The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - (Page 10) GENERAL RAMBLINGS PAUL CLOLERY Pulling Out A Rabbit There’s no wand that magically fixes a broken economy T he chatter about the possibilities for the nonprofit sector and the new federal administration in Washington, D.C., has escalated into a near frenzy. It’s almost as if the sector’s collective hair is going to burst into flames if President-Elect Barack Obama doesn’t give it everything it wants roughly 20 minutes into his term, which starts at noon on January 20. For sure, there’s going to be least a little smoke, if not flames, because there are many fires that need to be put out -- the economy, two wars, the potential energy crisis, terrorism, the federal deficit and, oh yeah, the philanthropic sector. These urgent sentiments were on display during a recent meet and greet in Cambridge, Mass., hosted by Swanee Hunt, head of The Hunt Alternatives Fund (HAF) and former United States ambassador to Austria. She’s also the founding director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and is active in Democratic politics, focusing on increasing diverse representation. Among other initiatives,HAF convenes a “Prime Movers” program for emerging and established social movement leaders working at the national level.The program emphasizes the professional development of individual leaders who engage masses of people.The intent is to allow leaders to think beyond their organizations and take on broader, more pivotal roles within their movements. Most of the appointed Prime Movers and some guests were at the former ambassador’s home to discuss suggestions for the new administration. Hunt worked for Obama’s election and several of the Prime Movers and guests are ex- pected to be part of an advisory board for Obama, which will take the place of President George W. Bush’s White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The new office, as yet unnamed, is expected to be headed by Joshua DuBois, who was the Obama campaign’s religious affairs director. DuBois, who was not at the Hunt gathering, was previously an associate pastor for Calvary Praise & Worship Center, a small church in Cambridge that is associated with the United Pentecostal Council of the Assemblies of God. He also has a strong education pedigree that includes Boston University and Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and National Affairs. While most of those at the ambassador’s gathering arrived with a laundry list of wants and needs from the new administration, only a few preached patience. Many could not understand why the administration simply couldn’t turn on the money faucet. These is no doubt that public infrastructure issues will take priority and the philanthropic sector will be involved. Likewise, the federal government will probably continue contracting out to the sector services it would cost more to establish. These were passionate people, some of whom come to this moment in history with reverence at having been at several previous turning points. One of these truly inspirational people in the room had been with Sen. Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign in Los Angeles and was at the Ambassador Hotel that fateful night in 1968.At least two others in the group had marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and still are pained at the events in Memphis, also in 1968. And, there were the freshly-scrubbed faces of new change-makers who have arrived at their first such crucible. The group discussions were lively and most pointed to ways that at least some of the nation’s problems can be addressed in the first year of the new administration. One person addressing the group leaned back a little too far and her hair caught fire from one of the many candles the ambassador had lighted. She was quickly extinguished with no harm, other than some singed hair. There is great anticipation with any new administration, particularly by supporters of those newly-minted leaders. Some will be singed along the way. The key is for the sector to stand together to help put the fires out. NPT OPINION JOHN BRIDGELAND, MICHAEL BROWN, ALAN KHAZEI AND MICHELLE NUNN Igniting A Service Nation Powering a nation’s economic recovery through service W ith crashing stock markets and soaring unemployment, President Franklin Roosevelt called the Congress into emergency session in March of 1933 to adopt his Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to put jobless young people to work on public lands beset by soil erosion and deforestation. Within five weeks Roosevelt won Congressional funding, and soon thereafter 250,000 corps members were at work. The CCC would eventually engage more than three million individuals, and they would plant three billion trees on public lands, build 97,000 miles of fire roads, and create drainage systems for 84 million acres of agricultural land. Low-cost, highly leveraged, national service -- people power -- addressed critical problems and put willing Americans to work. Today, we have exploding unemployment, a contracting economy, and urgent unmet needs. President-elect Barack Obama, with strong allies in Congress, can follow a similar strategy to marshal the nation’s talent and energy, and use the leveraged power of non-profits in a time of crisis. President-elect Obama has made a call to service a key theme in his vision for America, and outlined a powerful plan that would: • Expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots and double the size of the Peace Corps; • Integrate service-learning into our schools and universities; • Provide new community service opportunities for working Americans and retirees; and, • Expand service initiatives that engage disadvantaged young people and advance their education. The key elements of this plan have already been captured in legislation by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), two close friends who have come together across the aisle to make public service an American priority. In an extraordinary show of bipartisanship, their “Serve America Act” (S. 3487) was endorsed by both then-Senator Obama and Senator John McCain in the midst of their presidential campaign. Paral- lel efforts on service are underway in the House of Representatives, under the leadership of Congressmen George Miller and Buck McKeon. They are mobilizing support for the GIVE Act to reauthorize and strengthen AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America. The Obama vision and the Serve America Act have the strong support of more than 100 organizations affiliated with the ServiceNation campaign (www.servicenation.org). These organizations -- which range from the 40 million-member AARP to Colin Powell’s America’s Promise Alliance for Youth and the NAACP -- have a collective reach of some 100 million Americans. Enacting legislation quickly would bring our nation together around a smart service plan, and help foster bipartisan unity. 10 JANUARY 1, 2009 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com http://www.servicenation.org http://www.servicenation.org http://www.nptimes.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 Clothes Sense Office Web Use Tough To Control Fundraisers Are Going After States Contents Page 4 Diversity In Occupations Drives Successful Boards Princeton, Foundation Settle Donor Intent Case Pulling Out A Rabbit Igniting A Service Nation Evaluating The Evaluator What To Expect Special Report: Accounting Software Advertiser Index NPT Jobs Resource Directory The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Fundraisers Are Going After States (Page 1) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Fundraisers Are Going After States (Page 2) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Contents (Page 3) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 4) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 5) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 6) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Page 4 (Page 7) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Diversity In Occupations Drives Successful Boards (Page 8) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Princeton, Foundation Settle Donor Intent Case (Page 9) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Igniting A Service Nation (Page 10) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Evaluating The Evaluator (Page 11) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - What To Expect (Page 12) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Special Report: Accounting Software (Page 13) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Special Report: Accounting Software (Page 14) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Special Report: Accounting Software (Page 15) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Special Report: Accounting Software (Page 16) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Special Report: Accounting Software (Page 17) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Special Report: Accounting Software (Page 18) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - NPT Jobs (Page 19) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Resource Directory (Page 20) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Resource Directory (Page 21) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Resource Directory (Page 22) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Resource Directory (Page 23) The NonProfit Times - January 1, 2009 - Resource Directory (Page 24)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.