Nonprofit organizations play important roles in such areas as education, social welfare, public health and medical services and environmental protection in communities; after the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami, they have also been active in disaster relief efforts.

A revised NPO law went into force on April 1. The crux of the revision is loosen conditions for awarding tax privileges to NPOs, thus creating incentives for ordinary citizens to make donations.

When the NPO law was revised in June 2011, the tax law was also revised and its revision went into effect at that time to help increase donations to NPOs through a tax reform.