The Adaptability of Voluntary Organizations

This paper will report the findings of an empirical study of 218 large, urban based United Way organizations (United Funds, United Community Services, Community Chests, and Community Councils) undertaken in 1972. The immediate aim of the study was to explore and identify those environmental conditions associated with United Way responsiveness to the emerging needs of poor and minority citizens and their indigenous service and action organizations. Its broader purpose was an attempt to contribute to the revitalization of the voluntary sector of social welfare through illuminating the process of institutional change and the development of flexible organization forms. For by the end of the 1960s the viability of voluntary organizations dependent on private philanthropy had been seriously jeopardized. During the 1960s United Way organizations functioned in a turbulent climate that severely threatened its traditional and hallowed voluntary sector roles. Surrounded by an intense atmosphere of sturm und drang, the voluntary sector was faced with a tremendous expansion of public sector social planning and services, innovative quasi non-governmental organizations, increased dependency of private agencies on public dollars, and resurgence of interest in market mechanism solutions to service provision

Business · Economic growth · Economics · Management · Political science · Private sector · Public relations · Public sector · Service (business · Social Welfare · Turnover · Voluntary association · Voluntary sector · Welfare · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Public Administration · Religion, Society, and Development · Marketing

• A Pluralistic Planning Model for United Way Organizations

  Stanley Wenocur•Social Service Review•1976

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