Exploring Niche Alteration in Nonprofit Organizations

Abstract

The organizational niche is a concept integral to organizational ecology, reflecting an organization’s mission, expertise, capacity, and resource requirements. The choice of niche is crucial to the viability of the organization; however, the reasons organizations alter their niche are poorly understood. We hypothesize that nonprofit organizations alter their niche to reduce environmental pressure and gain access to resources. The results indicate that niche alteration predicts increases in total revenue with average increases in revenue from program services and contributions (depending on the measure). Additionally, nonprofits that are younger, larger, and have more concentrated revenue, are more likely to alter their niche.