The Third Sector and Public Policy - Essay Example

?THE THIRD SECTOR AND PUBLIC POLICY of The Third Sector and Public Policy It is agreeable that the wellbeing of any society in social, economic, and political spheres is interplay of several sectors. Often, public policy more than private policy is shaped by the activities of these sectors through mobilization of interest groups, advocacy, and education. Over the years, the Third Sector has played critical role in public policy. The term public policy refers to the social activity sphere that is undertaken by organizations that are non- governmental and non- profit (Najam, 2000, p. 375). According to Kendall and Knapp (2000, p. 12), the term the Third Sector can also be defined as the range of institutions that occupy the space between the private sector and the government or State; they are neither private sector nor public sector. The third Sector includes registered charities, trusts, social co-operatives and enterprises, voluntary groups, and the local community among others. Even though the Third Sector organizations exist in varying dimensions and entities, there are three main characteristics that unite the Third Sector (Alcock, 2010, p. 7). The first characteristic is that these organizations are value- driven; that is, certain desires motivate them to achieve social, economic and political goals such as the environment well- being, public welfare improvement, and economic well- being. It is noteworthy that this characteristic rarely seeks to distribute profit but seeks to improve the overall welfare of the society. The second characteristic is that these organizations usually reinvest any generated surpluses in order to facilitate the pursuit of their goals. That is why they are considered not- for profit organizations. The last main characteristic of these organizations is that they are independent from the government explaining why they are mostly referred as non- governmental organizations (Keane, 2001, p. 18-19). The Third Sector differs from the state and the market in a number of ways. Anheier, et al (2001, p. 24) note, their differences arise fundamentally from how Third Sector organizations are formed, their values, the scope of their activities, source of funding, and their objectives. To begin with, this essay will focus on what distinguishes the Third Sector from the State. The first distinction between the two entities is in regard to their range of provision; the state has a wide range of provisions while the Third Sector organizations have limited range of service provisions. For instance, whereas the state can offer numerous public services, the Third Sector organizations can offer specific services such as social housing and personal social care. It should also be noted that in some cases, the services offered by the Third Sector organizations are usually outsourced to them by the state. The state seeks to provide more space to the Third Sector so as to increase the Sector’s capacity to provide services that were previously provided by the public sector (Kramer, 2000, p. 20). Towards this end, the Third Sector is seen to have potential in making contribution in the following areas; social and health care services, educational services, children services, and correctional services among others. The second distinguishing factor between the Third Sector and the state is the scale of funding. It is an undisputable fact that the state has far much funding for its services compared to the Third Sector. This can be attributed to the fact that the state collects revenues in form of taxes which is usually in large amounts which help it to fund its expenditure in regard to provision of services (Anheier et al, 2001, p. 13). This is totally different from the scale of funding that the Third Sector has; the Sector has small amount of financial resources to provide the required services. This problem is heightened by the fact that the Third Sector is not- for- profit organizations hence limiting their amount of revenues. Most of the Third Sector organizations rely on the government funding in order to fund their operations; it is estimated that 75% of these organizations’ income usually come from the government (Alcock, 2010, p. 21). In fact, due to its increasing role in the provision of services, the state has been increasing funding to the Sector so as to enable it fund its services. Another distinguishing feature between the state and the Third Sector is volunteering. The state rarely depends on volunteering as a way of executing its activities and realizing its objectives. The same cannot be said of the Third Sector because it relies on volunteers both for carrying out its work and in fundraising. In most countries especially in the UK, volunteering has gained popularity for over the years as the number of people volunteering to the Third Sector either in funding or carrying out work keeps increasing (Hall, 1999, p. 448). The differences notwithstanding, it should be noted that the relationship between the state and the Third Sector takes many dimensions. The relationship is greatly intertwined and is geared towards promoting service delivery and public policy. Fisher (2003, p. 34-35) explains that the forms that the relationship take include the following: the state encourages the public to volunteer and give donations; the state contracts with the Third Sector organizations to provide certain public services; the state builds support services upon which Third Sector organizations can draw; the state regulates these organizations; the state collects taxes from the Third Sector; and, the Third Sector organizations receive funding from the state. As has been noted, the Third Sector is one of the critical sectors playing critical role in the wellbeing of any given society. The market or the private sector is such other sector. Despite their efforts being geared towards the same goal of meeting societal needs and enhancing its wellbeing, the Third Sector and the market differ to a greater extent (Salamon and Anheier, 1997, p. 29). Both sectors often seek to make money but the use of the money made often differs; the Third Sector use money for charitable purposes but the private sector use money made to expand their businesses with an intention of making more profits in the foreseeable future. It should not be lost that they sometimes use similar ways of attracting customers and making money but it is their use of that money that differ. Actually, in some cases they usually compete against each other for customers and also organizations in each sector competing against each other. For example, they may engage in price reduction, advertising of products, or extending the product range so as to attract more customers and increase their earnings (Kramer, 2000, p. 15). Along with that, the distinction between the Third Sector and the market is brought about by their objectives. The fact that the main objective of the market is to make profit is nearly incontestable and it provides goods and services with the sole purpose of making profit. However, the same cannot be said of the Third Sector whose main purpose is not to make profit but rather to provide the services with the intention of enhancing the wellbeing of the society (Anheier et al, 2001, p. 10). Often, the focus of the Third Sector is on the non- profit venture such as educational, cultural, or environmental objectives. These objectives, unlike in the market, are not informed by the desire to make profit but rather by the challenges facing the society and the need to address them. The objectives of the Third Sector are based on the long-term needs of the society and the need to enhance the sustainability of the society for both the current and the future generations. Additionally, the Third Sector relies mostly on funding from donations to help run their operations and meet their objectives. The market rarely relies on donations but rather seek ways of funding their operations such as through loans and contribution from members. Lastly, whereas the market has financial provisions to carrying out its work, the Third Sector depends to a greater extent on volunteering (Kendall and Knapp, 2000, p. 22-23). Finally, it is important to examine the significance of the Third Sector to the economy and the society. The presence of this sector in any given society is in most cases seen as an impressive indicator of the society’s economic health and positive current and future prospects of its population. Since the needs of the society keeps increasing, the Third Sector plays a critical role in increasing the well- being of the society and as excellent outlet for the skills and labour in the society. Leaving the well- being of the society entirely to the state will strain the state’s resources hence compromising the general well- being of a given society. Sweden is a good example of where the Third Sector is playing a vital role in fostering the nation’s cultural, social, and economic well- being. Other countries such as the United States have realized the important contribution that the Third Sector can play in supplementing the state and private sector efforts in promoting the well- being of the country and are allocating significant amount of funding to the sector. References Alcock, P 2010, “A strategic unity: defining the third sector in the UK,” Voluntary Sector Review, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp.5-24 Anheier, H. et al. 2001, Global Civil Society 2001, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 3-22. Anheier, H. et al, 2001, Third Sector Policy at the Crossroads, London: Routledge, Ch 1 & 18. Fisher, J 2003, “Local and global: international governance and civil society,” Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 57, No. 1, pp. 19-39 Hall, P 1999, “Social Capital in Britain,” British Journal of Political Science, Vol. 29, pp. 417-461 Keane, J 2001, Global Civil Society? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Kendall, J, and Knapp, M 2000, The Third Sector and Welfare State Modernisation LSE: Centre for Civil Society, Working Paper No. 14 Kramer, R, 2000, “A third sector in the third millennium?” Voluntas, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 1-23 Najam, A, 2000, “The Four Cs of Third Sector-Government Relations,” Non- profit Management and Leadership, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 375-396 Salamon, L. and Anheier, H, 1997, Defining the non-profit sector: A cross-national analysis, Manchester: Manchester University Press, Ch 1-2. Read More