Based on the experiences of great Kobe earthquake, NPOs in the Kobe area have advocated a “new” civil society. Having analyzed the books written by members of Kobe-area NPOs, I found this concept of “new” civil society to be that of communitarianism, deliberative democracy and sustainable community. Such a new civil society seeks to promote quality of life for each individual and realize social inclusion. However, to build civil society, it is necessary for every citizen to have a powerful and independent spirit, the power of logical thinking and a sense of morality.

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As NPOs are actors in civil society, their accountability must be fulfilled by disclosing their activities to the community. While there is a lack of disclosure that is legally required by NPOs, the establishment of the Specified Nonprofit Corporation System has been a milestone in the sense that the importance of disclosure was clearly identified. However, according to financial analysis on Specified Nonprofit Corporations in Aichi Prefecture, it is revealed that the accountability to be imposed on Specified Nonprofit Corporations is very limited, this because they receive only slight amounts of financial support from society at large. Instead, other nonprofit corporations such as Social Welfare Corporation and School Juridical Person, which are receiving large amounts of subsidies or undertaking projects from governments, should disclose their activities to the public in order to eliminate the mismatch between the need for strict accountability and the reality of poor disclosure.

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Several Indonesian NGOs have been investigated to analyze the possibilities and limitations in networking NGOs in the Indonesian context. The consciousness survey on networking NGOs revealed that strategic networking would be superior to interaction-oriented networking, in spite of centric nature of the NGO network itself as part of interaction-oriented networks. The practices of PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) were widely spread in the Yogyakarta and Nusa Tenggara areas, while its training institutes were mainly located in Jakarta and West Java, with the structure of networking PRA facilitators dependent on a few key persons as links. These results indicated that the networking process among NGOs was essentially limited by three contradictory factors: 1) resources (time, money and human resources), 2) co-existing diverse values, and 3) necessity of consensus-making processes.

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The volunteer as a community dweller implies participation in varied activities depending on one’s different background of life environment. Therefore, it is considered that the differences in life cycles lead to different factors contributing to continuation of voluntary activities. This study examines demographic variables, motivational variables, and attitudinal variables to determine their significance in explaining variability in volunteering duration, based on a sample of 287 consistent volunteers, separated in three age-related groups: older volunteers, middle volunteers, and young volunteers. The findings of multiple regression analyses indicate that different variables within these age-related groups are significantly associated with the volunteering duration. People participate and continue to volunteer activities because they expect the various needs of their community life to be fulfilled.

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Given that prevailing discussions about “Mediation” of Community Based Organizations and common NPOs, both of which are important constituents of the Marketing Network, are still at an abstract level regarding “Mediation,” this article discusses “Mediation” from the point of view of Marketing Network forming. The characteristics of Community Based Organizations are clarified in comparison with common NPOs as non-profit citizen movement organizations which are detached from particular communities and retain expertise with no differentiation of their official statuses. The discussion, which incorporates the aspect of resources for local management including human, finance, and information, consists of the following three steps: 1) Confirmation of the importance of the “ambiguity of individual’s identity as a player in local management” concept at the citizen level; 2) Clarification of the appropriateness of Local Governments as mediators of Community Based Organizations and NPOs at the organization level; and 3) Proposal of establishment of “Local Community Collaboration Promotion Fund” composed of local citizen’s savings, which are regarded as a “Means for Manifesting Subject Citizens’ Intention or Needs,” with the Fund being available as a leverage for providing public property by mobilizing local resources in the context that the players at both levels mentioned above are not expected to be fully functional.

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