Abstract
American society has endured significant political, economic and technological change during the last decade of the twentieth century. These changes have left an indelible mark on the U.S. nonprofit sector. Most notably, fundamental changes in welfare policy, new competition from large corporations, increased contracting and accountability at the state and local levels, new expectations from a generation of new wealthy donors; a declining growth in government funding; difficulty in retaining well-trained employees, and keeping up with new technology have tested the sector’s capacity, its functions and the way it delivers services and advances causes. If the ‘past is prologue,’ the sector will survive, but it may take different forms. This paper assesses these challenges and predicts that in the next century, part of the sector will be highly professionalized and indistinguishable from the corporate sector while the rest of the sector will try to maintain its mission of service and continue to build civil society.
