|
Written by Hugh Morrow
|
|
Wednesday, 06 December 2006 |
The best known definition, while not commonly shared, most especially in European countries, is undoubtedly that supplied by the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (www.jhu.edu/~cnp/). According to this definition, the sector includes organisations which are voluntary, formal, private, self-governing and which do not distribute profits, such as hospitals, universities, social clubs, professional organisations, day-care centres, environmental groups, family counselling agencies, sports clubs, job training centres, human rights organisations and others.
In fact, entities belonging to the non-profit sector can vary from country to country according to national history and tradition. The term non-profit, born in the USA, refers mainly to the absence of distribution of profits. This is substantially different to the European approach of “social economy”, which includes co-operatives and their enterprises. However, this difference is less significant when investigated through empirical research. C. Borzaga and J. Defourny (The Emergence of Social Enterprise, 2001, Routledge, London) argue that the distribution of profits is in any case limited by internal and external regulations in co-operatives and mutual organisations in European countries.
Source: The Non-profit Sector in a Changing Economy , 2003, p12 |
