Investigation Of Whether Greenpeace Is A Successful International Non-Profit Organization
Definition of Successful NPO
Before starting to discuss whether Greenpeace a successful NPO, we need to define what is a successful NPO. An NPO should meet many essential criteria to be success. Such as persistency, with driving force, making good use of resources. As the establishment of an NPO is usually a response of a social problem or even an international problem, NPOs generally aim to solve or to alleviate the situation and to help the one in need, to raise public awareness towards the social issues or controversial issues, to monitor and pressurize the government. The above criteria can help an NPO reflect itself to become a more successful NPO. Briefly introduce the five principles mentioned before. With driving force – it refers to the cohesion and the appeal of an NPO. As NPOs always hold various activities, petitions, or movements to express the concerns to different issues, the coherence and appeal of an NPO is essential in this circumstance.
A successful NPO should have a high degree of cohesion and appeal to gather citizens with the same opinions and gain more support from society either in countries or worldwide. The number of participates of events can show the degree of citizens or global citizens' concern or discontent with a specific issue, which can directly let the government realize the citizens' opinions toward different aspects. Making good use of resources – it refers to the appropriateness in resource allocation or the essentialness of spending the resources. NPOs should maximize the positive outcome while using minimum resources. A profit-oriented business aims to maximize its profit most cost-effectively while an NPO should focus on achieving its mission and aims most cost-effectively. NPOs should keep the focus on improving their service and not waste any resources on anything that can not help improve their service quality as most of their resources are came from voluntary donations. So, is Greenpeace a successful international NPO? We will have an in-depth exploration by using the above criteria to assess whether Greenpeace is a successful international NPO.
Background of Greenpeace
A group of Pacifists found Greenpeace in 1971. In 1947, the cold war was started. In the 1950s-1960s, the USA and the Soviet Union were having arms race. The fierce competition turns to nuclear weapon competition. In 1958, the USA carried out a nuclear test in the Bikini Atoll, the Marshall Islands, in the Pacific Ocean. A group of Pacifists started a voyage in a ketch-ship and arrived at the nuclear test site to shows their concerns toward nuclear weapons. In the late 1960s, USA plans for underground testing of nuclear weapons. More and more people aware of the trial of atomic armaments and afraid nuclear power may cause earthquakes and tsunami. A committee was thus set up to protest the nuclear test. They raised money to buy a ship and called themselves Greenpeace. In 1971, they sailed towards the location of the nuclear test and tried to stop the test.
However, they were forced to turn back by the US Coast Guard, and the nuclear analysis was finally carried out by the USA. Although the worries of earthquake and tsunami didn’t occur, there were more than 1000 sea otters were killed by overpressures in the sea. The nuclear test was criticized, and the US decided not to continue with the nuclear test plans afterward. After that, the organization Greenpeace was found. The main goal of Greenpeace is to ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity. Greenpeace mainly focuses on global issues such as deforestation, commercial whaling, climate change, overfishing, genetic engineering, and anti-nuclear issues. Greenpeace is now working in more than 40 countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Is Greenpeace a Successful Npo in Terms of Driving Force?
Greenpeace is nowadays one of the largest international NPO in all aspects, such as capital, coverage, reputation. This popularity was attributable to the working technique used by Greenpeace. Greenpeace dares to initiate direct non-violence actions, which also known as civil resistance. Greenpeace started to occupying coal power plants, blocking coal shipments and mining operations, using ships and inflatables to disturb whaling ship. By using these kinds of non-violence actions to raise the awareness of the public and the non-violence principle getting powerful moral support from society. And Greenpeace started to expand their work worldwide. In 1974, Greenpeace moved its focus to the atmospheric nuclear weapons testing by French in French Polynesia, the Pacific Ocean. These actions gain supports from the NPOs in New Zealand. And in 1985, a ship of Greenpeace called Rainbow Warrior engaged in direct acts against the nuclear tests in French Polynesia.
The French agents bombed the Rainbow Warrior and one of the volunteers of Greenpeace was killed. The agents were arrested, and the news published worldwide. The French government apologized and paid compensation. After the sinking of Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace gain worldwide support and quickly expanded its organization to the international level and set up branches all over the world in more than 40 countries. These techniques used by Greenpeace successfully gain the attention of the whole world and the support of NPOs all over the world. The supports by global citizens around the globe increased the bargaining power of Greenpeace. Nowadays, Greenpeace is one of the most influential international NPOs. We can see that Greenpeace successfully gathered people with the same concern in a comprehensive manner, which fulfilled the definition of a successful NPO.
Is Greenpeace a Successful Npo in Terms of Persistence
Apart from nuclear weapons, Greenpeace also works in a diverse area, such as against the dropping of toxic nuclear waste to the ocean, stopping commercial whaling and seal hunting. By using against whaling as an example, the first against whaling operation is in 1975. Soviet whalers were whaling on the coast of California. The Greenpeace activists disrupted the whaling by placing themselves between the whaler and the whales. And film the whole process and spread across the world to raise global awareness towards whaling. After that, Greenpeace started to put more effort into lobbying to stop whaling. Greenpeace successes in 1979, the International Whaling Commission compromised to establish the Indian Ocean Whale Sanctuary. In 1982, commercial whaling was eliminated.
However, some countries still allow the hunting of whale in the name of research and scientific usage. Greenpeace did not lose it heart but keep pursuing their value. Continuously pressurize and lobby different stakeholders to stop whaling and held the anti-whaling campaign in Norway in the 1990s, in Iceland in the 2000s, and nowadays in Japan. Greenpeace consistently keeps its values and idea without conceding 1975. The attitude and persistence of Greenpeace is irreplaceable and necessary for a successful NPO. There is no doubt that Greenpeace is a successful NPO and a role model for all NPOs in terms of persistence.
Is Greenpeace a Successful Npo in Terms of Making Good Use of Resources?
Making good use of resources is one of the significant demands for a successful NPO. NPOs should always prioritize the service target and the organization’s value and mission. All the funds should be aimed to improve the working efficiently or improve the service quality and the goal is to benefit the target groups. However, according to the statement of comprehensive income of Greenpeace for the year ended 2014, the fundraising ratio for the year ended 2013 and 2014 is 34% and 36% respectively. Which is a relatively high figure as a 15% fundraising expenses ratio is often cites as the “expected average”.
Moreover, there are 31% of the fund was spend on the campaigns and campaigns support, but only 16% of funds allocated on the organization support. This means a donation of $10, only $1. 6 will be spent to optimize the work of the NPO. A successful NPO should not prioritize advertisements to promote their brand. But need always to improve their works and pursue their ideal. Serve by heart and spread the love to society. In terms of making good use of resources, Greenpeace cannot minimize the unnecessary expenses and maximize the cost-effectiveness of fundraising. Greenpeace needs to put more effort and make some improvements in this area.
Conclusion
To justify, there is no doubt that there are insufficient in the allocation of resources as the fundraising expenditure ratio is too high and the percentage of the actual fund that can be used to improve the organization development is too low. However, the long-term achievement of Greenpeace and its leading position in past decades should override the short-term financial insufficient. Greenpeace uses an innovative protest technique, which is the direct non-violence action and successfully gain support worldwide. Greenpeace successfully stopped the commercial whaling in 1982 and successfully stopped the nuclear testing of the USA and French. The prominent achievements make Greenpeace becoming one of the largest and leading international NPOs in the world. Moreover, the spirit of persistence of Greenpeace is also a key element for its success.
The minds of never give up and the consistency perusing of goals and ideas also help Greenpeace gaining more supporters and continuously expand their work to all over the world since 1971 without loosening. And now, Greenpeace is one of the most popular and well-known international NPO. People from across the globe witness the achievement and the success of Greenpeace. The value and the strength of Greenpeace should spread worldwide to let other NPOs to imitate to improve their works. There is no doubt that Greenpeace is now one of the most successful international NPOs nowadays.
