This project undertook the following: (1) examination of the scope and structure of the private, nonprofit sector in the United States; (2) analysis of the patterns of spending by Federal, State, and local governments in fields where nonprofit organizations are active; and (3) evaluation of the impact of changes in government policy on the revenues of nonprofit organizations and on the demand for their services. Sixteen local field sites were selected to provide a reasonable cross section of the nation. A number of conventional conceptions of the role and character of the nonprofit sector and of the operation of the nation's human service delivery system are inaccurate. For example, the nonprofit sector is far larger, and plays a far more important role in the delivery of human services than most analyses of the American welfare state would suggest. Findings also challenged conventional ideas about (1) an inherent conflict between nonprofit organizations and government; (2) the American "welfare state"; and (3) the financial base of the nonprofit sector. The study also questions the orientation of the "charitable" sector by documenting its relatively limited focus on the poor and its growing reliance on fee-paying customers. (LHW)