Organizational and Legal Forms of Nonprofit Organizations in Central Europe

Abstract

There is a bewildering variety of organizations, institutions and initiatives constituting the nonprofit or third sector: Besides kindergartens, environmental protection groups, sports clubs, and universities, there are hospitals, co-operatives, volunteer fire departments, and many other organizations being part of the nonprofit sector in a respective country. This enumeration clearly shows that in modern liberal societies the sector and its organizations fulfill a wide array of functions. Nonprofit/civil society organizations provide social services, offer legal assistance to disadvantaged groups or raise funds for charitable purposes. Citizens join nonprofit organizations to pursue their leisure activities, and they turn to the sector in order to organize protest campaigns or to lobby for the improvement of the environment. There is no doubt that nonprofit organizations fulfill these functions simultaneously, thus answering to a multiplicity of demands and needs. There are many examples where sports clubs are also working as travel agencies, and social service organizations are engaged in advocacy by lobbying on behalf of their constituencies.

Keywords

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

The authors would like to thank Annette Zimmer for revising this article and her committed support.