This chapter attempts to trace the development of a concept of voluntariness. This cannot be done by reference to a category of 'not-for-profit', for that category is a recent invention. Instead, the history of voluntariness is to be found in the history of two other concepts which might be seen to be distinguishable from government - charity and civil society. These concepts are neither wholly distinct from, nor coterminous with, 'not-for-profit'. Once the histories of these concepts have been considered, the normative determinacy of the concept of voluntariness will be considered in the light of some contemporary intersections of government and not-for-profit activity.