ABSTRACT

Like other types of organizations, the policies and programs of voluntary nonprofit organizations (VNPOs) are strongly influenced by the sources of their income. Inevitably, the voluntary organizations tend to concentrate on those tasks for which they can obtain funding, whether from the government or from other sources. To understand the wide diversity in rates of growth, we must recall that the Italian and Dutch VNPOs both depend on their governments for a large portion of their incomes. Thus, even a small rate of increase, expressed in the percentage terms, represents a huge infusion of new funds. In the Netherlands and in Britain, the small organizations were well established and therefore less likely to enjoy extraordinary growth. But whereas the 1980s was a generous time for small voluntary organizations in Britain, the decade was relatively unkind to the small Dutch organizations.