Abstract

The non-profit sector (NPs) plays an immense role in civil society - providing relief to those most in-need and, tackling some of the world’s most pressing problems. To do so they rely on fundraising. Digital platforms provide an opportunity for NPs to increase fundraising and, better support their causes. However, digital platforms pose specific identity-based threats for NPs: 1. Their legitimacy and support are embedded in an offline context 2. Online ways of working are often at odds with their own moral and social ideologies, threatening their sense of ‘who they are’ and ‘what they do’. In this article, we investigate the impact of a digital-platform adoption, specifically e-commerce, on organizational identity. Drawing on data from a qualitative field study with 36 UK-based charities (non-profits) using eBay, and, taking an identity perspective, we explore ‘How do charity organizations navigate identity threats in their adoption of digital technologies?’ We offer four types of identity work and illuminate how digital technology is appropriated to either protect existing (offline) identities or, craft new (digital) ones. We offer contributions to theory and practice.

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