The contributors to this book -- eminent sociologists, political scientists, management scholars, historians, and economists -- examine the nonprofit sector through a variety of theoretical and methodological lenses. They consider the tensions between the provision of public goods and the interests of members and donors in nonprofit organizations. They contrast religious and secular nonprofits, as well as private and nonprofit provision of child care, mental health services, and health care. And they explore the growing role of nonprofits in the United States, France, Germany, and Eastern Europe, the contribution of nonprofits to economic development, and the forms and strategies of private action.
"This volume addresses an extremely important topic from an academic standpoint and from a public policy perspective -- how nonprofits might contribute to the collective good, why they often fail, and some of the consequences for the larger society of their pursuit of the public good". -- Joseph Galaskiewicz, University of Minnesota
