Philanthropy and the nonprofit sector in a changing America

This book originated in a conference sponsored by the American Assembly and the Indiana Center on Philanthropy. Leading scholars and practitioners consider three key clusters of issues: First, what forces will determine the shape and activities of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector in the next decade? Second, how will philanthropy and the nonprofit sector be strengthened or weakened by those forces? Third, how can the challenges of grappling with the forces be transformed into opportunities?

The focus is on a variety of pressures: the devolution of federal programs to the state and local levels; the blurring of lines between nonprofit and for-profit organizations; the changing distributions of income; major new wealth and its concentration; a revived interest in community and civil society; the evolution of religion and religious institutions; globalization; tax and other regulatory reform; and a retreat of government from various policy areas and the rise of privatization and market models.