Exhorting people to volunteer is part of the everyday vocabulary of American politics. But despite the ubiquity of the idea of volunteerism in public policy debates, analysis of its role in American governance has been fragmented. The result of a capstone event held by the SSRC Program on Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector, Politics and Partnerships is a thorough examination of the place of voluntary associations in political history and an astute investigation into contemporary experiments in reshaping that role. Bringing together a diverse set of disciplinary approaches, the essays here reveal the key role nonprofits have played in the evolution of both the workplace and welfare and illuminate the way that government’s retreat from welfare has radically altered the relationship between nonprofits and corporations. This book is a companion volume to Globalization, Philanthropy, and Civil Society.

Awarded the 2012 Virginia Hodgkinson Research Prize for best book on philanthropy and the nonprofit sector that informs policy and practice.

Buy this book