Factors of Effectiveness in KY Nonprofit Social Welfare Organizations

This dissertation is an exploratory, mixed methods study using grounded perspective to examine how stakeholders (including consumers, administrators, and, practitioners) in social welfare organizations perceive effectiveness in the nonprofit social welfare sector. The study utilized the Concept Mapping research methodology to access and analyze data. A theoretical framework of nonprofit social welfare organizational effectiveness emerged from the data indicating that the five most significant factors identified by stakeholders as constituting effectiveness in the nonprofit social welfare sector in Kentucky were (a) client services, (b) organizational structure (c) workplace environment, (d) staff efficiency, and (e) organizational funding. Thirty-five statements emerged under these five categories highlighting the activities that are considered most important to an effective non-profit social welfare organization in Kentucky. The sub- categories culminated into a grant application and an evaluation tool for use by the philanthropic group to judge if an organization is effective and deserves to be funded.