15th EIASM Workshop on The Challenges Of Managing The Third Sector

15th EIASM Workshop On The Challenges Of Managing The Third Sector 

The third sector, encompassing that part of the economy made up of non-governmental, nonprofit organisations (for example, charities, voluntary and community groups, cooperatives, and sports associations), is pervasive in our societies. Third-sector organisations (TSOs) make distinctive and widely recognised contributions to the public good by building social capital, frequently affording a foundation for social cohesiveness. Nevertheless, they rely on external legitimacy to ensure survival and growth and focus on goals that are deemed to serve a wide public interest. They are mission driven and, normally, the public benefit that they generate may not be provided, or certainly not provided in the same way or to the same extent, without the existence of the support that such an organisational form attracts. They are facilitated through a variety of legal and administrative frameworks by, for example, significant tax benefits and differing, and possibly lighter-touch, legal and regulatory frameworks. Many TSOs also rely heavily on volunteer involvement to deliver services, input that is rarely captured by financial numbers. Moreover, there is a tendency for there to be a large number of small organisations, and a small number of relatively large organisations.

Notwithstanding the valuable impact of TSOs, they exist in a fragile sector that has been significantly affected by a range of recent crises. In many cases, this has curtailed their capacity to deliver the societal benefits often associated with their activities; in the most extreme cases, it has even threatened the continuing existence of many individual TSOs. TSOs are particularly exposed to crises, often being seen as organisations that ‘pick up the slack’ when other forms of endeavour and engagement fail to adequately counter problems emerging that present challenges and pressures on society as a whole, or on specific parts of society. Crises that impact the third sector may develop externally and affect global communities, or arise as a consequence of events that have widespread impact on specific jurisdictions and affect organisations, groups and individuals within a particular country; or they may result from events within a specific TSO, and touch on a particular organisation’s stakeholders and undermine the ability of that TSO to function. In such contexts, the resilience of TSOs (as their capacity to endure or recover rapidly from crises) is vital if the sector is to retain focus.

The purpose of this workshop ‘The challenges of managing the third sector’ is to present and discuss in a stimulating academic environment high-quality research papers exploring the contemporary challenges in managing all kinds of TSOs. We seek to engage a global community of scholars and practitioners to explore both the financial and managerial challenges facing this sector, and how it can survive, adapt and prosper. Potential contributors are encouraged to interpret this theme broadly, yet critically, including through applying diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives to a wide range of countries and regional settings.

This workshop will be of interest not only to researchers active in this area, but also to policymakers, senior managers, and practitioners from all disciplines.

Call for Papers

• Reflections on crisis and third-sector creative responses.
• Managerial challenges of TSOs and how they can adapt and prosper.
• Accountability processes that seek to build (or rebuild) trust and confidence in individual TSOs, subsectors of the third sector, and in the sector as a whole.
• The challenges of maintaining service delivery, governance, and advocacy in light of growing contextual demands.
• Emerging trends in power and politics that impact charitable services - tools and tactics to adapt, absorb and transform.
• Hybrid worlds: adapting to new ways of working and fund raising.
• Navigating financial disasters while protecting key services for beneficiaries.
• Developing financial resilience capabilities in a changed landscape.
• The effects of scandals, trust, and funding crises on the third sector.
• The role of accounting and financial measures in helping TSOs to set and achieve SDGs.
• Re-imagining service delivery with a look at the future.
• Reconceptualising service delivery – capacity building through cross-sector partnerships.
• Co-design and co-delivery of community services.
• The role of governance systems and structures in the third sector.
• How TSOs size affects their management and operation.