The Changing Role of the Non-Profit Sector

Abstract

The changing shape of the mixed economy of welfare is having a profound impact upon the UK non-profit sector. From a position of being relatively marginal to service provision, following the post-war reforms, it is now positioned at the heart of government strategy (HM Treasury, 2002). From having to struggle for any voice or recognition in strategic policy planning or evaluation, the sector is now welcomed as a partner in the process of policy-making. From learning to survive on few resources in a cold, uncertain and frustrating climate, non-profit agencies are promised additional resources, long-term security and the opportunity to shape events. Such offerings, however, come with a price and this chapter explores some of the potential dilemmas facing the sector as it comes to terms with its enhanced role. Attitudes to the role of non-profits in relation to the production of welfare have long been ambiguous. Concerned about mounting criticism from ministers, such as Bevan, in the post-war Labour Government, who railed against the perceived parochialism, amateurism, particularism and paternalism of the sector, Beveridge (1948) felt it necessary to mount a stout defence suggesting that:

the vigour and abundance of voluntary action outside the home, individually and in association with other citizens for bettering one’s own life and that of one’s fellows are the distinguishing marks of a free society (p. 10).