ABSTRACT
A rich fund of anecdotal evidence, added to a steady accumulation of research experience~ both suggest that life in voluntary agencies is more turbulent to that in public sector human service agencies. A more precise focus is the challenge of achieving a better understanding of change in nonprofits by examining the way in which their organizational structure differs from government organizations. Nonprofit, voluntary, nongovernmental, social economy, independent sector, indirect administration are some of the terms used to describe individual units or their aggregation. A fundamental comparison of change in governmental and nonprofit human service agencies awaits a full program of research. In governmental "welfare bureaucracies" change is sometimes dramatic. Politicians can legislate away entire organizations or services. Change can be equally dramatic in the other direction. Governmental welfare bureaucracies may have complex relationships among headquarters and local groups, but the latter are "branches" and part of the line management structure of the overall organization.
