Fundraising Principles and Practice, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION TO THE NONPROFIT SECTOR

Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Describe the difference between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
2. Understand different perspectives on the scope of the nonprofit sector.
3. Describe a variety of ways to categorize nonprofit organizations in the United States.
4. Locate information on the size and performance of different categories of nonprofit or cause.
5. Describe the key sources of nonprofit income.

Introduction

In this initial chapter, we begin our exploration of fundraising by studying the sector that is typically the focus of our activity, reviewing definitions of the nonprofit sector, distinguishing it from the public and private sectors, and examining its primary sources of income. We will conclude by exploring how such knowledge of the sector can assist a fundraiser in developing their practice.

A “Third” Sector

Over the years many authors have developed widely differing terminology for what is ostensibly the same cohort of organizations. Labels such as the Third Sector, independent sector, not-for-profit sector, nonprofit sector, charitable sector, and voluntary sector are used with varying frequency in different countries. Unfortunately, they are all too often used interchangeably and with rather different emphasis of meanings, making it impossible to be sure with any degree of certainty ...