How Effective Cooperation Among NPOs Is Achieved: An Analysis Based on Network Structure Evolution and Resource Orchestration

ABSTRACT Cooperation among nonprofit organizations (NPOs) has become a core issue in recent literature, yet few studies examine the mechanisms of effective interorganizational cooperation from a dynamic evolution perspective. Drawing on network governance and resource orchestration theories, this study investigates NPO cooperation in M Village, S City, China. The findings reveal a stepwise evolution from Network Administrative Organization (NAO) to Lead Organization Network (LON) and eventually to Shared Governance Network (SGN), corresponding to dynamic resource strategies of construction, bundling, and utilization. In the NAO stage, interorganizational cooperation relies on the intervention of institutional authority to address legitimacy challenges, initiating collaboration through policy support and resource provision. In the LON stage, cooperation centers on a core organization, where specialized division of labor and project branding enable resource bundling and enhance collaborative efficiency. In the SGN stage, interorganizational cooperation leverages decentralized platforms to activate the autonomy of diverse actors, promoting fluid resource exchange and value cocreation between organizations and local stakeholders. The study concludes that effective cooperation among NPOs does not rely solely on institutional design or elite leadership but instead emerges from the dynamic balance between structural flexibility and adaptive deployment of resource strategies.