ABSTRACT
Since the 1980s, civil society organizations have become increasingly central actors in providing services to the poor. A succession of neoliberal policy initiatives and bureaucratic reforms over the last 30 years have shifted responsibility for the provision of social services for the poor from the state onto local nonprofit agencies, communities, and ultimately individuals. As welfare state programs have been dismantled, privatized, or come under increasing austerity pressures, nonprofits have become the principal providers of assistance to people in economic need.
