Third-sector organizations provide essential services, but not all types of organizations operate equally well given different intensities of public problems. This article considers the need to create three-dimensional maps of the sector matching populations of service providers with the intensities of public problems where they operate. It does so by providing a framework for understanding third-sector organizational service provision. It is illustrated by following a case of essential service provision in the face of state failure. It concludes by highlighting the utility of three-dimensional maps for policy makers.
Acheson, N., Harvey, B., Kearney, J., & Williamson, A. (2004). Two paths, one purpose: Voluntary action in Ireland, North and South: A report to the Royal Irish Academy’s Third Sector Research Programme. Dublin , Ireland: Institute of Public Administration.
2.
Baum, J.A.C. ( 1998). Organizational ecology. In S. R. Clegg & C. Hardy (Eds.), Studying organization: Theory & Method (pp. 71-108). London: Sage.
3.
Baum, J.A.C., & Oliver, C. ( 1992). Institutional embeddedness and the dynamics of organizational populations. American Sociological Review, 57(4), 540-559.
4.
Birrell, D., & Williamson, A. (2001). The voluntary-community sector and political development in Northern Ireland, since 1972. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 12(3), 205-220.
5.
Cadwaller, A. ( 2004). Holy Cross: The untold story. Belfast , UK: Brehon Press.
6.
Donoghue, F., Prizeman, G., O’Reagan, A., & Noel, V. ( 2006). The hidden landscape: First forays into mapping nonprofit organizations in Ireland. Dublin, Ireland: Centre for Nonprofit Management , School of Business, Trinity College Dublin.
7.
Elliott, M. ( 2001). The Catholics of Ulster: A history. New York: Basic Books.
Gronbjerg, K.A., & Nelson, S. ( 1998). Mapping small religious nonprofit organizations: An Illinois profile. Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 27(1), 13-31.
10.
Gronbjerg, K.A., & Paarlberg, L. ( 2001). Community variations in the size and scope of the nonprofit sector: Theory and preliminary findings. Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 30(4), 684-706.
11.
Hamilton, N. ( 2002). Church and community in North Belfast. Jordanstown, UK: Centre for Voluntary Action Studies, University of Ulster.
12.
Hannan, M.T., & Carroll, G.R. ( 1992). Dynamics of organizational populations: Density, legitimation, and competition. New York: Oxford University Press.
13.
Hannan, M.T., & Freeman, J. ( 1977). The population ecology of organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 82(5), 929-964.
14.
Hannan, M.T., & Freeman, J. ( 1984). Structural inertia and organizational change. American Sociological Review, 49(2), 149-164.
15.
Hawley, A.H. ( 1968). Human ecology. In D. L. Sills (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social sciences (pp. 328-337). New York: Macmillan .
16.
Jarman, N. ( 2005). No longer a problem? Sectarian violence in Northern Ireland . Belfast, UK: Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland.
17.
Lohmann, R.A. ( 2007). Charity, philanthropy, public service, or enterprise: What are the big questions of nonprofit management today?Public Administration Review, 67(3), 437-444.
18.
Mapping the Spaces of Fear Research Team. ( 2000). Fear, mobility and living in the Ardoyne and Upper Ardoyne communities. Jordanstown, UK: University of Ulster.
19.
McPherson, J.M. ( 1983). An ecology of affiliation. American Sociological Review, 48(4), 519-532.
20.
McVeigh, R. ( 2002). Between reconciliation and pacification: The British state and community relations in the north of Ireland. Community Development Journal, 37(1), 47-59.
21.
Meyer, J.W., & Rowan, B. ( 1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2), 340-363.
22.
Milward, H.B. ( 1994). Nonprofit contracting and the hollow state. Public Administration Review, 54(1), 73-77.
23.
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. ( 2007). NINIS area profile. Belfast, UK: Author.
24.
Salamon, L.M. ( 1995). Partners in public service: Government-nonprofit relations in the modern welfare state. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
25.
Salamon, L. M. (Ed.). (2002). The tools of government: A guide to new governance. New York: Oxford University Press.
26.
Shirlow, P., & Murtagh, B. ( 2006). Belfast: Segregation, violence and the city. London: Pluto Press.
27.
Smith, D.H. ( 1997). The rest of the nonprofit sector: Grassroots associations as the dark matter ignored in prevailing "flat earth" maps of the sector. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 26(2), 114-131.
28.
Smith, S.R., & Lipsky, M. ( 1993). Nonprofits for hire: The welfare state in the age of contracting. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
29.
Torney, K. ( 2001, October 4). School protest goes on despite talks. The Belfast Telegraph, p. 2.
30.
Troy, A. ( 2005). Holy Cross: A personal experience. Dublin, Ireland: Currach Press.
