Leveraging Social Media for Financial Sustainability of Polish Migrant-Aid Nonprofit Organizations

This study finds its purpose in understanding the consequences of budgetary cuts experienced, and fundraising adjustments made by Polish nonprofit organizations during and in the aftermath of the right-wing populist Law and Justice party governance from 2015 to 2023. It aimed to understand if, how, and why migrant-aid nonprofits in particular have started to use the power and potential of social media for fundraising purposes and the retainment of financial longevity in a politically hostile climate. To this end, this study asked the question: “How do Polish migrant-aid NPOs utilize social media to secure their financial sustainability in the aftermath of the 2015-2023 elite replacement in civil society?”. To do that, 10 semi-structured in-depth interviews with nonprofit communication professionals were conducted, inquiring about the functioning and social media activity of NPOs during the elite replacement. A thematic analysis of the interview transcripts disclosed three main themes describing the purpose of social media utilization by migrant-aid organization, namely: brand building, community building, and storytelling. Remarkably and contrasting theoretical expectations, none of the participants reported social media as their most important funding source, despite all of them confirming that their respective organizations were present on social media platforms. Nevertheless, the results of this study did reveal that Polish migrant-aid NPOs focus on building their brand, expanding their community, and using storytelling as secondary means to support their efforts in securing financial sustainability. Several future study suggestions are presented to drive the research on nonprofit organizations in Poland and internationally further, like conducting studies on other minority-focused nonprofits or a doing a content analysis on social media posts. This was the first study to investigate the use of NPOs’ social media in the political context of elite replacement.