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Nonprofits and Government: Collaboration and Conflict, edited by Elizabeth T. Boris and C. Eugene Steuerle. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 1999, 383 pp., $57.50 cloth, $29.50 paper.
Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector in a Changing America, edited by Charles T. Clotfelter and Thomas Ehrlich. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, in association with The American Assembly, Columbia University, 1999, 560 pp., $35.00 cloth.
Both Nonprofits and Government and Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector consider issues of provision and production for a diverse and changing nonprofit sector. Questions addressed in these volumes include: Who has provided the resources for the goods and services traditionally produced by the nonprofit sector or by government? Who will provide these resources, and which sectors will produce these goods and services in the future? What pressures and opportunities arise from interactions between nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors? What are the consequences for a democratic society in terms of involvement by individuals and nonprofit organizations, of accountability for processes and outcomes, and of trust in nonprofits? The chapters describe general trends as well as specific case studies, report historical foundations as well as recent developments, and provide assessments of future challenges, opportunities, and pressures that nonprofits face.
An impetus for both compilations is the increasing blurring of roles among nonprofit, government, and for-profit sectors. Dennis Young, in Nonprofits and Government, writes that a new social contract specifying the roles and responsibilities of the three sectors, as well as that of individuals, "appears to be substantially incomplete" with nonprofits "caught in the middle of this perplexing uncertainty over the pending social contract" (pp. 62, 63). Charles Clotfelter and Thomas Ehrlich also address the changing social contract, in particular the elements of old and new "covenants" between nonprofits and voluntary donors of resources. The "new covenant" they describe exhibits increasing acceptance of commercialism and political activity in nonprofits (perhaps at the cost of the loss of trust), a need for coordination by nonprofits and philanthropy, and a need for increased attention by philanthropy and nonprofits to social services.
Nonprofits and Government
With material divided into four sections, Nonprofits and Government: Collaboration and Conflict seeks to characterize the relationship between government and nonprofits. Following an overview of nonprofit-government relationships, major sections of the book address the...