A Theoretical Model for the Definition of Different Third Sector Organizations

The non-profit sector has existed for many years in several OECD member countries and has emerged world-wide during recent decades, mainly as a response to the crisis of welfare systems. The “third-sector” definition itself appears to be a contested concept. In fact, it is possible to underline two different definitions and resulting classifications, according to the different backgrounds in which third sector organizations where created and developed: the North American Anglo- Saxon vision and the European vision. These two visions were in some sense “merged”, neologising the term Third Sector, like a kind of “meeting point” of the different concepts of non profit sector and social economy, although terminological confusion remains, making it difficult to identify an institutional definition of the third sector. This paper presents an hypothesis that intends to classify, in a different way, all the different typologies of organizations belonging to all the different sectors (Public, Private, Third) considering as discriminating factor the relationship between the effort made (in the daily activities of the different organizations) and the “return” on the effort made. A simple descriptive model has been designed using the positive quadrant of a Cartesian chart. On the x-axis the variable is the effort (E), and on the y-axis the variable is the return on the effort (RE). This is indeed only a theoretical and contestable model, but anyway represents a way of considering third sector organizations divided not by their legal status or by the fact that they operate in the social services sector, but considering the nature and the aims for which they operate.