important in that scenario than stronger, more trusting ones.

In contrast, for adaptive capacity, which reflects a shared set of cultural values, NPOs need “tight-knit connections that you can rely on and trust,” Piercy said. “But for resilience, those nonprofits also need those connections that help them get far and fast across the network. ... Information spread is one way of describing it. So we need bridging connections for that.

“Every nonprofit has some level of both organizational resilience and adaptive capacity, and if nonprofit leaders can identify what they need, that tells them what kind of relationships they need to build.”

Piercy said adaptive capacity and resilience are “buzzwords” and that by employing the network theory of social capital, the study tries to better define and distinguish between the two often closely related constructs.

“Adaptive capacity is, ‘We have a plan to improvise,’ whereas resilience is like, ‘We have a plan, and here’s how we would deploy the response,’” Piercy said.

Based on the findings of the study, Piercy said, “If nonprofits were going to do strategic planning, they might consider where they store their value for a future — hopefully not a pandemic, but a crisis, challenge or a government change that affects them.

“So if you’re a small nonprofit, and you’re going through your annual report, making a plan, and you conclude ‘we are not adaptive enough,’ then your target should be a close relational partner that you’re going to collaborate with a lot over time; who’s going to help you solidify that internal focus on adaptive capacity. If the annual meeting shows ‘we’re not resilient enough; we don’t have enough backup plans in place,’ then target building relationships that help your organization span across the network bridge.”