The assistance of the non-profit sector in providing for needy, disabled, sick, aged and vulnerable members of society is invaluable to private and state actors already overburdened with trying to do the same. Nowhere is this impact more evident, than in the work of international non-profit organisations (NPOs) with affiliates throughout the world. However, such NPOs occupy a precarious position in terms of sustainability as their sustainability is influenced by the actions and generosity of numerous stakeholders such as donors, volunteers, funders and government agencies to name a few. In addition, they are often embedded in volatile and ever-changing political, economic and/or geographic settings which add to the complexity of their endeavours to remain successful and sustainable. This study, in response to the dire lack of an integrated and holistic account of NPO sustainability, adopted a qualitative System Dynamics (SD) methodology for understanding the plethora of factors that influence the overall sustainability of an international NPO. Through this methodological approach, it was found that seven themes were integral to the sustainability of this particular NPO, namely: (1) Human Resource capacity (2) Credibility of the organisation (3) Partnerships (4) Competition in the non-profit sector (5) Co-financing and funding arrangements (6) Navigating the North-South Dilemma and (7) the dynamics involved in attempts to remain apolitical. The impact of this research lies in the recognition of NPO sustainability as not being simply about the amount of funding and donations received and social impact achieved, but rather charts sustainability as an emergent and fluctuating result of the way in which the themes mentioned above (and the many variables that constitute such themes) systemically interact and influence one another.

非营利部门在为社会中的贫困、残疾、患病、年老和弱势成员提供援助方面提供的帮助，对于已经负担过重的私人和国家行为者来说是无价的。这种影响在国际非营利组织 (NPO) 的工作中最为明显，其分支机构遍布世界各地。然而，此类非营利组织在可持续性方面处于不稳定的地位，因为它们的可持续性受到捐助者、志愿者、资助者和政府机构等众多利益相关者的行动和慷慨的影响。此外，他们往往身处动荡和不断变化的政治、经济和/或地理环境中，这增加了他们保持成功和可持续的努力的复杂性。这项研究，为了应对 NPO 可持续性的综合性和整体性的严重缺乏，采用定性系统动力学 (SD) 方法来了解影响国际 NPO 整体可持续性的众多因素。通过这种方法论，发现七个主题是该特定非营利组织的可持续性不可或缺的一部分，即：(1) 人力资源能力 (2) 组织的可信度 (3) 伙伴关系 (4) 非营利部门的竞争(5) 联合融资和资金安排 (6) 驾驭南北困境和 (7) 试图保持非政治性所涉及的动态。这项研究的影响在于认识到非营利组织的可持续性不仅仅是关于收到的资金和捐赠的数量以及实现的社会影响，