Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector in a Changing America

What is the future of philanthropy in a changing America? This volume of agenda-setting essays suggests how philanthropy and the nonprofit sector might respond to a society which is seeing not only the devolution of federal programs to the state and local levels, but also the blurring of lines between nonprofit and for-profit organizations, globalization, tax and other regulatory reform, and the rise of privatization and market models, among other sea changes.The nonprofit sector in America consists of some 1.5 million tax-exempt organizations, ranging in size from storefront human services agencies and one-room churches to giant universities and medical centers. The sector accounts for about 7 percent of national income, employs some 10 million workers, and uses the services of some 90 million volunteers.In an attempt to analyse future directions of this increasingly influential sector, the American Assembly and the Indiana Center on Philanthropy sponsored a conference that brought in leading scholars and practitioners. The participants were asked to consider three key clusters of issues: First, what forces will determine the shape and activities of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector in the next decade? Second, how will philanthropy and the nonprofit sector be strengthened or weakened by those forces? Third, how can the challenges of grappling with the forces be transformed into opportunities?This volume is a product of this inquiry. Each contributor focused on a variety of pressures: the devolution of federal programs to the state and local levels: the blurring of lines between non-profit and for-profit organizations; the changing distributions of income; major new wealth and its concentration; 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 and the rise of privatization and market models.The contributors are Elizabeth T. Boris, Eleanor Brown, Dwight F. Burlingame, Emmett D. Carson, Charles T. Clotfelter, William A. Diaz, Thomas Ehrlich, Joel L. Fleishman, Bradford H. Gray, Kirsten A. Gr¿nbjerg, Jean Grossman, Warren F. Ilchman, Alice W. Karl, Barry D. Karl, Leslie Lenkowsky, Reynald Levy, Anthony Markward, William S. McKersie, David H. Mortimer, Robert L. Payton, Jon Pratt, David O. Renz, Richard L. Revesz, Michael Rothschild, James Allen Smith, Steven Rathgeb Smith, Ruby Takanishi, Eugene R. Tempel, Gary Walker, Edward Wolff, Julian Wolpert, and Margaret J. Wyszomirski.