Recent years have witnessed a significant upsurge of organized private, nonprofit activity in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and, with it, a new appreciation of the important role that nonprofit organizations can play in the processes of economic and political change. Long recognized as instruments of relief and promoters of human rights, such organizations have recently come to be viewed also as essential contributors to basic economic growth and to the broader civic infrastructure that is now increasingly seen as a fundamental precondition for markets and representative political institutions to function. Despite their increasing importance, however, nonprofit organizations in the developing world remain dimly understood, and there is a lack of both empirical and theoretical work. This volume presents detailed research of the nonprofit sector in Brazil, Ghana, Egypt, India and Thailand. The volume addresses a significant gap in the literature, and is a welcome addition to the Nonprofit Sector series.