This is a part of a major work undertaken by the Asia Pacific Philanthropy Information Network (APPIN. This segment on Vietnam is divided into two sections. The first section provides an overview of philanthropy, the third sector, historical growth, policy environment, and the laws related to incorporation and tax treatment of the third sector. The second section provides an overview of an activity-based classification, identifying various fields internationally where non-profit organizations are active. The Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project developed the International Classification of Non-Profit Organisations or ICNPO. We used this classification to explore the variety of third sector activity in each country, but we extended the ICNPO to include trading co-operatives. Most people in Vietnam admire and follow Buddhist and Confucian traditions both of which encourage spending money, material, and time for others cause. In addition, the nature dependent agricultural activities (the main source of income of most people in Vietnam), and the endless wars over the years have inculcated community feelings and the sense of mutual support among the people. Before 1945, many professional organisations or phuong existed in rural areas in Vietnam. Depending on its professional structure, a village may have phuong of carpenters, or phuong of weavers, phuong of ceramic, phuong of paper makers, phuong of bronze casters, phuong of fisher men, etc. Since the initiation of the government's reform program in 1986, the Communist Party government in Vietnam has sought to encourage the growth of modern third sector organizations that are increasingly able to operate without the governmental and/or the Communist Party support. Most third sector organisations in Vietnam may not resemble similar modern organisations, however, these organisations are not purely government owned or profit oriented, but create public benefits. These third sector organisations are not controlled by the Communist Party or the government, rather the Communist Party and the government are the power centre which the third sector organisations need to negotiate with. With the current environment and support from the government, the third sector in Vietnam will keep on increasing in number and influence
