ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on organisations that comprise a third sector and juxtaposes them with organisations that are either part of the government or public sector and those that are part of the business or for-profit sector. Reference will be made to a fourth sector, the household or family sector, but within the fourth sector, by definition, there are no organisations. A number of writers have noted a convergence between sectors and have suggested that third sector organisations are beginning to resemble businesses or governments, that government is resembling business and that some businesses are taking on some characteristics of the third sector. Third sector organisations are the product of collective action. They are formed when a group of people agree to work together for a common goal. An important feature of member-benefit organisations is that the benefit is proportionate to the member’s use of the organisation. This happens automatically in the case of mutuals and many cooperatives.
