ABSTRACT
During the years since the mid-1970s there has been a tremendous upsurge of public interest in North America and Western Europe in the role of voluntary nonprofit organizations (VNPOs) as an alternative to government in the provision of quasi-public services. Not only are there separate “stories” for the various types of VNPOs such as philanthropic foundations, voluntary associations, and the corporate providers of quasi-public services such as education, health, and personal social services, each of these fields of service, or “industries,” has its own history, institutional structure, character, and relationships to government. Gronbjerg is one of the few scholars who has analyzed the inter-organizational relationships between the government and the VNPOs. She has identified four characteristic patterns occurring in particular fields of service: cooperation in child welfare, accommodation in health, competition in education, and symbiosis in housing and community development.
