From good Governance to good Management in Italian Blood Donors Organizations

The objective of this study is to verify that there is a relationship between governance characteristics of voluntary Blood Donors Organizations (BDO) and their management tools. Along this line we focus on just one governance characteristic to investigate the impact on management tools: the number of bodies present in BDO (president, board of director, executive committee, audit committee, chief of executive, etc.). When we talk about management tools we focus on planning (annual plan, budget, etc.), accountability (financial statement, balance sheet,annual report, social report, etc.), monitoring and assessment (performance indicators, reporting, etc.), social project management (project plan, project report, etc.). We tested our hypothesis using secondary data provided by Regional Observatory of Blood Donation in Abruzzo Region (Italy) and primary data obtained by a survey of BDO involved in the project (90 Blood Donors Organizations of Abruzzo Region); focus group and individual meetings with BDO managers; documentary analysis. Results indicate that a good governance with a significant number of BDO bodies has a strong positive impact on the growing of BDO management tools (planning, accountability, assessment, social PM), so this work has several implications both for theory and practice, and support that if a non-profit organization, in particular a voluntary blood donors organization, strengthens her Governance system, at the same time, are creating the necessary conditions for a good management.