Structures of multinational nonprofit organizations

Abstract Investigations of the structures of multinational organizations have been primarily limited to the multinational for‐profit form, while examinations of alternative structural arrangements of nonprofit organizations have been focused on single‐nation organizations. This article draws on the extensive descriptive literature on nonprofits and the theoretical literature on the structural determinants of organizations to make predictions about the potential range of structures of multinational nonprofits. The authors show that local resource density and environmental variation are key factors in determining multinational nonprofit structures. They conclude that nonprofit organizations operating in multiple national settings are likely to be structured as umbrella organizations that act as an additional layer of hierarchy for multiple indigenous organizations, and that unitary, hierarchical corporate structures are not likely to be found in these organizations.