Entrepreneurship theories of the non-profit sector

This article summarises the main results of entrepreneurship theories of the non-profit sector and discusses the impact they may have on theory development and on the real world non-profit sector. It is pointed out that the entrepreneurship approach advances our knowledge of the non-profit sector, especially by stressing the supply-side aspect and by focusing on the preferences individuals must have in order to engage in non-profit activities. There is empirical evidence consistent with entrepreneurship theories. Yet most observations do not exclusively support entrepreneurship theories but also provide evidence consistent with other economic theories of the non-profit sector. This illustrates that the various economic theories of the non-profit sector are more complements than substitutes. Furthermore, entrepreneurship theories indirectly help to improve the image non-profit organisations have in the real world; therefore they play a prominent role in teaching programmes which have been established to train non-profit managers. The author gratefully acknowledges the comments of the participants of theVoluntas Symposium at Yale University, especially the comments made by Estelle James, James Ferris and Dennis Young.