Introduction to special section on non-profit and social marketing

The issue of sustainability is a ‘hot topic’ with hundreds of articles\ud being written daily. It permeates every facet of academic life\ud both implicitly and explicitly. In 2010, the INSM conference aimed\ud to develop an understanding of how sustainability issues manifest\ud themselves in the non-profit and social marketing arenas. The\ud International Non-profit and Social Marketing Conference (INSM)\ud began in 2004 in Canberra. Since its inception, this conference\ud has continued to gain recognition as a forum for discussion of these\ud specialised topics. The key marketing areas of interest include\ud community development, environmental issues, sustainability,\ud and health promotion, in addition to the core social marketing\ud themes. The 2010 conference included both academics and practitioners\ud and in this way provided opportunities for both of these\ud groups to explore the strengths offered by each group. This Special\ud Issue in AMJ provides an opportunity for these specialised topics to\ud be more widely presented through this mainstream marketing\ud journal so that the contributions provided by each of these articles\ud can improve the understanding of these complex societal\ud problems