NFP research program to address crucial knowledge gap

The Australia-first study by our Centre for Social Purpose Organisations aims to support effective strategic decision-making for the country’s not-for-profit organisations.

The Centre for Social Purpose Organisations at Melbourne Business School is launching Australia’s first ever national study focused on effective strategic decision-making in not-for-profit organisations (NFPs). 

Centre Director Dr Libby Ward-Christie said the study is both necessary and timely.

"While a growing body of literature examining strategic issue management and decision-making in for-profit (FP) organisations exists, there is a lack of evidence-based knowledge about how NFPs navigate these same challenges,” she said.

"While it is easy to assume that strategic issues NFP organisations face mirror FP organisations, we know that this just isn’t the case.

"NFP decision-making is often more complex, with more individuals from more diverse background involved, more complex stakeholder relationships and often a great degree of public accountability and scrutiny. They are also generally operating in resource scare contexts."

The research will build on other recent publications relating to Australia’s NFP sector, including the Not-for-Profit Sector Development Blueprint (2024), the Centre for Social Impact’s State of the Social Economy in Australia Report (2025), and the AICD’s NFP Governance and Performance Study (2026).

"The recent studies make important contributions by identifying system-level challenges, changes and policy reform agendas,” Dr Ward-Christie said.

“However there remains an absence of granular, evidence-based knowledge about how senior leaders within NFP organisations identify, interpret, and respond to the strategic issues their organisations face.“This study will address these gaps, focusing on the challenges leaders face, the decisions they must make and the development of frameworks for better outcomes.”

The study aims to develop evidence-based, context-relevant strategic decision-making tools and frameworks for use by the sector, that acknowledge:

• The number and diversity of decision-makers involved in NFP strategic-issue management;
• The complexity of NFP stakeholder relationships;
• The degree of public accountability charitable NFP organisations face (relative to their private, FP counterparts);
• The resource constrained contexts in which they operate; and The challenges of evaluating organisational performance.

The first-phase of the program is currently underway, with the team seeking senior leaders of charitable NFP organisations, including chief executives, executive directors, and other senior managers, to participate in their online and in-person research forums this August. 

If you would like to take part, you can sign up through the research forum registration form.

If you have any questions, please contact the research team at [email protected].