2016 Volume 68 Issue 3 Pages 355-373
The purpose of this paper is to examine how nonprofit organizations (NPOs) ensure sustainability through using the Designated Administrator System (DAS) to obtain public funds. The subjects in this study are 16 NPOs using DAS in Kyoto Prefecture, and interview surveys with representatives of these organizations were conducted. Consequently, it was found that the circumstances of the NPOs using DAS are different between Type A NPOs (i.e. existing organizations using DAS) and Type B NPOs (i.e. new organizations established to administer public facilities and thus just beginning to use the system). Since it is difficult for an NPO, whose financial standing is typically weak, to acquire enough money for its activities, the financial, human and physical resources obtained through DAS give the NPO a basic advantage and an important resource that enables it to control initial costs and to start/expand its activities. Through this system, NPOs can ensure sustainability by practicing various strategies, both within the individual NPO and among different organizations, aimed at increasing advantages by using DAS, reducing disadvantages by using DAS, and sometimes converting disadvantages to advantages. It’s particularly noteworthy that Type B NPOs regard adjustment strategies between NPOs and local authorities as more important than do Type A NPOs, presumably because the former tend to be more dependent on DAS than the latter.
