paper organization

plural paper organizations

1. an organization that exists in concept, on paper, but has insufficient resources or support to be actualized as intended or envisioned.

   1970, J. S. Santelli, A Brief History of the 4th Marines, Historical Division of the U.S. Marine Corps, page 37. The 4th Marines existed only as a paper organization until 8 March 1946. Reactivation of all three battalions and the weapons company occurred on that date.

   1 more example

   It remains alive today, barely, under the leadership of Joseph Lowry but is largely a paper organization without a viable mission or vision (given the demise of mass protests, its central organizational innovation), given largely to holding annual conventions, occasional rallies and marches, meetings with the president, testifying before Congress and issuing press releases.

   1996, R. C. Smith, We Have No Leaders, State University of New York Press, →ISBN, pages 89-90