Beyond 501c3s: Third Sector/Social Economy Classifications for Nonprofit Management Education

Abstract

Until recently, nonprofit and third sector classifications have been an underexplored subject area in nonprofit management education. This research area has significantly evolved in the last few years merging American with European and other international perspectives. This article examines the organizational characteristics identifying nonprofit-social with nonprofit institutions (NPIs) and extended by third sector/social economy (TSE) institutions. Professor Lester Salamon1 substantially advanced the classifications of hybrid organizations which led to the 2018 Handbook on Nonprofit Satellite Accounts and the Third Sector Impact Project. This work represents the first steps in aligning American perspectives of charity and nonprofit institutions with European social enterprise and social economy perspectives regarding the third sector and social economy. The organizational characteristics and principles for nonprofit/ third sector classifications are compared in relation to their effects on social economic solutions and nonprofit management education.