The Resilient Sector

The Resilient Sector makes available in an updated form the concise overview of the state of health of America's nonprofit organizations that Johns Hopkins scholar Lester Salamon recently completed as part of the "state of nonprofit America" project he undertook in cooperation with the Aspen Institute. Contrary to popular understanding, Salamon argues, America's nonprofit organizations have shown remarkable resilience in recent years in the face of a variety of difficult challenges, significantly re-engineering themselves in the process. But this very resilience now poses risks for the sector's continued ability to perform the tasks that we have long expected of it. The Resilient Sector offers nonprofit practitioners, policymakers, the press, and the public at large a lively assessment of this set of institutions that we have long taken for granted, but that the Frenchman Alexis de-Toqueville recognized to be "more deserving of our attention" than almost any other part of the American experiment.

Nonprofit America is one of the least understood segments of national life, yet also one of the most crucial. Author Lester Salamon, who pioneered the empirical study of the nonprofit sector in the United States, provides a wealth of new data to paint a compelling picture of a set of institutions being buffeted by a withering set of challenges, yet still finding ways to survive and prosper. These challenges, however, are posing enormous risks to the historic character and role of nonprofits. Operating in an increasingly competitive environment in which traditional sources of government and philanthropic support are difficult to maintain, nonprofits have turned decisively to the market. In the process, however, they may be losing their raison d'être, sacrificing their most crucial missions, and risking loss of public understanding and support. To remedy this situation, Salamon recommends a "renewal strategy" for the nation's nonprofit sector that begins with a wider articulation and application of the sector's "value proposition"—the attributes that continue to make it deserving of the special privileges and benefits it enjoys. Salamon's pithy and accessible book is perfect for nonprofit boards, leaders of charitable foundations, government officials, and students of the nonprofit sector and of public policy, as well as anyone looking for guidance on how we go about dealing with public problems in America's increasingly collaborative system of governance.

Today, America's nonprofit organizations seem caught in a force field, buffeted by four impulses—voluntarism, professionalism, civic activism, and commercialism. Too little attention, however, has been paid to the significant tensions among these impulses. Understanding this force field and the factors shaping its dynamics thus becomes central to understanding the future of particular organizations and of the nonprofit sector as a whole. In this second edition of an immensely successful volume, Lester Salamon and his colleagues offer an overview of the current state of America's nonprofit sector, examining the forces that are shaping its future and identifying the changes that might be needed. The State of Nonprofit America has been completely revised and updated to reflect changing political realities and the punishing economic climate currently battering the nonprofit sector, which faces significant financial challenges during a time when its services are needed more than ever. The result is a comprehensive analysis of a set of institutions that Alexis de Tocqueville recognized to be "more deserving of our attention" than any other part of the American experiment.

This open access book brings together scholars in the fields of management, public policy, regional studies, and organization theory around the concept of resilience. The aim is to provide a more holistic understanding of the complex phenomenon of resilience from a multi-sectorial, cross-national, and multidisciplinary perspective. The book facilitates a conversation across diverse disciplinary specializations and empirical domains. The authors contribute both to theory testing and theory development and provide key empirical insights useful for societies, organizations, and individuals experiencing disruptive pressures, not least in the context of a post-COVID-19 world. Diverse chapters are held together by a clear organization of the volume across levels of analysis (resilience in organizations and societies) and by an original perspective on resilience derived from an extended review, by the editors, of the existing literature and knowledge gaps, according to which each of the individual chapter contributions is positioned and connected to.

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller Discover how to overcome anything, bootstrap, and go from initial concept to Series A funding with this firsthand look at entrepreneurship Resilient delivers an invaluable collection of private journal entries mapping out a path from bootstrapping a multi-million dollar business to raising millions in Series A funding for another. Entrepreneur and Resilia CEO Sevetri Wilson describes her journey from self-funding to venture capital success. Written for ambitious and aspiring entrepreneurs like herself, Wilson covers a wide variety of topics about the entrepreneurial journey: How to go from idea to product The correct way to dive into the hiring process Preparing to raise money Building a tech company as a non-technical founder How to select the right accelerators, programs, and pitch competitions Creating wealth while building a business The author also shares her “Simple Agreement for Future Equity” (SAFE) agreement and first pitch deck. Perfect for entrepreneurs, startup enthusiasts, and founders, Resilient belongs on the bookshelves of anyone interested in the process of bootstrapping and/or raising capital to grow a business in any sector.

A Brookings Institution Press and the Aspen Institute publication The thousands of organizations that comprise America's private nonprofit sector represent a national treasure. Yet serious pressures are altering the playing field on which nonprofits operate, and many are responding in ways that may undermine their popular support. Despite the significance of these developments, little has been done to analyze and interpret them in a clear and understandable way. Lester M. Salamon, a leading authority on the nonprofit sector, has joined forces with more than a dozen other experts and the Aspen Institute to produce this volume, an integrated, authoritative assessment of the state of nonprofit America and the key trends affecting its evolution. The book is organized into three sections. The first summarizes critical trends and issues; the second examines each of the sector's major subsectors (e.g., health, education, social services, arts and culture, international assistance, advocacy); the third focuses on major cross-cutting trends and issues (commercialization, changing government policy, accountability, and demographic and technological imperatives). The Resilient Sector will be updated every two years. It provides a basic sourcebook for sector leaders, the press, public officials, and citizens concerned about the future of America's nonprofit sector and eager to understand the forces affecting it.

The IMF, with the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board, has been at the forefront of discussions on reform of the global financial system to reduce the possibility of future crises, as well as to limit the consequences if they do occur. The policy choices are both urgent and challenging, and are complicated by the relationship between sovereign debt and risks to the banking sector. Building a More Resilient Financial Sector describes the key elements of the reform agenda, including tighter regulation and more effective supervision; greater transparency to strengthen market discipline and limit incentives for risk taking; coherent mechanisms for resolution of failed institutions; and effective safety nets to limit the impact on the financial system of institutions viewed as "too big to fail." Finally, the book takes a look ahead at how the financial system is likely to be shaped by the efforts of policymakers and the private sector response.