Product Description: Nonprofit organizations, which collectively make up the emerging sector, have an increasingly influential role in the economies and societies of countries throughout the world. This book, the product of comprehensive international research into the sector, offers an international overview of its scope, structure, financing and role...read more

Product Description: The growth of the non-profit, voluntary or third sector has been widely recognized throughout the world. This text seeks to provide a definition and a common classification of the non-profit sector, while recognizing the great diversity of voluntarism internationally...read more

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Product Description: Comparative information detailing the cultural, legal and historical environments of foundations in international settings has been scarce - until now. Written by scholars from six countries, this text covers philanthropic foundations in the world's busiest commercial centers - the U...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: 'The editor has worked well to achieve a coherent product which will serve as the authoritative and leading text in its area. The future research agenda is to combine economic and non-economic performance measures, as well a to differentiate failure as process and failure as an outcome...read more

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Product Description: This comprehensive book offers an overview of the size, scope, structure, historical development, and current policy environment of the German nonprofit sector. Examining the sector in fascinating empirical and analytical detail, the authors reveal a sector that has been neglected from recent study...read more

Product Description: This volume addresses the need to revisit the economic theories from the last two decades that have contributed to the development of a concentrated research agenda on nonprofit organizations. Long neglected as a topic of theorizing and empirical investigation by mainstream economics in particular, these initial theories of nonprofit organizations from the late 1970s and early 1980s continue to shape theoretical and conceptual efforts...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

'What a welcome gift!' John Clark, Project Director, UN Secretary-General's Panel on UN-Civil Society Relations. 'This book truly breaks new ground in the field of civil society studies by introducing an innovative assessment tool which can be of use to practitioners, policy-makers and researchers alike.' Kumi Naidoo, Chief Executive Officer, CIVICUS Civil society - comprising the activities of non-state organizations, institutions and movements - has in recent years emerged as the major force for change in the realms of politics, public policy and society both globally and locally. Yet, despite the crucial importance of this political phenomenon to the principle and practice of democracy, it eludes definition and systematic understanding. This book provides a comprehensive and flexible framework for the definition, measurement, analysis and interpretation of civil society based on the innovative 'Civil Society Diamond'. Written as a guide for both practitioners and academics, the book presents precise and insightful solutions to the issues of how to understand the concept of civil society, where to locate it theoretically and empirically, and which techniques are best suited to its measurement. The approach presented here has been successfully adopted across a wide range of civil society organizations in over 30 countries. The author draws on and applies a diverse repertoire of indicators, tools and data - suitable for various organizational forms, practical contexts and theoretical perspectives - which measure the effectiveness of civil society initiatives and reveal certain strategic and policy options. The aim is to promote and facilitate structured, informed and fruitful dialogue within civil society organizations and between them and the governmental, corporate and academic actors with whom they are now so integrally linked.

This text is the first to dedicate itself to the nonprofit sector. It provides a comprehensive overview of nonprofit and voluntary organizations, nongovernmental organizations, philanthropic foundations and civil society institutions. Taking an international perspective, it details the background and concepts behind these organizations and examines the theory, management and policy which informs them. Questions answered include: What are nonprofit and voluntary organizations? What is the history of the nonprofit sector? What is the scale and structure of the nonprofit sector? How can we explain the existence and behaviour of nonprofit organizations? How do nonprofits obtain funding and how do they manage resources? With strong pedagogical features and the author's own extensive experience, this book is a valuable reference for all those involved in non-profit making organizations, as well as those in the wider public administration and management arena.

Product Description: Philanthropy and endowed foundation are vitally important institutions of modern society, yet in recent years, they've faced new threats such as declining resources and questions of accountability and performance. To address these questions, individual philanthropists and foundation leaders have looked to strategic philanthropy to become more effective and efficient...read more

The annual Global Civil Society Yearbooks provide an indispensable guide to global civil society or civic participation and action around the world. The Yearbook includes commissioned contributions from leading commentators across the social sciences on the latest issues and developments, explores and presents the latest approaches to measuring and analyzing global civil society, and provides a chronology of key global civil society events in the year.

This book explores the roles and visions foundations have of, and for, themselves in the new Europe. The leading contributors go beyond a quantitative profile of foundations in Europe, and probe deeper into their role and contributions in meeting the economic, cultural, environmental and educational needs of European societies. Includes a mapping and appraisal of foundation visions, policies and strategies, and an overall assessment of the current and future policy environment in which they operate. The Politics of Foundations combines the detailed comparative analysis of current challenges facing foundations, with individual country studies on Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and also includes a comparative view from the United States. This valuable reference will be of interest to researchers and students of foundations, policy-making, comparative politics and international business, as well as policy makers and professionals.