ABSTRACT
The nonprofit sector has come a long way from its humble and uniquely American beginnings as citizens coming together to meet a local need, sometimes in the face of inadequate government capacity, and sometimes to promote a new vision of society. Its roots in the Puritan notion of a better world are long forgotten. The state-by-state fight for the right to incorporate and create lasting organizations has been relegated to a dusty corner of history. No one alive remembers the Friendly Visitors. There are few if any witnesses left to the days before the nonprofit community had to concern itself with such things as tax status. So much has changed.
