Maybe it's a cliché, but America is a nation of immigrants. In the past fifteen years alone, more than 13 million newcomers settled in the U.S. Economist Burton Weisbrod says diversity is a major force behind the growth of America's nonprofit economy.

IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY, THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT depends very much on the ability of the population and their representatives to come to a consensus. In a homogeneous society, Sweden might be an example, people are much more like each other than is the case in the US, and it is much easier for them to come to a consensus of what they want from the public sector.

In some places, American's have discovered that the easiest way to find common ground is through a nonprofit. In western Iowa, there's one small town that basically sees itself as a nonprofit organization. Like many agricultural towns, Manning, Iowa, was badly buffeted by the farm crisis of the early 1980s.

Ron Colling, Newspaper publisher: Fifteen years ago, I would have said there wouldn't be anybody in town. It would have been, "Lock every door," because of the way things were going. It was not good. Not good.

Colling: More or less nonprofit created unity because nobody was going to get more than anybody else, mainly nothing. And we don't have an empty store on mainstreet. Not one.

Phillips: This town is very much nonprofit, and that's why we have survived. Because remember, we're independent out here. If were are going to survive into the 21st century, and if we're to prosper, we'll have to do it ourselves.

Roe: You know, for us it's like when the railroad came through or a super highway. It gives up opportunities we didn't have before.

Operator: Thanks for calling Mitsumi.

Operator: Okay, can I get the city and state that you are calling from please?

Across town at the John Deere farm implement dealership, Warren Puck is no newcomer to Manning. His grandfather started the business. Puck is active in the Meaning's nonprofit schemes. He hopes high-tech jobs and better amenities will stem the migration of educated people from the area.

Puck: This is home. This is where I want to live. I'd like to encourage my children to stay here and provide an opportunity for them. If I'm going to have a community that's interesting to them, it's going to have to be something more than a John Deere implement dealership. The community is part of where they live, and that means having resources and services available to do whatever else. It's just part of a bigger picture.

Manning:Farms keep getting bigger to stay competitive in a global economy. Family farmers either have to buy more acreage or moonlight at non-farm jobs to keep their families solvent. In a sense, Manning's modern day nonprofits are a hybrid of the farmer cooperatives that sprouted during the 19th century. Neighbors banded together to buy seed or sell their crops. The co-ops worked on the same nonprofit principle: to solve a pressing problem, competitors set aside their immediate interests for the common good. Implement dealer Warren Puck says today Manning can't rely on politicians or the free market to ensure town's future. Nonprofits are a kind of neutral solution.

I think one of the problems with our political process is that we get so polarized and some of what we are trying to do — being liberal, conservative, republican, democrat - here with a nonprofit those same people can come together, keep that stuff out of the way, lets just focus in on doing what we want to do. In this case, it's promote an area or accomplish a certain objective. Maybe nonprofits is the new — I won't say political party — it's the new means of accomplishing things that need to be done.

The modern-day nonprofit has a huge advantage over the old farm cooperatives, though: money. A nonprofit corporation can apply for government and foundation grants. Individuals can contribute, too, and get a tax break at the same time. Manning's local hospital, for example, owned by the town's churches, recently raised $1 million from just 1500 residents.

What's remarkable is how much nonprofits have accomplished in Manning. Indeed, nonprofits do much more than make people feel good. If they become the ties that bind a community together, then nonprofits are a critical ingredient that makes a capitalist economy work.

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