A non profit organisation needs to under take business research as much as a regular business. If a non profit organisation is working for a cause, they can use business research, or simply put, just research to find out things like demographics, public opinions, issues in the community and calculate the response of their funding parties. They often use research to solve problems and get data that is required to undertake a project or to ensure a project's smooth functioning and operation.
For example: if an NGO is on a project to minimize infant death rate in a particular country in Africa where children die due to malnutrition and other diseases, their research will enable them to get the much required data like what is the birth and death rate in the country., which area is the most affected, what is a child's diet on average, what is the economy of the country and many other questions that will be answered through research will help the non profit organisation strategise the project.
For example: if an NGO is on a project to minimize infant death rate in a particular country in Africa where children die due to malnutrition and other diseases, their research will enable them to get the much required data like what is the birth and death rate in the country., which area is the most affected, what is a child's diet on average, what is the economy of the country and many other questions that will be answered through research will help the non profit organisation strategise the project.