A Tale of Three Cities | May 2006

This article from the Newsletter of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, highlights Bruce Sievers's keynote speech at the 2006 meeting of the California Association of Nonprofits. This Senior Fellow of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, discusses the delicate balance civil society needs to define itself by today. He remarks the separation between the state, market and civil society to show that civil society is a sector with a foundation of key values and structures that have evolved through a historical process. He argues the civil society, is now more than ever, a separte entity from the state and market and that it needs to remain so in order to pay attention to collective well-being. To elaborate, he points out that relationships with the market and the "business model" do more harm than good to civil society. Additionally, the intrusion of state into civil society is problematic as well. He suggests three areas of action to maintain civil society: educational, regulatory and philanthropic.

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