Nonprofits and Social Change. Introduction: An Anchor. Reshaping the Relationship

In response to a variety of internal and external forces, including the recent economic downturn, nonprofit organizations in both Israel and the United States have increasingly been called upon to provide a safety net and serve as central players in the development, strengthening, and maintenance of civil society. These shifts include the privatization of services, blurring of the sectors and their traditional roles in providing services, reduced funding from traditional sources, welfare reforms including devolution, opening of new markets, enhanced role of faith-based people and organizations in service provision, intensified dependency and connectedness of policy makers and stakeholders, and the subsequent change in the relationship between citizens and institutions. These and other trends have led organizations to seek and create ways to restructure their internal and external roles and relationships with societal institutions