ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the amounts and sources of revenue acquired by collective action organizations, and the allocation strategies they follow in spending the monies. It focuses on budget making without explicitly involving the organizational polity is to impose an arbitrary separation on the intertwined aspects of association political economies. The theoretical neglect of collective action organization budgets means that sophisticated models are not available for empirical testing. The consequences of budgeting for the success or failure of collective actions eventually feeds back into future resource management opportunities or limitations. The chapter seeks to explain the variations in terms of organizational bureaucracy, environments, and goals. It discusses the tests of several propositions from the political economy theory that relate the external environment to collective action organizations. Many originate as simple social movement organizations in which structural differentiation is minimal and membership control is substantial.
