Toward a Global Research Agenda on Civic Service: Editors’ Introduction to This Special Issue

This special issue of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly explores a research agenda for civic service, an organized period of substantial engagement and contribution to the local, national, or world community, recognized and valued by society, with minimal monetary compensation to the participant. In this introduction, the issue’s editors pose questions to frame the exploration that plays out in this collection. The editors also discuss the impetus for the Ford Foundation’s Global Service Institute.

The articles in this special issue were initially presented at Toward a Global Research Agenda on Civic Service: An International Conference. Held in 2002 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the conference was organized and hosted by the Center for Social Development.