Introducing Nonprofit Communication and Mapping the Research Field

Abstract

In the famous book Bowling Alone (2000), Robert D. Putnam explained the disintegration of civic tradition in modern society because of a diminishing sense of community. He observed that despite technological developments -or because of them -people have fewer interpersonal relationships, which renders collaboration difficult to establish and maintain. As people have become isolated, they do not participate in clubs and associations, but instead, they bowl alone. The declining informal collaboration corresponds to less civic engagement, political equity, solidarity, trust, and tolerance as well as associational life (Putnam, 2000).The NGO-ization of society (Lang, 2013), visible in the increasing number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) at the national and transnational level, tend to somewhat contradict Putnam's thesis. On the other hand, the number of NGOs is not per se revealing of the quality of citizen participation in those organizations. In the course of history, NGOs have been involved in different issues, namely humanitarianism, environment, gender equality, human rights, and peace (Davies, 2019). NGOs are growing faster than any other type of organization in the world, and their economy represents from 7 to 12 percent of the total workforce in some regions. The estimated number of NGOs in the world is 10 million, with India and the United States the countries with the largest numbers (Ferguson, 2018). The Yearbook of International Organizations estimates that there are more than 30,000 NGOs worldwide. 1 According to the Urban Institute report in 2019, the number of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) formally registered rose up to 1.54 million in 2016 just in the USA alone. These comprise a diverse range of sectors, including art, health, education, and advocacy; labor unions; and business and professional associations. 2 Furthermore, we can also consider foundations, aid organizations, charities, and social economy actors, like mutual and cooperatives as nonprofits -the aggregator of the typology is in fact the nonprofit-driven distinction. However, it might be useful to pursue a differentiation between civil society organizations that search for the common good and other organizations with private interests, even if they strive for the benefit of the collective.The terms NGOS and nonprofit can be applied to the same organizational forms -some authors tend to consider the former as a type of nonprofit. Interestingly enough, in the diversity of approaches, and even definitions of this object, there is a common use of the excluding element to classify it: nongovernmental and nonprofit. This implies they are not part of the market, nor of government entities. Or, at least, they shouldn't be -NGOs that are state-controlled or that serve hidden interests, or that even defend causes that oppose human rights or democracy, should not be framed as such. How can we consider a radical group with ideologies like the Ku Klux Klan to be a