April 22, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
Vision and Values: Rethinking the Nonprofit Sector in America, edited by Deborah S. Gardner, is a paper commissioned by the Nathan Cummings Foundation to explore the role that non-profit organizations should play in society. The paper includes essays from Peter Dobkin Hall, director of the Program on Non-Profit Organizations at Yale University, and Mark Rosenman, director of the Center for Public Policy at the Union Institute. Mr. Hall argues for keeping an open mind to all ideas concerning non-profit groups. He summarizes 200 years of debate over the function of charities, ranging from de Tocqueville to Drucker, and concludes that drastic changes did not sink other pillars of society — such as government and religion — and are unlikely to do so to non-profit organizations. Mr. Rosenman’s essay criticizes a June 1997 report from the National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal that claimed the only effective charity work was direct assistance to the needy, and hence all philanthropy should remain the exclusive province of local groups. Mr. Rosenman provides a point-by-point rebuttal to all the assertions made by the commission and criticizes its view as too narrow. The Cummings paper also lists 11 “Core Principles of the Non-Profit Sector” that were drafted by the Cummings, Surdna, and Turner Foundations. Publisher: Nathan Cummings Foundation, 1926 Broadway, Suite 600, New York 10023; (212) 787-7300; fax (212) 787-7377; World-Wide Web http://www.ncf.org; 48 pages; free.
