Author

Wyatt Ulrich

Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Master of Nonprofit Studies

First Advisor

Andrew Schoenemann

Abstract

Nonprofit organizations have been utilizing cross-sector collaboration to address problems that are not able to be solved on their own. A partner to make said collaboration can be with any organization, business, or volunteer who has the same goals as the nonprofit organization. Mental health nonprofit organizations specifically need more partners due to how little the world knows about mental health and mental illnesses. The government is one partner many mental health organizations aim to collaborate with. Government contracts have been known to help with the many challenges nonprofit organizations face like funding and services. Previous research has suggested this collaboration has swayed nonprofit organizations from their mission due to competition and hindrances that come about in the collaboration. Nonprofit organizations need to stay on track with their mission and not worry about competition. Therefore, this collaboration could be a negative one. This study uses qualitative data from interview questions asked to employees in mental health nonprofit organizations, to analyze if there is a connection between mission fulfillment and government collaboration in the mental health nonprofit community. The findings have shown a little towards the previous research of the competition, but not enough to say if it is true or not. There are some themes showing a good relationship in the partnership as well, indicating this collaboration could be a good one for nonprofit organizations to consider. There needs to be more research done to conclude if the collaboration has been efficient. Persons in the nonprofit community can take this research into their nonprofit organizations, deciding if this collaboration could be used for their own. Policymakers could also take this research into account for future collaborations with nonprofit organizations. The findings hope to help shape what nonprofit organizations and researchers do in the future, to help with the never-ending problem of mental illness.

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