Publications on Advocacy Organizations

America's nonprofit sector continues to grow faster than its business sector or its government. The Nonprofit Almanac 2008 presents data on nonprofits' place in the national economy and trends in wages, employment, private giving, volunteering, and finances. The tables and graphics will give scholars, practitioners, and policymakers the data they need at a glance, while the textual analysis will help them plan for the future.

This working paper offers a descriptive analysis of the Latino nonprofit sector in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It examines the extent to which Latino nonprofits are equipped to address the needs of a rapidly growing Latino population. The study finds that both nonprofit organizations and religious congregations that primarily serve Latinos offer a wide range of services. Many of these groups are located in the suburbs. While Latino nonprofits constitute a significant economic presence in the region, the majority of organizations remain small. Data on nonprofits are drawn from the National Center for Charitable Statistics, and data on churches were collected by telephone survey.

As the nonprofit sector's role providing services and programs grows, the relationship between tax-exempt organizations and government becomes more complex. At times adversarial and at times symbiotic, the dual forces of government oversight and nonprofit pressure can have wide-ranging implications for public policy. Nonprofits and Government: Collaboration and Conflict, 2nd edition, edited by Elizabeth T. Boris and C. Eugene Steuerle, offers a framework to assess the influences on the nonprofit sector and its relations with government.

The past several decades have seen unprecedented growth in the scope and complexity of relationships between government and nonprofit organizations. These relationships have been more fruitful than many critics had feared and more problematic than many advocates had hoped. Nonprofits and Government is the first comprehensive, multidisciplinary exploration of nonprofit–government relations. The second edition of this important book is fully updated and includes two new chapters. The authors address a host of important issues, including nonprofit advocacy, direct regulatory and tax policy, the conversion of nonprofits to for-profits, clashes in government interaction with religion and the arts, and international nonprofit–government relationships. Practitioners, researchers, and policymakers alike will benefit from the authors’ wide-ranging discussion.

An interview with Elizabeth T. Boris, director of Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy (CNP). Boris is a national expert on the charitable sector. Now marking its 10th year, CNP has enriched the field with analyses on the scope and dimensions of nonprofits.