On Being Nonprofit: A Conceptual and Policy Primer / Edition 1

by Peter Frumkin

Overview

This concise and illuminating book provides a road map to the evolving conceptual and policy terrain of the nonprofit sector. Drawing on prominent economic, political, and sociological explanations of nonprofit activity, Peter Frumkin focuses on four important functions that have come to define nonprofit organizations. The author clarifies the debate over the underlying rationale for the nonprofit and voluntary sector's privileged position in America by examining how nonprofits deliver needed services, promote civic engagement, express values and faith, and channel entrepreneurial impulses. He also exposes the difficult policy questions that have emerged as the boundaries between the nonprofit, business, and government sectors have blurred. Focusing on nonprofits' growing dependence on public funding, tendency toward political polarization, often idiosyncratic missions, and increasing commercialism, Peter Frumkin argues that the long-term challenges facing nonprofit organizations will only be solved when they achieve greater balance among their four central functions. By probing foundational thinking as well as emergent ideas, the book is an essential guide for nonprofit novitiates and experts alike who want to understand the issues propelling public debate about the future of their sector. By virtue of its breadth and insight, Frumkin's book will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in understanding the complex interplay of public purposes and private values that animate nonprofit organizations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674018358
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	09/06/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Peter Frumkin is Professor of Public Affairs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and Director of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, both at the University of Texas at Austin.

Table of Contents

1. The Idea of a Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector

2. Civic and Political Engagement

3. Service Delivery

4. Values and Faith

5. Social Entrepreneurship

6. Balancing the Functions of Nonprofit and Voluntary Action

Notes

Index

What People are Saying About This

Peter Frumkin's book is an excellent introduction to the issues that the nonprofit sector faces today. It not only reviews the social science work done on the sector, but explores the policy questions that the sector faces in the 21st century.

Paul Light

Peter Frumkin has just redefined the field of nonprofit and voluntary organizations. His lucid book gives all of us new insights on just what it means to be nonprofit-like, and advances the debate on a host of critical issues facing the nonprofit sector at this critical moment in history. Absolutely essential reading for anyone in and around the sector.
— Paul Light, Brookings Institution

Laurence E. Lynn

Both well-researched and clearly written, this sympathetic but unsentimental analysis of the nonprofit and voluntary sector is a first-rate addition to the literature. Because it is sophisticated in its conceptualizations, unfreighted by jargon and cant, and manageable in length, this insightful book should be indispensable to both graduate and advanced undergraduate students as well as to teachers and scholars looking for a compact overview of the field.
— Laurence E. Lynn, Jr., University of Chicago

Joseph Galaskiewicz

Peter Frumkin's book is an excellent introduction to the issues that the nonprofit sector faces today. It not only reviews the social science work done on the sector, but explores the policy questions that the sector faces in the 21st century.
— Joseph Galaskiewicz, University of Arizona

Peter Dobkin Hall

Frumkin's little volume captures accurately and provocatively the contested and continuously-changing nonprofit domain. Unblindered by nonprofitdom's self-serving myths, it candidly identifies both the strengths and weaknesses of America's fastest-growing organizational sector.
— Peter Dobkin Hall, Harvard University

Editorial Reviews

Frumkin's book ties together, in one place, many strands of thought about the nonprofit sector, and will serve as an important resource for scholars. Exceptionally well-written and easy to understand...Frumkin gives us the kind of intellectual tour of the sector that those of us who call ourselves 'nonprofit scholars' have needed for a long time.

Public Administration Review - Arthur C. Brooks

Both well-researched and clearly written, this sympathetic but unsentimental analysis of the nonprofit and voluntary sector is a first-rate addition to the literature. Because it is sophisticated in its conceptualizations, unfreighted by jargon and cant, and manageable in length, this insightful book should be indispensable to both graduate and advanced undergraduate students as well as to teachers and scholars looking for a compact overview of the field.

Laurence E. Lynn

Peter Frumkin's book is an excellent introduction to the issues that the nonprofit sector faces today. It not only reviews the social science work done on the sector, but explores the policy questions that the sector faces in the 21st century.

Joseph Galaskiewicz

Peter Frumkin has just redefined the field of nonprofit and voluntary organizations. His lucid book gives all of us new insights on just what it means to be nonprofit-like, and advances the debate on a host of critical issues facing the nonprofit sector at this critical moment in history. Absolutely essential reading for anyone in and around the sector.

Paul Light

On Being Nonprofit is an excellent volume for the beginner, as well as a provocative volume for the experienced scholar. I hope this well-written book will stimulate more theorizing about the nature, functions, and contributions of such third sectors in various societies.

Contemporary Sociology - Virginia A. Hodgkinson

This intelligent analysis sheds light on the meaning and operation of the nonprofit sector. Authorities, including those in government, have often portrayed nonprofits as merely forms of interest groups or, alternatively, service organizations that educate, feed, or otherwise assist some subset of society. This book makes clear that nonprofits include both of these types of organizations and others...Highly recommended.

Choice - W. P. Browne

Frumkin's little volume captures accurately and provocatively the contested and continuously-changing nonprofit domain. Unblindered by nonprofitdom's self-serving myths, it candidly identifies both the strengths and weaknesses of America's fastest-growing organizational sector.

Peter Dobkin Hall

The book's strong features are its inclusive conceptual framework, its consideration of current debates and controversies, and its exploration of a series of basic tensions that seem inherent in the nonprofit sector due to its diversity. These are challenges that academics, practitioners, policy makers, and other nonprofit stakeholders must understand.

Nonprofit And Voluntary Sector Quarterly - Wolfgang Bielefeld

The book's strong features are its inclusive conceptual framework, its consideration of current debates and controversies, and its exploration of a series of basic tensions that seem inherent in the nonprofit sector due to its diversity. These are challenges that academics, practitioners, policy makers, and other nonprofit stakeholders must understand.
— Wolfgang Bielefeld

Nonprofit And Voluntary Sector Quarterly

Frumkin's book ties together, in one place, many strands of thought about the nonprofit sector, and will serve as an important resource for scholars. Exceptionally well-written and easy to understand...Frumkin gives us the kind of intellectual tour of the sector that those of us who call ourselves 'nonprofit scholars' have needed for a long time.
— Arthur C. Brooks

Public Administration Review

On Being Nonprofit is an excellent volume for the beginner, as well as a provocative volume for the experienced scholar. I hope this well-written book will stimulate more theorizing about the nature, functions, and contributions of such third sectors in various societies.
— Virginia A. Hodgkinson

Contemporary Sociology

This intelligent analysis sheds light on the meaning and operation of the nonprofit sector. Authorities, including those in government, have often portrayed nonprofits as merely forms of interest groups or, alternatively, service organizations that educate, feed, or otherwise assist some subset of society. This book makes clear that nonprofits include both of these types of organizations and others...Highly recommended.
— W. P. Browne

Choice