A detailed account of how and why the diverse groups of INDEPENDENT SECTOR came together, what it has taken to keep them together, and what they have been able to achieve through collaboration.Foreword by John W. GardnerPrefaceAcknowledgementsThe Author Introduction: The Significance of Voluntary Action in America Part One: The Beginnings of INDEPENDENT SECTOR 1. Serious Challenges to Nonprofit Organizations in the 1960s and1970s 2. Searching for a Course 3. The Organizing Effort 4. The Birth of INDEPENDENT SECTOR and the Defining FirstYear Part Two: The Power of Association 5. The Strength of Coalition: A Quintessential Example 6. Battles and Cooperation with Government 7. Telling the Sector's Story 8. Fostering Research on the Sector 9. Promoting Effectiveness, Openness,and Accountability 10. Making the Most of the Meeting Ground Part Three: Lessons and Afterthoughts 11. Building, Energizing, and Maintaining Large and DiverseCoalitions 12. Hopes Not Realized and Other Regrets 13. A Personal View of the Future AppAndixes:A. Roster of Charter MembersB. The Start-Up FundersC.1995 Membership RosterD. Board Mambers 1980-1995E. Staff Mambers1980-1996BRIAN O'CONNELL is founding president of INDEPENDENT SECTOR, the national coalition of voluntary and philanthropic organizations. He has also served as president of the National Council on Philanthropy and as executive director of the Coalition of National Voluntary Organizations and of the National Mental Health Association. He also chaired the organizing efforts for the National Committee on Patients' Rights, the National Assembly of Voluntary Health and Welfare Organizations and CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. He is also the author of eleven books, including Board Overboard (1996), People Power (1995), Volunteers in Action (wilci