This edition of the Nonprofit Quarterly is about the connection between nonprofits and democracy.

All the cool kids understand that real reciprocal engagement with constituents is the way you build adherents, and that adherents equate to power, influence, and sustaining cash. And this requires that many of us re-fit ourselves in the old spirit of the civil sector—but with new tools. Nonprofits are in an unusually strategic position relative to the direction of the new economy. Are we prepared to take advantage of it?

Loosening restrictions are creating an exciting environment for China’s emerging nonprofit sector, but the pathways to official recognition are still arduous and millions of organizations remain unregistered—and thus illegal. This fascinating article is a complex and dramatic snapshot of the organizations of civil society in today’s China.

As the political environment grows ever more polarized, how are nonprofits that venture into the public-policy arena to avoid charges of partisanship?

It may be that one of the reasons that mergers are not approached with more enthusiasm is because they are being sold more negatively than they should be. Approaching them as a strength-promoting proposition might work better, no? That said…

Nonprofits can feel like philanthropy’s “tiny dancers”—performing the latest and greatest ideas at philanthropy’s behest, whether or not the intervention fits the organization’s infrastructure and practice. But every so often a proposed “new” management practice leads to meaningful change.

This article describes how a group of service providers, funders, and policy makers used value network analysis to assess the adolescent health system in Austin, Texas, and mobilize for positive change.

From lying to staff to conflicts of interest, unethical behavior in nonprofits abounds. Here the author outlines three particularly relevant markers of a responsible organization as well as four trends shaping future standards for nonprofits.