In 'Korean Nonprofit/Non-Government Sector Research', Sung-Ju Kim and Jin-Kyung Jung review the various aspects of the nonprofit sector in South Korea. The authors discuss the historical progress of the South Korean nonprofit sector; the internal and external environments of the nonprofit sector; its legal aspects and financial resources; collaboration among nonprofit, for-profit, and government agencies; and current challenges for the nonprofit sector in South Korea
For effective financial management, social work managers must clearly grasp the relationship between government grants and private contributions, which is frequently characterized as crowding-out effects. Crowding-out effects have been investigated for various types of nonprofits in the U.S., and the results have been mixed. In spite of its popularity in nonprofit research, the theory has not been applied to nonprofits serving minority communities. This is the first pilot crowding-out study looking at East Asian nonprofit organizations, including Chinese, Korean, and Japanese-American nonprofits in the NY and NJ metropolitan area (n = 410). Through a panel analysis, the current study found a significant crowding-in effect for donations to East Asian-American nonprofits (p < .01). The relationship between government grants and private giving was different for each East Asian-American nonprofit organization. Particularly, donors of Chinese and Japanese-American nonprofit organizations donated more money when their charities received more government grants (p < .05). In contrast, we found crowding-out effects for Korean-American nonprofit organizations, but the result was not significant (p > .05). The estimated crowding-in effects of government grants on private giving by each of the East Asian countries were explicated based on each country's social, political, and cultural background such as the quality of the charity, transparency, and political trust. Social work managers in ethnic nonprofit organizations should establish different strategies to help shape donor giving patterns according to the effect of government grants.
Abstract Discourses on the nonprofit sector and civil society have elevated awareness of the significant growth of the sector's roles and responsibilities since the early 1990s in South Korea (hereafter simply Korea). The nonprofit sector has played significant roles in promoting economic progress and democracy in Korea. Based on extensive empirical research and government statistics, this article presents the nature of the Korean nonprofit sector from various angles, including terminology, history, legal frames, size and dimensions, financial resources, changes in philanthropy and volunteer cultures, and social economic perspectives. In addition, the authors discuss contemporary issues for the nonprofit sector based on changes in the social environment. In discussing the magnitude of the Korean nonprofit sector, this article makes three arguments. First, we confirm that the Korean nonprofit sector has rapidly grown in multidimensional aspects as the legal systems for the nonprofits have developed in Korea since World War II. The growth has been accelerated by strong government supports and initiatives. Second, we argue that lack of conceptual frameworks to identify the nonprofit sector and lack of a centralized administration system have hindered fully catching up on the nature of the nonprofit sector in Korea. Multiple legal frameworks and excessively complicated governing systems for the nonprofit sector have inhibited understanding the size and dimensions of the Korean nonprofit sector. This article further diagnoses the financial structures and the contemporary issues for the Korean nonprofit sector, discussing key suggestions for developing it.
