Salamon Crafted Lenses to Better See Civil Society—Will We Wear Them?
Photo by Matthew Henry from Burst
Dr. Lester M. Salamon, who died August 20, 2021, has been described as one of the world’s most prolific and influential scholars of nonprofit organizations. That we think of the nonprofit and civil society sector as a sector at all is due in large part to the work of early scholars in the field like Salamon and the research teams he galvanized.
Salamon called the civil society sector “the invisible subcontinent on the social landscape of most countries, poorly understood by policymakers and the public at large, often encumbered by legal limitations, and inadequately utilized as a mechanism for addressing public problems.” Accurate and objective data, he believed, could correct common misperceptions, and would bring recognition, support, and enabling policy.
