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.S. and Eastern and Western Europe. It reports on the structures and mindsets that shape foundations' gift giving, and discusses different aspects of foundation management. Case studies of the French and Italian foundation communities and a comparative legal chapter are especially notable.

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.S. and Eastern and Western Europe. It reports on the structures and mindsets that shape foundations' gift giving, and discusses different aspects of foundation management. Case studies of the French and Italian foundation communities and a comparative legal chapter are especially notable.

Focusing on service-providing organizations established by health and human service professionals in post-Communist Poland, this book adds a new dimension to the sociological study of voluntary organizations. The author investigates the motives and interests of the people who establish these organizations and the connections among organizational forms, the social organizations of production, and the occupational interests of professional service providers.

One of the major tasks facing researchers, practitioners, and funders is the development of empirical tools to measure the inherent worth of nonprofit organizations as well as the sector as a whole. Renowned scholars present chapters on the state of the art of performance measurement in the nonprofit sector and seek to establish a framework for a long-term research agenda to identify, quantify, and self-assess those qualities that make the nonprofit sector unique.

The 1990's will be remembered in Europe as the period in which privatization' assumed significant proportions in the field of welfare policies. In an age of crisis for the welfare state and increased demand of care services, there is now a widespread opinion that future welfare systems will see more and more space occupied by private and nonprofit organizations taking the direct responsibility of providing services and meeting the needs of the clients.
A "welfare mix" is emerging as a system in which government, private and nonprofit organizations operate in place of the state monopoly;...

Volunteering is one of those phenomena which, despite the limited number of people actually involved in it, is seen as highly important for the proper functioning of society. In fact, volunteering and active participation in voluntary associations are considered to be key components of civil society; it is felt that they generate social cohesion and societal self-regulation as well as strengthening political democracy by developing individual citizenship and organizing countervailing powers. Issues such as these have gained momentum in recent years, especially since Putnam's publications in...

Volunteering is one of those phenomena which, despite the limited number of people actually involved in it, is seen as highly important for the proper functioning of society. In fact, volunteering and active participation in voluntary associations are considered to be key components of civil society; it is felt that they generate social cohesion and societal self-regulation as well as strengthening political democracy by developing individual citizenship and organizing countervailing powers. Issues such as these have gained momentum in recent years, especially since Putnam's publications in...

This volume addresses the need to revisit the very economic theories that in the past two decades have contributed so much 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, introduced by Burton Weisbrod (see Chapter 3 by Kingma and Chapter 4 by Slivinsky) and Henry Hansmann (see Chapter 5 by Ortmann and Schlesinger and Chapter 6 by Hansmann) and others in the late 1970sand early 1980s, continue to shape...

The First Directory of Israeli Researchers published a few years ago revealed for the first time that there were 48 researchers from 11 disciplines in 14 different academic institutions in this small Middle Eastern country. It is not surprising, therefore, that with such intellectual resources, Israel can produce year after year social science research of the highest quality such as this first case study of its Third Sector. The three authors, each with an impressive record ofhighly regarded, sophisticated empirical research were selected to participate in the first of a series of...

The First Directory of Israeli Researchers published a few years ago revealed for the first time that there were 48 researchers from 11 disciplines in 14 different academic institutions in this small Middle Eastern country. It is not surprising, therefore, that with such intellectual resources, Israel can produce year after year social science research of the highest quality such as this first case study of its Third Sector. The three authors, each with an impressive record ofhighly regarded, sophisticated empirical research were selected to participate in the first of a series of...