The Role of Public-Nonprofit Partnerships in the Delivery of Public Goods and Services

While collaboration between public and nonprofit sector has a long history in the United States, such partnerships around the world have proliferated with the emergence of new public management that dates back to the early 1990s about a few years after the Romanian citizens gained the right to form nongovernmental organizations. Most scholars see the evolution of the nonprofit sector as a response to the failure of government to provide public goods and services. The purpose of this discourse as it relates to the 9th International Congress theme is to explore the role of public-nonprofit partnerships (PNPs) in accomplishing public purpose. On the basis of lessons learned from best practices across the globe, I will begin with a discussion of the theoretical framework for nonprofit sector. This will be followed by an exploration of the role that nonprofit organizations played in handling the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I will conclude with recommendations on how to promote PNPs in the twenty-first century.