Modelling NPO–Government Relations: Australian case studies

Abstract

Non-profit organizations (NPOs) are major providers of services in many fields of endeavour, and often receive financial support from government. This article investigates different forms of government/non-profit funding relationships, with the viewpoint being mainly, though not exclusively, from the perspective of the non-profit agencies. While there are a number of existing typologies of government/NPO relations, these are dated and in need of further empirical analysis and testing. The article advances an empirically derived extension to current models of government/NPO relations. A future research agenda is outlined based on the constructs that underpin typologies, rather than discrete categorization of relationships.

Key words:

• Government
• non-profit
• relationships
• typology

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Funding for this research was provided by a grant from the Myer Foundation.

Notes

1 Gazley (2008) comes the closest in terms of identifying axes of power and formality in the funding relationships, but, however, does not offer up an alternative complete typology of relationships.