Definition and Examples of Nonprofit Organizations

A nonprofit organization is formed for the purpose of serving a public or mutual benefit other than the pursuit or accumulation of profits for owners or investors. The nonprofit sector is a collection of organizations that are private (not government); voluntary; and benefit the public.
Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Charities - e.g. American Red Cross, Salvation Army, YMCA
  
  
• Foundations - e.g., W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Ford Foundation, community foundations
  
  
• Social Welfare or Advocacy Organizations - e.g., National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), National Rifle Association (NRA)
  
  
• Professional/Trade Associations - e.g., Chamber of Commerce, American Medical Association (AMA)
  
  
• Religious Organizations - e.g., churches

Purposes of Nonprofits

According to Lester Salamon (America’s Nonprofit Sector), the author concludes that the nonprofit sector exists to serve four critical functions:

• Service Provision: Nonprofit organizations provide programs and services to the community. Often times, nonprofits are formed or expanded to react to a community need not being met by the government.
  
  
• Value Guardian: Nonprofit organizations provide a means by which members of a community can take action in an attempt to change the community they live in. These actions may take the form of developing a local neighborhood watch program or, on a larger scale, developing an organization that responds to world relief efforts.
  
  
• Advocacy and Problem Identification: Nonprofit organizations provide a means for drawing public attention to societal issues. Nonprofit organizations make it “possible to identify significant social and political concerns, to give voice to under-represented people and points of view, and to integrate these perspectives into social and political life.”
  
  
• Social Capital: Nonprofit organizations develop a sense of community among the citizens by providing a means to engage in social welfare.

“Definition and Examples of Nonprofit Organizations”
Kate Luckert

http://www.learningtogive.org