The Influence of Organizational Structure, Membership Composition and Resources on the Survival of Poor

Membership-based organizations of the poor, to be effective, must survive. Although numerous analyses have considered the organizational factors that shape a social movement group’s risk of mortality, no existing analyses have systematically considered this process with respect to poor people’s social movement organizations (SMOs). Using a unique data source based on the successful grant application files of such groups to a major United States funding agency, we assess the likelihood of a movement organization’s mortality over a period of approximately 12 years. We take into consideration factors such as an organization’s membership composition, organizational age and size, diversity of previous funding sources, organizational structure, non-profit incorporation, and position within larger regional and national networks of poor people’s SMOs. We find that although membership structure is related to survival, its effects work primarily by way of affiliation with organizing networks and a group’s ability to garner substantial and diverse resources. We then discuss how these findings shape our understanding of the factors involved in developing an autonomous voice for the poor in political discourse.