North America

This chapter reviews the state of fundraising in North America. The United States and to some extent Canada traditionally have depended more on philanthropy than on government to provide a social safety net and to enhance quality of life. In Canada, the nonprofit sector is a mix of the “welfare partnership model” of civil society development, with an “Anglo-Saxon model” having a higher level of private philanthropic support. Four factors have contributed to the strength of philanthropy in the United States: constitution, capitalism, immigration and sector size. Two important trends in U.S. fundraising today are an increasing degree of professionalism in a more complex environment and a reevaluation of the costs of fundraising. Individual giving dominates the giving landscape in the U.S. North American fundraisers need to open them to innovation from abroad and continue to be willing to share their own with other nations. Controlled Vocabulary Terms capitalism; civil society; fundraising; innovation; philanthropy; professionalism; United States