The theory of non-profit organisations: an application to a performing arts enterprise

Abstract

A non-profit organisation is one whose profits, or more precisely net earnings, are not legally distributable to controlling individuals. This paper seeks to draw attention to a small part of the economic research now available on this institutional form and to assess its potential application to a specific non-profit performing-arts enterprise in Ireland, namely the Wexford Festival Opera. The evidence is mixed. The greatest difficulty is that there does not appear to be any overall coherent theory of non-profits and many of the theories that do exist extend little beyond fairly simple common-sense reasoning. On the positive side, the theories do provide a useful framework for thinking about non-profits and do throw some light on understanding the existence and structure of the Wexford Festival Opera.