The Commons: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Nonprofit Organization, Voluntary Action, and Philanthropy

Abstract

The task of identifying nonprofit organizations, voluntary action, and phil anthropy as the principal constituents of a single "sector" within the larger economy, society, and polity has been a central challenge for the multidis ciplinary paradigm that seems to be emerging in this field. The concepts of the commons and common goods are presented in this article as having important multidisciplinary implications. The commons is characterized by uncoerced participation, shared purposes and resources, mutuality, and fairness; the derivative concept of common goods is characterized as desir able ends that are universal and indivisible within a commons but not nec essarily beyond. Taken together, the concepts of the commons and common goods offer the basis for a shared paradigm that can resolve the sector problem.