ABSTRACT
Independent Sector (IS) operates through six program areas: public education, government relations, research, measurable growth in giving and volunteering, effective sector leadership, and management and communications/meeting ground. Each program area is guided by a committee, consisting of IS board members, and member representatives. The national coalition of nonprofit organizations is known as the IS. In 1987, the National Center for Charitable Statistics, a subsidiary of IS, published the first "National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities," a system for classifying nongovernmental, nonbusiness tax-exempt organizations in the United States with a focus on the nearly half million philanthropic organizations under 1RS Section 501(c)(3). The major headings of that taxonomy alone indicate the breadth and diversity of America's independent sector. With such a variety of nonprofit organizations and activity and with such impressive figures in giving and volunteering, it is easy to become a cheerleader for this American phenomenon—sometimes to the extreme.
