This study classifies NPO staff motivation into a consumption model and an investment model, as based on the Menchik and Weisbrod Model (1987), and estimates the retention prompted by the satisfaction of these motivations. The study especially focuses on staff who are characterized by high investment motivation and who have received the training. The study includes data from 2198 informants, including employed staff and volunteers. Two main findings are identified. First, the consumption model of motivation is indispensable to retention in NPO activities, as almost all NPO staff are described by this model and feel satisfied with this engagement. Second, the person who has high investment motivation and has taken technical lectures such as accounting and administration, tends to continue to work in the NPO field. This suggests that there are people who are willing to invest and develop “NPO specific skills”. Therefore, in addition to discovering skilled talent, it would also be effective to train talent, through NPO specific training, such that these individuals form the future core staffs of NPOs.

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This study discusses the role of a coordinator in policy formation and the reason that an environmental nonprofit organization (NPO) can play such a role in environmental policy formation through citizen participation. The study is a case study of Joyo City, where a “Basic Environmental Ordinance” was recently enacted. A coordinator is one who acts as a bridge to different stakeholders, and supports citizens and participates in the process of policy formation in these cases. This role is important because neither the local government nor citizens possess expertise in shaping environmental policy through a process that involves citizen participation. It is appropriate for an NPO to play the role of a coordinator in development of environmental policy because it has the technical knowledge and skills required and also because it can mediate discussion between different stakeholders. The paper concludes that diversification and the development of social responsibility are important values for an environmental NPO.

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The cooperation of NPOs has importance not only in policy implications but in policy making as well. Still, little attention has been focused on the latter. This article clarifies the significance of NPO participation to policy making. Based on a case study review, four resources (power of implementation, representativeness, information and expertise) that NPOs use for gaining influence in policy making are explained by structural hole theory. These resources are classified according to the different roles of NPOs in policy, primarily as a bridge between policy making process and civil sector. In this way, NPOs can reflect public interest to policy as a ‘node.’ Because NPO resources are considered useful to policy making, opportunities for NPO participation are increasing. While recognizing the advantages of NPO resources, policy-makers should consider NPO participation in policy making processes.

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This study reports on the uneven geographical distribution of NPOs in Japan. First Gini’s Concentration Ratio was calculated, in order to clarify the overall structure of the distribution, with the number of NPOs which was aggregated by activity field and budget scale. Following this, the distribution in urban hierarchy and the regional linkages were analyzed based on the urban system theory to illuminate the background distribution structure. These data reveal that an uneven geographical distribution characterized by monopolar concentration in Tokyo was quite significant, and that the distribution varies by activity fields and budget scales. From the analytic results in this study, we could say that the development of this uneven distribution of NPOs has been influenced by Japan’s urban hierarchy and these organizations have spread from Tokyo both proximately and hierarchically. The conclusion asserts that the uneven geographical distribution of Japan’s NPOs may largely depend on the existing vertical and hierarchical urban system brought by the governmental administrations or the enterprise networks.

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In the theoretical context of social system and network science, modern Japanese society can be perceived analogous to an intellectual creation system with a flood of highly digitalized information and its network. A bottom-up power of intelligence stimulates the intellectual creation system to create new knowledge and intelligence. In other words, this bottom-up power of intelligence is the very dynamism of an intellectual creation system, and communication activities by nonprofit sector are important factors to spread information swiftly and properly through private networks. As an analog version of such an intellectual creation system, information networks in the Edo era are an interesting example. Volunteer workers like “TERAKOYA” teachers or “MURAKATA SAN-YAKU”, the three important posts for self-governance of villages, were key activists in the information networks of Edo Japan. On the other hand, as digital versions of intellectual creation systems, a network society like the Internet is a typical example. In this paper, I would like to indicate that the true source of this bottom-up power of intelligence was and is the nonprofit sector in both the societies of the Edo era and modern Japan. Also, the main factor of this bottom-up power of intelligence and the expected role of nonprofit sector in the intellectual creation system will be outlined.

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