Description

This chapter provides a foundation for understanding the nature of the nonprofit sector in America today, explain the context within which the sector operates, and offer some observations about how the sector may continue to evolve and change in the coming five to ten years. One of the most important insights about the American nonprofit sector is that there has always been a dynamic relationship between the top‐down structures put in place by society and the bottom‐up desire of Americans to fulfill their expressive, advocacy, and service needs through organizations that are non‐government and also non‐market. Funding has shifted significantly for nonprofit organizations in the US since the mid‐1980s. Government funding remains an essential revenue source for human service organizations.