International Perspectives On Voluntary Action

This text presents a perspective on the third sector. Rather than considering non-governmental development organizations and voluntary agencies separately, it explores the similarities, differences and growing connections between them in both northern and southern contexts. Authors in the field consider the differences in scale and priority that exist between different types of third sector organizations in different settings, as well as the common challenges of accountability, legitimacy, effectiveness and governance. Models of learning and communication, including southern ideas such as micro-credit provision, are also examined, as are the continuing barriers.

​This volume overlooks the distinct expressions and awareness of volunteering in the lived reality of people from different regions of the world. By casting the net widely this book not only expands the geographic reach of experiences, models and case studies but also transcends the conventional focus on formal volunteering. It highlights institutional forms of volunteering specific to developing nations and also describes volunteering that is more loosely institutionalized, informal, and a part of solidarity and collective spirit. As a result this book provides a different look at the values, meaning, acts and expressions of volunteering. The chapters in this book consist of essays and case studies that present recent academic research, thinking and practice on volunteering. Working from the premise that volunteering is universal this collection draws on experiences from Latin America, Africa including Egypt, and Asia. This book focuses on developing countries and countries in transition in order to provide a fresh set of experiences and perspectives on volunteering. While developing countries and countries in transition are in the spotlight for this volume, the developed country experience is not ignored. Rather the essays use it as a critical reference point for comparisons, allowing points of convergence, disconnect and intersection to emerge.

Volunteering and voluntary organizations have become increasingly important in British social and political life but at a cost. Greater prominence has led to a narrow and distorted view of what voluntary action involves and how it is undertaken. This book reasserts the case for a broader view of voluntarism as a unique set of autonomous activities.

Governance and Regulation in the Third Sector brings together scholars and experienced practitioners from different countries to investigate the relationship between regulation and relational governance for the third sector in a comparative context. Each chapter reviews recent regulatory changes in the country in question. To what extent are there significant convergences in these reforms and what are the implications for the third sector? Is there any evidence that the foundational architecture for a more collaborative relationship between the state and the third sector has been laid? Overall, the book reveals that the reality of the supposedly new collaborative relationships and the impacts of regulatory reform are quite different from what contemporary theories of public management would have us believe. Recognizing the gap between theory and reality, the chapters explore some of the outstanding challenges for regulatory reform for the third sector.

Draws on a range of empirical studies of aspects of the history of voluntary action. This title includes chapters that range across two centuries and a variety of fields of activity, geographical areas and organisational forms.

This volume explores the world of grassroots organizations and outlines their history while differentiating them from the more familiar paid-staff nonprofit organizations. David Horton Smith, a leading scholar on the nonprofit and voluntary sector, examines the available empirical research on the topic and analyzes the theoretical concepts that have come to define such associations. He affords the reader a complete, detailed description of the nature and characteristics of grassroots organizations, their formation, structure, leadership, life cycle, effectiveness, and their integral role in postmodern societies.

The innovative capacity of voluntary organizations has become a touchstone for their role in providing public services. Across the world there are increasing pressures on voluntary organizations to improve the quality and effectiveness of public services through innovation and change. This volume uses original research to assess the innovative capacity of voluntary organizations. It provides: * a conceptual framework for understanding the innovative capacity of voluntary organizations * empirical evidence detailing the nature and extent of innovation * an analysis of successful innovators in personal social services * the applicability of the for-profit model of innovation to non-profit organizations * an account of the contingent nature of voluntary organizations' relationship to their external environment and particularly their main funders. The development of a theory of innovation in non-market and nonprofit conditions makes this volume an important addition to organizational studies literature.