The Effect of Governance on Donations: Evidence from Brazilian Environmental Nonprofit Organizations

Abstract This article uses the agency theory perspective to analyze governance, composed of a set of dimensions and measured by governance factors that influence donations to Brazilian environmental Nonprofit Organizations (NPOs). Data were collected predominantly from the documents available on the Internet, and the random sample consisted of 108 observations. We identified governance dimensions through Multiple Correspondence Analysis. From these dimensions, we verified, through Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling, if governance affected donations. It was observed that governance positively affected donations and that public certifications provided to NPOs in Brazil did not moderate the relationship between governance and donations. These results showing that governance helps NPOs to have easier access to the donations market and that public certifications provided to NPOs do not contribute to increasing donations. These findings are important for practitioners and also to enrich the debate about public policies for the third sector in environments of low regulation.

摘要 本文以委托代理理论为视角，对影响巴西环境类非营利组织（Nonprofit Organizations, NPOs）捐赠的治理机制展开分析，该治理机制由多维度构念构成，并通过相关治理因素进行测度。研究数据主要源自互联网公开文档，随机抽样共获得108份有效观测样本。本研究通过多重对应分析（Multiple Correspondence Analysis）提取治理维度，随后借助偏最小二乘结构方程模型（Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling），基于上述维度验证了治理机制对捐赠的影响效应。研究发现，治理机制对捐赠具有显著正向影响，但巴西非营利组织所获公共认证并未对治理与捐赠间的关系起到调节作用。上述结果表明，治理机制可帮助非营利组织更便捷地获取捐赠市场资源，而公共认证并未能有效提升捐赠规模。本研究结论不仅对实务工作者具有参考价值，同时也为低监管环境下第三部门公共政策的相关讨论提供了理论补充。