Global Issues
U.S.: Grassroots Groups Get More Bang for Donors' Bucks
While 'community organising' has become a punch line for late- night comedians since the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president, the activity 'delivers enormous benefits to communities,' according to a new study conducted by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP).
The report, based on research into nearly 70 nonprofits from New Mexico, North Carolina, Minnesota and Los Angeles County over a five-year period, concludes that 'Americans receive extraordinary benefits from the policy advocacy and community organising efforts by nonprofit organisations in their area, funded by foundations and other donors.'
It reports that these groups combined 'generated nearly 14 billion dollars worth of benefits for their diverse communities, and many other non-monetary gains. The return for every dollar invested in these groups ranged from 89 dollars to a staggering 157 dollars.'
The report's co-author, NCRP Senior Research Associate Lisa Ranghelli, told IPS, 'Despite what some high-profile commentators may decry as 'community organising,' this report clearly demonstrates that such activity delivers enormous benefits to communities.'
She said that most citizens are unaware of the substantial benefits generated by philanthropic funding of local organisations. Students of philanthropy acknowledge that many cultures have centuries-old traditions of charitable giving, and in a few countries wealthy benefactors have created foundations or trusts to organise their giving.
But the United States is probably unique in the scope of its community voluntarism. The volunteer phenomenon has traveled only to a handful of other countries.
Community organising has achieved a high level of notoriety since the Obama election, as the president was involved in this kind of work in Chicago as a young man.
The field came under additional scrutiny centred around the organisation known as ACORN (the Association of Community Organisations for Reform Now). Critics, largely politicians and TV 'talking heads' from the far right-wing of the Republican Party, have charged that ACORN was involved in widespread voter fraud. These charges have never been substantiated.
ACORN was one of the Los Angeles groups studied in the NCRP research.
The latest stage in that research involved 15 Los Angeles County nonprofit organisations, and found that from 2004 to 2008, area groups generated nearly seven billion dollars in benefits for local citizens, including 2.6 billion dollars in higher wages, 2.2 billion dollars in health care savings and more than 2.0 billion dollars from increased use of public transit, construction of new schools and expanded affordable housing.
These benefits were the direct result of community involvement in public policy.
'On every issue of concern to residents of Los Angeles County, from clean air to immigration, from equality to education, foundation support for community-based activist organisations yields positive results,' said Aaron Dorfman, executive director of NCRP. 'Foundation support turns indifference into democracy and the benefits of a thriving democracy are indeed substantial.'
Los Angeles County is NCRP's fourth site in a series of reports. It documents how 13 nonprofit organisations and their allies leveraged foundation grants to secure nearly 91 dollars of benefit for every dollar spent for Los Angeles citizens - a 'dramatic, substantial return on investments,' the report notes.
The report also tracks such non-monetised benefits as protection of voting rights, improved working conditions and expanded, more responsive service delivery to such marginalised groups as lesbians and gays and residents with limited English proficiency.
'The report demonstrates that foundations best serve their own objectives and generate the greatest impact on communities when we support advocacy and organising at the grassroots level,' its authors say.
'There is no doubt that the impact could expand even more if we work in concert and focus resources through strategic grantmaking,' said Kafi Blumenfield, CEO and executive director of the Liberty Hill Foundation, a Los Angeles-based foundation that provided seed money and supported a majority of the organisations featured in the report.
The report, entitled 'Strengthening Democracy, Increasing Opportunities: Impacts of Advocacy, Organising and Civic Engagement, ' was written by NCRP Senior Research Associate Lisa Ranghelli and Research Associate Julia Craig.
The Los Angeles report found that policy advocacy and community organising also has non-monetary impacts on thousands of underserved Angelenos. Examples include cleaner air, better working conditions, more balanced immigration enforcement, greater student access to college-prep classes and more responsive services.
It recommends that foundations increase grant funding for advocacy and organising, help educate donors about the benefits of advocacy funding, support effective collaboration among community organisations, collaborate with other grant makers to leverage resources and invest in the infrastructure and organisational capacity of grassroots organisations over sustained periods of time.
'Los Angeles is richer, stronger, healthier and infinitely more democratic because foundations have learned that advocacy, organising and civic engagement really do make a difference in the lives of everyone,' says Stewart Kwoh, executive director of L.A.'s Asian Pacific American Legal Center, one of the 15 organisations surveyed in the study.
'When foundations support strategic grassroots initiatives, every resident of Los Angeles benefits,' he says.
The Los Angeles research involved a wide range of non- profits engaged in legal advocacy, immigrant rights, substance abuse, better environment, gender discrimination, public transportation, and many others.
Research is currently underway for further reports on areas in the Pacific Northwest and Pennsylvania.
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy in Washington, D.C. is a national watchdog, research and advocacy organisation that promotes philanthropy that serves the public good, is responsive to people and communities with the least wealth and opportunity, and is held accountable to the highest standards of integrity and openness.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service