Description
Book SynopsisExplores the role of voluntary action and nonprofit organization in contemporary America. This book presents the concept of "third space," which provides an important tool for the construction of civil society. It is a call to strengthen the social fabric through community action.
Trade ReviewThis book investigates the role of voluntary action and nonprofit organization in contemporary America. It notes that society contains four sectors – governmental, market, family and nonproft – and argues that the concept of a 'third space' is a more useful way of conceptualizing the area of society that is occupied by nonprofits as well as many individuals and organizations that come together to work for the common good. Van Til is a respected commentator on nonprofit and philanthropic issues and he notes in the preface to this paperback edition that this book has been ten years in gestation. He offers a rounded review of third sector activity, including successes and limitations. But ultimately the author is a champion of his focus of study, arguing that the third space is crucial because it has the potential to be a wellspring for rebuilding a troubled society in an age of rapid change and turbulence.
-- Beth Breeze * Philanthropy UK Nwsltr *
Table of ContentsPreface to the Paperback Edition
Preface
Introduction: Third Sector, Third Space
Part One: The Uses of the Third Sector
1. Building Blocks for the Third Sector
2. Mapping the Boundaries
Part Two: On the Boundary between Government and the Third Sector
3. The Third Sector as a Political Force
4. National Service in Theory and in Practice
5. The Emerging Field of Nonprofit Policy Study
Part Three: On the Boundary between Business and the Third Sector
6. Making Money, Wielding Power, and Other Temptations of Nonprofit Life
7. The Art and Business of Nonprofit Organization Management
8. When the Business of Nonprofits Is Increasingly Business
Part Four: On the Boundary between Culture and the Third Space
9. Civil Education: Moving to Define an Ambiguous Tradition
10. On the Contemporary Hope for Faith and Charity
11. Social Entrepreneurship and the End of Work
Part Five: Searching for Meaning and Justice
12. Commission Reports on the Third Sector
13. Civil Society and the Escape from Madness
Part Six: A Third Space
14. Beyond the Myths of Sector
15. Growing Civil Society, Using the Third Space
Notes
References
Index
