Measuring Sustainability Performance in Nonprofit Organizations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Measuring the sustainability performance of non-profit organizations has become critical based on the requirements and programs of the Sustainable Development Goals and Saudi Arabia Vision 2030. Hence, there is an increasing need to measure the sustainability performance of non-profit organizations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ensure their sustainability. This paper aims to identify successful practices for measuring sustainability performance in non-profit organizations. Through analyzing previous studies and conducting a semi-structured interview with experts in non-profit organizations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia then analyzed expert opinions. The interview was conducted with seven experts in various regions of the Kingdom whose expertise is shaped by sustainability, performance, and institutional excellence in the non-profit sector. As a result, the researcher found that previous research focused on evaluating performance sustainability in for-profit organizations, with relatively few studies conducted in nonprofit organizations. By analyzing the content of the interviews of experts in non-profit organizations, the researcher concluded that the six sustainability performance measures, which are economic performance, social performance, environmental performance, technical performance, operations performance, and governance performance, based on the size and activity of the organization in a balanced ratio between the measures, will contribute to sustain the performance of the non-profit organization. The study provides consulting practitioners, leaders, ministries, and academics in nonprofit organizations with a complete overview of the impact of using sustainability performance metrics for nonprofit organizations, with a proposal to measure other performance metrics such as value performance, innovation performance, and leadership performance.