An Exploration of Government Funding on Local Ethnic Nonprofit Organizations in Taiwan: the Multiple Case Studies of Hakka Associations(1/2)

Under the trend of global government reengineering in recent years,governmental use of economic policy tools to fund non-profit organizations hasincreased significantly whether in budget size or policy scope. In Taiwan, themain income of local ethnic nonprofit organizations come from governmentfunding. In this study, the core research question is: How will government fundingimpact the roles and functions of local ethnic non-profit organizations? Based onthe arguments of resource dependency theory and clientelism, this studyconstructed an analytical framework to examine the impact of governmentfunding on the roles and functions of local ethnic nonprofit organizations.Representative Hakka associations with different attributes, scale and length ofestablishment in Taoyuan City were selected as study subjects. Throughqualitative empirical research, the positive and negative impact of governmentfunding for Hakka organizations to provide Hakka services, stimulate innovativetools and other instrumental roles, spread Hakka values, strengthen Hakka socialcapital, enhance citizen participation, conduct expression roles such as policyadvocacy were examined. Specific recommendations for ethnic policy andinstitutional designs were also proposed. Based on the findings of the empiricalresearch, the positive and negative impact of ethnic politics and policies on localethnic non-profit organizations were reflected. In addition, the positive andnegative impact on the generation and evolution of civil society in Taiwan werealso deliberated.