Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) often find themselves under pressure to invest all of their available income in mission-related activities rather than in capacity building. We investigate one factor that can influence the decision to invest in such capacity-building tasks: funding sources pursued by an organization. Drawing on the benefits theory of nonprofit finance, we take these funding sources as predetermined by an organization’s mission and propose an extension of the theory by linking it to economic multitasking theory, which states that organizations prioritize tasks that offer greater and more measurable rewards. Through regression analyses of survey data from Swiss nonprofits, we analyze the extent to which funding sources sought affect the amount of effort invested in three areas of capacity building: public relations, impact focus, and resource attraction parameters. The results support the predictions of multitasking theory by showing that the effort invested in certain capacity-building tasks is affected considerably by seeking a specific funding source. The effects are stronger for resource attraction-related tasks than for tasks closer to the service delivery of NPOs. The results indicate that an organization’s mission affects not only the available funding sources but also the extent to which an organization invests in its capacities, which can lead to a ‘lock-in’ status for organizations.

非营利组织 (NPO) 经常发现自己面临着将所有可用收入投资于与使命相关的活动而不是能力建设的压力。我们调查了一个可能影响投资于此类能力建设任务的决定的因素：组织寻求的资金来源。借鉴非营利金融的利益理论，我们将这些资金来源视为组织使命的预定，并通过将其与经济多任务理论联系起来提出该理论的扩展，该理论指出组织优先考虑提供更大和更可衡量的回报的任务。通过对瑞士非营利组织的调查数据进行回归分析，我们分析了所寻求的资金来源在多大程度上影响了在三个能力建设领域投入的努力：公共关系、影响焦点、和资源吸引力参数。结果支持多任务理论的预测，表明投资于某些能力建设任务的努力受到寻求特定资金来源的显着影响。与资源吸引相关任务的效果比更接近 NPO 服务交付的任务的效果更强。结果表明，组织的使命不仅会影响可用的资金来源，还会影响组织对其能力的投资程度，这可能导致组织处于“锁定”状态。与资源吸引相关任务的效果比更接近 NPO 服务交付的任务的效果更强。结果表明，组织的使命不仅会影响可用的资金来源，还会影响组织对其能力的投资程度，这可能导致组织处于“锁定”状态。与资源吸引相关任务的效果比更接近 NPO 服务交付的任务的效果更强。结果表明，组织的使命不仅会影响可用的资金来源，还会影响组织对其能力的投资程度，这可能导致组织处于“锁定”状态。