Samenvatting

In this dissertation paper, the environmental organisation Greenpeace has been analysed. Greenpeace is an independent environmental non-governmental organisation and only accepts money from individual financial supporters and foundation grants. There has been a focus on changing the way the organisation has been operating for the last ten years. The independence and the use of social media are related to this change and explained as well.
In the second chapter, Greenpeace is explained organisationally, how it works, and what type of income the organisation has. The establishment of fundraising is also explained for this reason. The importance of this chapter is to show that Greenpeace is an independent organisation that does not accept money from governments or corporations, but only from individual financial supporters.
In the third chapter, the establishment of social media is explained, and why it is important for Greenpeace. The importance of this chapter is to explain how Greenpeace could broaden its horizons to reach more people and to get them more involved in the organisation. This is important for Greenpeace because the organisation wants to stay independent and needs to spread the word to get financial supporters on board.
In the fourth chapter, Greenpeace is compared with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which is another major environmental non-governmental organisation. The comparison is mainly focused on the organisations’ different objectives. FURTHERMORE, similarities, collaborations, challenges, and criticisms, and the importance of social media for both organisations have been analysed. The importance of this chapter is to compare Greenpeace with an environmental organisation that does accept money from governments and corporations. It shows the advantages and constraints for both organisations.
In the last chapter, the changes Greenpeace and social media have made in the last 10 years are discussed. The importance of this chapter is to show what has changed for the organisation and also what has changed in social media.
In the conclusion, an answer is given on the fact if Greenpeace will stay an independent organisation. The road to its success to sustainable independent growth, and why it decides to work like this has been explained. Lastly, a personal opinion is given which states that Greenpeace will become more important in the future.