Significance To Society and The Economy
The presence of a large non-profit sector is sometimes seen as an indicator of a healthy economy in local and national financial measurements. With a growing number of non-profit organizations focused on social services, the environment, education and other unmet needs throughout society, the nonprofit sector is increasingly central to the health and well-being of society. Peter Drucker suggests that the nonprofit sector provides an excellent outlet for a variety of society's labor and skills.
In 1976, Daniel Bell predicted that the third sector would become the predominant sector in society, as the knowledge class overcame the effects of the private sector. This presently holds true in a number of European countries. According to a recent study by Johns Hopkins University, the Netherlands has the largest third sector of 20 countries across Europe. In Ireland the non-profit sector accounts for 8.8% of GDP. In Sweden, the nonprofit sector is attributed with fostering a nationwide social change towards progressive economic, social and cultural policies, while in Italy the third sector is increasingly viewed as a primary employment source for the entire country.
In the United States approximately 10% of GDP is attributable to the third sector. Donating to private religious organizations remains the most popular American cause, and all religious organizations are entirely privately funded because the government is limited from establishing or prohibiting a religion under the First Amendment.
Read more about this topic: Voluntary Sector
Famous quotes containing the words significance to, significance, society and/or economy:
“For a parent, it’s hard to recognize the significance of your work when you’re immersed in the mundane details. Few of us, as we run the bath water or spread the peanut butter on the bread, proclaim proudly, “I’m making my contribution to the future of the planet.” But with the exception of global hunger, few jobs in the world of paychecks and promotions compare in significance to the job of parent.”
—Joyce Maynard (20th century)
“Politics is not an end, but a means. It is not a product, but a process. It is the art of government. Like other values it has its counterfeits. So much emphasis has been placed upon the false that the significance of the true has been obscured and politics has come to convey the meaning of crafty and cunning selfishness, instead of candid and sincere service.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“... the mass migrations now habitual in our nation are disastrous to the family and to the formation of individual character. It is impossible to create a stable society if something like a third of our people are constantly moving about. We cannot grow fine human beings, any more than we can grow fine trees, if they are constantly torn up by the roots and transplanted ...”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)
“The counting-room maxims liberally expounded are laws of the Universe. The merchant’s economy is a coarse symbol of the soul’s economy. It is, to spend for power, and not for pleasure.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)