“Failure Is Not An Option”: A Scoping Review to Identify Contributing Factors of Nonprofit Organizational Failure

Failure in the context of nonprofit organizations is a concept that has intrigued many scholars. Unfortunately, the research of the root cause and indicators of failure is still fragmented. A great deal of the current research focuses on the success of nonprofits. This study is founded in systems theory and seeks to derive a list of common indicators of factors that attribute to failure among nonprofit organizations. It also seeks to determine if leadership is an overarching correlating factor among all failures. Through the evaluation of literature and a content analysis, this paper produces a list of indicators of failure within nonprofit organizations. The author utilizes this information to propose intervention and prevention models that could correct or deter failure with intentional focus on the role of Social Work Education.