We study nonprofit profitability and its effect on nonprofit external funding. In a sample of over 273 thousand U.S. NPOs during 1999–2019, we find that profitability is associated with greater public support; however, when NPOs are excessively profitable, they receive fewer subsequent donations. We find a similar relationship, but to a smaller degree, between profitability and government funding. We infer that funders desire moderate but not overly high profitability. We also find that donors are more tolerant of normal and excessive profitability for NPOs in the healthcare industry, smaller NPOs, and NPOs with shorter planning horizons. The relationship between profitability and external funding is weaker during recession periods, with funders not penalizing excessively profitable organizations during economic downturns.

我们研究非营利组织的盈利能力及其对非营利外部资金的影响。在 1999-2019 年间超过 27.3 万美国 NPO 的样本中，我们发现盈利能力与更大的公众支持相关；然而，当 NPO 利润过高时，他们收到的后续捐款就会减少。我们发现盈利能力和政府资金之间存在类似但程度较小的关系。我们推断出资者希望获得适度但不是过高的盈利能力。我们还发现，对于医疗保健行业的 NPO、较小的 NPO 和规划期限较短的 NPO，捐赠者更能容忍正常和过度盈利。在经济衰退期间，盈利能力和外部资金之间的关系较弱，在经济衰退期间，资助者不会惩罚过度盈利的组织。