SYMPOSIUM: THE QUIET REVOLUTION IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR: LAW, POLICY, AND COMMERCE Introduction: Growth, Transformation, and Quiet Revolution in the Nonprofit Sector Over Two Centuries

• Formal nonprofit, nongovernment organizations in the United States and other nations have been shaped by national development over a long period of time, beginning not later than the early 19th century; • relations between church and state have powerfully shaped nonprofit activity; • nonprofit, voluntary, and mutual benefit activities of many kinds have waxed and waned over the years; and • nonprofit activity, as a whole, grew slowly from the beginning of the 19th century to about 1960, but amid considerable controversy, has grown much more rapidly in recent years.