Week 4..........Social Service Industry

The St. Vincent de Paul article was really interesting for a few reasons. I found myself wondering how the Executive Director sleeps at night because I feel like he has so many projects going on he couldn't possibly have time to sleep. It's cool that they import from abroad, but I found myself thinking wouldn't be a better idea and a money saver if they just expanded their non-profit to the United Kingdom? I was also interesting that they briefly mentioned that they do return "some" of the proceeds to the agencies that ship the items in the first place. What are these agencies and exactly how much do they "return"? I enjoyed the anecdote that McDonald said in the article about the private sector not wanting to think about what gets thrown away, I would argue that they are making their own industry out of what other sectors don't want to deal with. I mean aren't we all in some aspect doing the same thing? I was once told that people hate asking for money or favors as much as they hate to speak in public, but that's to some extent what all non-profits do, right? We ask for your support financially or volunteering in some way or another. I do like that the author of the article harped multiple times on the fact that St. Vincent de Paul's takes advantage of federal programs or federal grants available to non-profits like this. It's so important to take advantage of these things as a non-profit organization because for every ten you get denied from, there's one out there you might be granted. 

The article about Louisiana low income residents receiving funding from the federal government for their heating and cooling costs, leads me to believe that one of the main concerns and problems in theses areas are not being addressed: community programs that encourage residents to leave their homes and save money by going to the local park and providing residents with alternatives to running up their utility costs. This sounds complicated, but it's simple. Where I'm from in California the average temperature between the months of May and September is 107°F but when residents where asking for the federal government to continuously supplement their air conditioning costs, the federal government responded by funding community facilities and programs like a local free water park. It was a great idea and this along with community programs that encouraged residents to get off the couch, also encouraged people to spend time with each other. (Note: I know this can't work everywhere, but it may help.) 

The article about smart growth was fascinating to me, I had been wondering for awhile how to define affordable housing and how it really did get started. I had discussed with my urban redevelopment professor how these things occur, but I liked the historical aspect this article took on. 

The chapter in the text book about social service was really interesting to me. The description of social services seemed very to the point, it's a human service industry. The wide variety of social service organizations in the non-profit sector was astonishing to me; helping families, helping patients and even helping convicted felons, there seems to be no area untouched by social services. The extent and impact that the social service industry has reaches far more people than any other industry, in my opinion. It's also very interesting that the federal government is the main funder of these non-profit social service organizations. 

Religion and Recession

I'm glad that O'Neill wrote about religion in the book because I feel that religion is a very interesting case study when examining the non-profit sector. It's no surprise to me that "eighty to ninety percent of church revenue comes from donations" given that religious organizations quite often bring attention to problems in society that can be fixed with the help of volunteers. (O'Neill, 59) As O'Neill explains, religion is a very influential thing in America and around the world, and that influence often leads people to volunteer as a congregation, etc. for other local non-profit organizations. For other religions such as Islam, it is required to donate to charity; it states in the Qur'an that when attempting to go to the pilgrimage to Mecca Muslims are told not to selfishly save for many years, but instead take that money and give to someone with in the community who needs it and the intention will be recognized as virtuous as making the hajj to Mecca itself. Churches, mosques, temples, etc. do not JUST serve as a place to worship for many people, they serve as child care facilities, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, food banks, etc. and it is truly amazing that type of motivation a religious organization has over their volunteers. I read an article recently in the Register Guard that non-profit organizations not affiliated with a religious organizations are now attempting to connect themselves to a church or temple not necessarily religiously, but sometimes just to hold their events or meeting on church property with the logic that it will attract a more generous audience. It is interesting to me that religion and non-profit organizations are in the same sector but once you think about it, it does make sense; look at the wide variety of people (culturally, ethnically, economically, etc) that attend or practice some type of religion, you can practically mirror that same diverse image to any non-profit organization and see the same variety.

The other articles about the possible implications of the recession to the non-profit sector were interesting to me as well. I was not surprised that large non-profit organizations saw very little decrease in donations and funds raised, but I cannot imagine the decrease that small, more local non-profits saw the past few years. My work with the American Cancer Society has helped me see what types of people volunteer to what degree and at what age, so I think that economic status might not have a lot to do with the volunteer aspect of non-profits. What I'm meaning to say is, that if your involved in a volunteer position, you are probably giving your time to that organization because you might not necessarily have the funds to donate and so you see your time as a more valuable contribution, and although the poor are getting poorer as Harford described, people are still looking for ways to give their time to an organization in lieu of a substantial monetary donation.

The blog post by Dan Pallotta was really intriguing to me especially because this is something I think about when I donate or encourage others to donate to an organization. I agree that measuring an organization's effectiveness is not the best way to evaluate but the commitment to effectiveness is better. Then again, I do not completely agree that we necessarily need an apparatus to evaluate effectiveness vs. overhead at all. What if people were just responsible for researching were their money went when they were donating? I do not think this is something that needs to be given a lot of thought too, because as we've read so far, must Americans give to local non-profit organizations or their own religious organizations, so this might only benefit a minority of those donating funds.

Introduction & Weeks 1 & 2 Readings

This blog will see me through the next term of college and more specifically through my readings and learnings from the PPPM 280 Intro to the Non-Profit Sector course at the University of Oregon. I'll be reacting, questioning and ranting about the assigned readings as well as discussions that occur in class. I hope this blog will serve me as well as others with a more detailed review of the PPPM 280 course and what one may take from their experience in the class. In addition, I hope this blog will help me understand where I can use my prior and future experience in the non-profit sector or other career paths. Though I am young, I have had a solid decade, though the last five years have been most rewarding, of experience in the non-profit sector mainly with the American Cancer Society. I have most of my experience in fundraising and event planning and I hope this course will broaden my horizons and open windows and some doors for me to get involved in other aspects of the sector. I'm hoping that I will learn how to better use my skills and passion for non-profit work to their full potential.

O'Neil's approach to the description of the not for profit sector helps to bring into focus the enormity of the sector in the United States. The growth that the sector has seen in the U.S. of the past two decades or so is extreme. The history of the non-profit sector outlined in chapter two was interesting to me. I had never thought about the cause in society that had brought about non-profit organizations and services. It makes total since that when a community increases in population there becomes a need to help the lower class. O'Neil's explanation from the anthropological perspective that voluntary services were in response to needs that existed outside the family and government structure is intriguing. People need to connect with others outside of their family and they have needs that the government cannot fulfill and therefore they search for help outside those structures.

As a former political science major I found the political science section of chapter two particularly interesting. Though non-profit organizations can and have been very beneficial in the realm of politics, I think it is important that some or most not choose sides nor affiliate themselves with only one political party. My work with the American Cancer Society (ACS) Cancer Action Network (CAN), lobbying for federal funding for cancer research this past September was extremely beneficial as an introduction to the world of politics in the U.S. I was directly involved in asking for my representative's and senator's support in passing a bill that would give cancer researchers $13 billion dollars to use to hopefully find a cure. One of the most interesting things about this process with ACS CAN was that we were not affiliating ourselves with any political party yet we were successful in getting support from almost seventy percent of the representatives and senators on capitol hill that day.

Douglas makes a point by theorizing that one of the main reasons why people form and join non-profit organizations is the "freedom from bureaucratic constraint"; the effectiveness of non-profits in many areas is directly to the lack of government power over them. (O'Neil, 47) I did however find Tocqueville's research and descriptions of the non-profit sector in America very interesting and accurate. Tocqueville described the simple yet effective way in which non-profit organizations are run as the ideal picture of democracy itself. People see a cause that they care about and they take action in any way possible to aid that cause. I also agree with Tocqueville's perspective that these non-profit organizations and associations are the perfect training ground for "effective participation in democracy." (O'Neil, 45)