True Grit: Exploring Nonprofit Sector Resilience Following Economic Recessions

Chen Xintong, Kuenzi Kerry, Evans Lindsey and Stewart Amanda ()
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Chen Xintong: San Jose State University, College of Social Science, Political Science Department, San Jose, CA, USA
Kuenzi Kerry: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Public and Environmental Affairs, Green Bay, USA
Evans Lindsey: Virginia Commonwealth University, L Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Richmond, VA, USA
Stewart Amanda: North Carolina State University, The School of Public and International Affairs, The Department of Public Administration, Raleigh, USA

Nonprofit Policy Forum, 2025, vol. 16, issue 4, 573-601

Abstract: The nonprofit sector has been portrayed as resilient, describing a sector that persists despite challenges. We investigate nonprofit resiliency by examining how organizational characteristics, strategies, and community factors equipped organizations to recover following economic recessions. Utilizing a fixed effects panel regression model, our study covers a period of 29 years (1989–2018), encompassing three economic crises in the United States. The primary focus is examining the sector’s financial health and the resilience of the constituent organizations. Our findings describe a sector buoyed by the resilience of larger and older organizations, earned revenue, and contribution revenue, as well as the role of community factors in influencing the sector’s resilience. This study examines a wider timeframe and employs a more expansive sampling approach compared to previous studies on nonprofit resilience. In doing so, it contributes valuable insights to our understanding of the resilient sector.

Keywords: nonprofit resilience; resilient sector; nonprofit financial health; revenue sources; economic recession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1515/npf-2023-0058

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