Nursing organizations require funding to support important roles relating to the dissemination of information on appropriate healthcare practices and safeguarding the welfare of nursing professionals by promoting policies to support education and training. The essay analyzes the economic structure of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), and the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN).
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) supports its operations using funding from member associations, foundations, and project grants from partners and supporting bodies. The International Council of Nurses Foundation (ICNF) supports charitable purposes, which encourage individuals and organizations to donate to the sustenance of ICN’s operations. External funding and support are crucial to the implementation of the diverse projects by ICN. The funding helps to minimize challenges relating to the management of the organization’s core budget considering that ICN operates as a non-profit making entity (Blais & Hayes, 2010). ICN does not offer individual membership, which means that the organization cannot increase its funding through membership subscriptions. The diversity of projects under the ICN umbrella demands the input of relevant organizations and sectors to help extend the ICN’s capacity to implement and accomplish various initiatives in alignment with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Although ICN does not describe its status and framework as a profit-generating organization in its mission statement, company overview, or description, the organization operates as an NGO, which means that the objective for ICN’s formation and operation is not conventional profit generation (Drucker, 2012). The nature of membership of some of ICN’s member organizations highlights the balance of representation of practicing nurses and managerial entities. An analysis of ICN’s membership highlights the organization’s accommodation of financially challenged members, which would likely not be the case for a profit-making entity because the underfunded members would introduce financial constraints on the organization’s ability to manage its operations.
Response 1
NAPNAP gets funding by forming partnerships with entities such as the State Division of Healthcare Financing and the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, which facilitate the pooling of funds to provide a flexible and sufficient source of funding. The organization indirectly sources funds by influencing legislation relating to maternal and child health care programs, which are core elements in its scope of operations. For example, NAPNAP lobbied for an eight percent increase in the national budgetary allocations on nursing programs during the 1998 fiscal year (Cashin & Cook, 2011). The organization lobbied for the enactment of a federal childcare bill, which designated entitlements for childcare at the state and local levels. Apart from legislation and partnerships, NAPNAP obtains funding from fees on different membership subscription packages. NAPNAP Foundation sources donations to improve the welfare of children and their families (Kjervik & Brous, 2010).
Response 2
AANN is a non-profit making organization whose economic structure highlights the organization’s dependence on funding from the government, supporting bodies, and corporate partnership programs such as AANN membership. The organization has collaborated with entities such as ANA, ASA, NNF, and WFNN, which help in lobbying for the enactment of policies and proposals to increase the number of funds that government ministries allocate to the organization (Hickey, 2011). AANN accepts donations through the Neuroscience Nursing Foundation (NNF), which focuses on the sourcing of funds for supporting neuroscience nursing. The funds help to sustain educational grants and support research in the field of neuroscience (Nursing: scope and standards of practice, 2010).
References
Blais, K., & Hayes, J. (2010). Professional nursing practice: concepts and perspectives. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Cashin, A., & Cook, R. (2011). Evidence-based practice in nursing informatics concepts and applications. Hershey, PA: Medical Information Science Reference.
Drucker, P. (2012). Managing the Non-Profit Organization. New York: Routledge. Hickey, J. V. (2011). The clinical practice of neurological and neurosurgical nursing. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Kjervik, D. K., & Brous, E. A. (2010). Law and ethics for advanced practice nursing. New York: Springer.
Nursing: scope and standards of practice. (2010). Silver Spring: American Nurses Association.