Characteristics of Single Donor Funded Organizations and Their Effect on the Performance of a Non-governmental Organizations

Abstract

This study sought to establish how single donor funding in non-governmental organizations affects organizations performance, taking into consideration the characteristics of such NGOs. This interest was kindled by the fact that majority of NGOs receives a considerable amount of foreign aid, yet the country has not achieved the desired or expected results. A sample was drawn from single donor funded NGOs in Kenya to inform the objectives of this research. Primary data, collected through a structured questionnaire and key informant discussions, as well as secondary data drawn from company records was applied in this work. Moreover, beyond undertaking descriptive analysis, multiple regression model was used to establish how the characteristics of single donor funded NGOs affect the performance of such organizations. As far as the motivation to opt for single donor funding is concerned, results showed that there is high level of appreciation from most NGOs on the level of control and flexibility single donor dependency creates when it comes to the choice of implementation approach. The research findings of this study show that accountability, competence level of personnel and management structures of a single donor funded non-governmental organization contribute to the financial sustainability and program/project performance. One of the key observations related to this study, has been the fact that even single donors are starting to encourage organizations to expand their financial sources, or consider doing so. This is something that is clearly gaining impetus and should interest future studies and researchers. Whereas there are pros and cons on whichever choice of donor funding an organization opts for, the decision should be based more on merit than perception. Evidently from this work, is the fact that even though there is high appreciation of single donor funding, the shift being demonstrated by single donors towards encouraging NGOs to start sourcing for alternative funds is something worth attention