Nonprofit organizations in the United States run the gamut from advocacy groups and soup kitchens to universities and symphony orchestras. Salamon (director, Center for Civil Society Studies, Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies) presents 17 contributions that collectively provide a descriptive analysis of the range of nonprofit organizations and the economic and political challenges they face. The major sectors are described in separate chapters before five final papers look at such issues as commercialization, public accountability, demographic change, and financial contributions. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Part I, Overview. The resilient sector : the state of nonprofit America / Lester M. Salamon — Part II, Major Fields. Health / Bradford H. Gray and Mark Schlesinger — Education and training / Donald M. Stewart, Pearl Rock Kane, and Lisa Scruggs — Social services / Steven Rathgeb Smith — Arts and culture / Margaret J. Wyszomirski — Housing and community development / Avis C. Vidal — International assistance / Shepard Forman and Abby Stoddard — Religious congregations / Mark Chaves — Civic participation and advocacy / Elizabeth T. Boris and Jeff Krehely — Infrastructure organizations / Alan J. Abramson and Rachel McCarthy — Foundations and corporate philanthropy / Leslie Lenkowsky — Individual giving and volunteering / Virginia A. Hodgkinson with Kathryn E. Nelson and Edward D. Sivak Jr. — Part III, Major challenges. Commercialization, social ventures. and for-profit competition / Dennis R. Young and Lester M. Salamon — Devolution, marketization, and the changing shape of government-nonprofit relations / Kirsten A. Gronbjerg and Lester M. Salamon — Accountability and public trust / Evelyn Brody — Demographic and technological imperatives / Atul Dighe — For whom and for what? : the contributions of the nonprofit sector / William Diaz.