This collection brings together the views of a stellar assemblage of scholars, practitioners, . . . and a host of other talented and distinguished citizens of the independent sector . . . . A 'must read.' —Philanthropy Monthly In an attempt to analyze future directions of the increasingly influential nonprofit sector, the American Assembly and the Indiana Center on Philanthropy sponsored a conference that brought in leading scholars and practitioners. Participants were asked to consider what forces will determine the shape and activities of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector in the next decade. This volume is a product of this inquiry. Contributors focused on a variety of pressures, including the devolution of federal programs, the blurring of lines between non-profit and for-profit organizations; the changing distributions of income; a revived interest in community and civil society; the evolution of religion and other regulatory reform; and a retreat of government from various policy areas.

Now in paperback Making the Nonprofit Sector in the United States A Reader Edited with Introductions by David C. Hammack "Masterfully mining and sifting a four-century historical record, David Hammack has composed an extraordinarily valuable volume: a 'one-stop-shopping' sourcebook on the secular and religious origins and the astonishing growth (and periodic growing pains) of America's nonprofit sector--and the challenges and dilemmas it confronts today." --John Simon, Yale University "It is a delight to see an anthology on nonprofit history done so well." --Barry Karl, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University "This is a volume that everyone concerned about nonprofits--scholar, practitioner, and citizen--will find useful and illuminating." --Peter Dobkin Hall, Program on Non-Profit Organizations Yale Divinity School "A remarkable book." --Robert Putnam, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University "An outstanding and timely collection of essential readings for students, researchers and practitioners, carefully edited and introduced by one of the leading historical authorities on the nonprofit sector." --Roseanne M. Mirabella, Center for Public Service, Seton Hall University Unique among nations, the United States conducts almost all of its formally organized religious activity, as well as many cultural, arts, human service, educational, and research activities, through private nonprofit organizations. This reader explores their history by presenting some of the classic documents in the development of the nonprofit sector along with important interpretations and critiques by recent scholars. David C. Hammack is Hiram C. Haydon Professor of History and Chair of the Committee on Educational Programs of the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Case Western Reserve University. Philanthropic Studies--Dwight F. Burlingame and David C. Hammack, general editors

How philanthropy has shaped America in the twentieth century American philanthropy today expands knowledge, champions social movements, defines active citizenship, influences policymaking, and addresses humanitarian crises. How did philanthropy become such a powerful and integral force in American society? Philanthropy in America is the first book to explore in depth the twentieth-century growth of this unique phenomenon. Ranging from the influential large-scale foundations established by tycoons such as John D. Rockefeller, Sr., and the mass mobilization of small donors by the Red Cross and March of Dimes, to the recent social advocacy of individuals like Bill Gates and George Soros, respected historian Olivier Zunz chronicles the tight connections between private giving and public affairs, and shows how this union has enlarged democracy and shaped history. Demonstrating that America has cultivated and relied on philanthropy more than any other country, Philanthropy in America examines how giving for the betterment of all became embedded in the fabric of the nation's civic democracy.

Provides a multi-disciplinary survey of nonprofit organizations and their role and function in society. This book also examines the nature of philanthropic behaviours and an array of organizations, international issues, social science theories, and insight.

A Brookings Institution Press and the Aspen Institute publication The Resilient Sector makes available in an updated form the concise overview of the state of health of America's nonprofit organizations that Johns Hopkins scholar Lester Salamon recently completed as part of the "state of nonprofit America" project he undertook in cooperation with the Aspen Institute. Contrary to popular understanding, Salamon argues, America's nonprofit organizations have shown remarkable resilience in recent years in the face of a variety of difficult challenges, significantly re-engineering themselves in the process. But this very resilience now poses risks for the sector's continued ability to perform the tasks that we have long expected of it. The Resilient Sector offers nonprofit practitioners, policymakers, the press, and the public at large a lively assessment of this set of institutions that we have long taken for granted, but that the Frenchman Alexis de-Toqueville recognized to be "more deserving of our attention" than almost any other part of the American experiment.

A landmark three-volume reference work documenting philanthropy and the nonprofit sector throughout American history, edited by the field's most widely recognized authority. Developed under the guidance of Dr. Dwight Burlingame of the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, one of the nation's premier institutes for the study of philanthropy, the three-volume Philanthropy in America: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia is the definitive work on philanthropic, charitable, and nonprofit endeavors in the United States. The first section of the encyclopedia contains over 200 A–Z entries covering the lives of important philanthropists, the missions and practices of key institutions and organizations, and the impact of seminal events throughout the history of the nonprofit sector in America, from precolonial times to the present. Discussions of philanthropic traditions in ancient civilizations, in Europe during colonial times, and in countries around the world today provide fascinating contexts for understanding how the American philanthropic experience has developed. The encyclopedia also includes a collection of primary source documents (legislation, foundation reports, mission statements, etc.) for convenient review and further research.

A courageous call to free charity from its ideological and economic constraints