ABSTRACT

Many commentators in sport and leisure refer to volunteers as the lifeblood of their activities. But volunteers, as with any other types of input to the provision of sport and leisure opportunities, need to be managed. And volunteers are not the only concern of this chapter – the private non-profit sector is large and complex. It is increasingly labelled the ‘third sector’ rather than ‘voluntary sector’ because it contains some types of organisation which are run by paid staff, not volunteers. Private non-profit organisations are also called nongovernment organisations (NGOs) by international bodies – one of the best-known examples in sport being the International Olympic Committee.