When Missions, Markets, and Politics Collide: Values and Strategy in the Nonprofit Human Services

Abstract

This article explores the meaning of nonprofit strategy in the human services through an examination of the challenges facing nonprofit organizations working in the field of welfare-to-work transitions. After considering how the growing competition from large business firms in this field poses a major challenge to nonprofit organizations, the article suggests that many nonprofits are not well equipped to engage in a narrow efficiency competition with large corporations. Instead, nonprofit human service organizations need to develop a strategy that emphasizes the unique value-driven dimension of their programs. Welfare reform legislation can serve as an opening for both faith-based and secular nonprofits to differentiate themselves and to develop a distinctive position within the government-contracting market. From this analysis, the article draws some broader conclusions about the future of strategy in the nonprofit human services in an increasingly competitive environment.