This paper introduces the special issue focused on Latin America and the Caribbean (LA&C), featuring five papers penned by local authors. Reviewing Voluntas journal's main topics concerning LA&C as grassroots movements within civil society, the third sector including its definitions and institutional context, philanthropy, and volunteer work. After organizing these discussions, we summarize the five papers included in this special issue. We connect these papers with broader debates in the LA&C literature and emphasize their unique contributions. A significant amount of the LA&C research relies on case studies. We advocate for increased usage of local databases to conduct quantitative studies. Furthermore, while most theoretical models use non-local frameworks, we encourage research that presents fresh theoretical viewpoints to enrich the debate.

本文介绍了以拉丁美洲和加勒比地区 (LA&C) 为重点的特刊，其中收录了当地作者撰写的五篇论文。回顾 Voluntas 杂志关于 LA&C 作为民间社会草根运动的主要主题，第三部分包括其定义和机构背景、慈善事业和志愿者工作。在组织这些讨论之后，我们总结了本期特刊中包含的五篇论文。我们将这些论文与 LA&C 文献中更广泛的争论联系起来，并强调它们的独特贡献。LA&C 研究的很大一部分依赖于案例研究。我们主张更多地使用本地数据库来进行定量研究。此外，虽然大多数理论模型使用非局部框架，