Demographic Heterogeneity, Political Ideology, and Nonprofit Dissolution

Abstract

The dissolution of nonprofit organizations has been increasingly documented by scholars in recent decades. Within this body of literature, how nonprofits’ community environments affect their dissolution has not been extensively studied. This research combines a range of data sources to conduct a longitudinal analysis (2007–2015) of how two community factors influence the dissolution of nonprofit organizations across U.S. counties: demographic heterogeneity and political ideology. The study finds that counties with higher demographic heterogeneity and more liberal ideology generally experience higher levels of nonprofit dissolution, although these effects vary slightly across nonprofits’ service fields. The findings extend the literature on nonprofit dissolution and offer implications for nonprofits to promote organizational sustainability.