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Third Sector New England
General Information
About Our Name
The third sector, otherwise known as the voluntary or independent sector, includes all types of activities initiated by groups of individuals who see something missing in the fabric of their communities. These activities might range from feeding the hungry to providing a place of worship. They include small dance companies and huge museums, small family foundations and large national philanthropies, groups that provide a mix of literacy and political education, recreational facilities, tenant organizing programs and neighborhood watches. They include mutual assistance groups that ease the way for a new wave of immigrants and groups that promote English only policies. In other words, the third sector is where people bring their basic values, find cohorts and organize themselves to change, or add, or call attention to what they consider to be important in our lives.
The size and diversity of this country's independent sector attests to our basic collective belief that we have the inalienable right to participate. It is no surprise that as democratic forms of government spread to other countries, third sector activities have burgeoned at incredible rates.
Much of the activity in the third sector is organized by or associated with nonprofit organizations and foundations, but there is also significant work that occurs outside traditional organizational frameworks.
Third Sector New England seeks to promote the diversity and richness of this sector by supporting the variety of activities that happen within it. Our concentration is on building partnerships at every level and promoting the systems of broad based dialogue and participation that result in healthy and sustainable communities.
Third Sector New England
Third Sector New England (TSNE) is an evolving resource center for nonprofit organizations, foundations, and others involved in voluntary activity. We strive to help the sector improve its understanding of its role and potential impact within a rapidly shifting economy, and to provide materials and services that build knowledge, skills and capacity. In planning this endeavor, we have concentrated our efforts on areas in which we can add significant value by filling a gap, so that we are neither redundant or competitive. We have also looked for potential partners wherever possible with the intention of creating synergy between our own work and that of others active in the field.
Our Mission
Third Sector New England is dedicated to the promotion of active democracy. In this mission, we join others around our nation and the globe in creating a just and sustainable future. To realize this future, people within and across communities must be actively engaged in building and holding responsible the systems that affect their lives. We believe it is the role of the nonprofit sector worldwide to catalyze and sustain the activities and organizations which are the vehicles for this process.
In order to accomplish this mission, third sector organizations must develop more inclusive methods of dialogue and organizing. They must work across traditional boundaries such as race, class, gender, specialized interest and geography. They must extend special invitations to and provide resources for those who have been most excluded, helping them to be included as participants in co-creating a new world.
Third Sector New England supports the work of nonprofit organizations, community groups and individuals. We offer information and services that build knowledge, power and effectiveness and help to promote understanding about the nonprofit sector's impact in communities and its relationship to business and government. We share with our constituents the hope and motivation that distinguishes this sector by involving ourselves deeply and side by side with them in community life.
Our constituents are nonprofit leaders and workers, paid and voluntary, as well as funders of third sector activities and concerned people in the business community and government. They all share a dedication to contributing to the creation of healthy, sustainable communities: in their own neighborhoods, regionally, and nationally.