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For communities to respond to their challenges, they must resolve, for themselves, that their capacity to solve problems requires revitalization. Outside consultants can make recommendations, but without local ownership of a strategy and implementation plan, it is not likely that the community will take action. The Civic Index, a twelve point community self-evaluation tool, helps communities developing their problem solving capacity by providing a method and a process for first identifying and recognizing their strengths and weaknesses, and then structuring collaborative approaches to solving shared problems. Today's column discusses the Civic Index component of Volunteerism and Philanthropy.

Volunteerism: Stakeholders give for the betterment of the community

Caring about, and sharing resources to help one another and the community as a whole is essential to community life. Moreover, in recent years, these activities have gained even more importance in the health of a community. Increased social needs combined with limits in government resources call for a greater contribution of time, money, and services from individuals and community institutions.

The challenges and problems we face as a society are increasingly becoming the responsibility of local and regional communities. The federal government can long longer be expected to play the primary role in addressing social problems, though national in scope, which are manifest at the local level. Federal, and even state, legislators spend the vast majority of their time dealing with a small set of issues; they have little time to focus on issues that communities bring them.

Therefore, a host of social challenges that were once the purview of higher levels of government have fallen directly into the laps of community problem solvers. The resolution of these problems will for the foreseeable future continue to devolve upon local policy makers.

Moreover, there are, and in all likelihood will continue to be, fewer and fewer public sector dollars available to deal with the critical issues facing our society: Governments at all levels have seen their abilities to tax and spend severely restricted. What money is available is often accompanied by spending guidelines, as in legislatively mandated entitlement programs.

As a result, communities can no longer depend upon government to solve their problems. So ironically, even as the responsibility for solving social problems becomes increasingly localized, this responsibility needs to become less and less the domain of governmental officials alone. The private sector, the nonprofit sector, and individual citizens must help, both in amassing resources and in deciding how they can be leveraged with pubic dollars to address critical issues. If communities are to meet the dual challenges of increasing needs and dwindling resources, they will need comprehensive strategies to enhance and maximize their philanthropic and volunteer capacities.

"The volunteers are the stakeholders in the community. They are the people that want to work through the process and help create change in their community. Without the volunteers and their dedication of time and energy, change wouldn't happen. They are just amazing people working toward the betterment of the community," says Nancy Geha, assistant director of the National Civic League's Community Services.

An important prerequisite to the development of strategies is improved lines of communication among all types of institutions: private, public, and nonprofit. The leadership of the three sectors must work together in this effort.

The City of Rochester, New York, a 1998 winner of the National Civic League's All-America City Award, is illustrative of a community which gives of both its time and money.

The City of Rochester mobilizes large numbers of volunteers and has mechanisms established to efficiently promote volunteerism. 16,000 individuals volunteered for arts groups alone. The Rochester "Volunteer Connections" matches volunteers to positions in over 600 area nonprofit organizations. Community service days are sponsored by 7 local universities.

Rochester also gives of its money, having the highest per capita giving to United Way campaigns in the country. Corporate giving per employee puts Rochester in the 96th percentile of U.S. communities.

New Haven Connecticut is illustrative of a community in which all three sectors-government, business, and the nonprofit sector-are actively involved in philanthropic and voluntary activities.

Over 75 businesses contribute to the New Haven Public Education Fund, established to help public schools. Business leaders also give of their time, serving as mentors for youth in a School to Career Program. City leaders are also involved in volunteer activities: firefighter and police officers are paired with 100 of New Haven's young males in a mentoring program.

Finally, in both New Haven and Rochester, the established philanthropic community work together to maximize the impact of giving. In Rochester, a regional association of grant makers was established to ensure uniform grant application and award coordination. In New Haven, the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven convenes local funders to support priority activities.

A community's long-range and short-term volunteerism and philanthropy strategies need to include many factors: target goals for per-capita volunteer hours and average dollar contributions per-capita; number of service projects completed; level of private sector support; and meaningful forums in which to express appreciation for volunteers. However, there are some specific questions a community can ask of itself when beginning to develop its current level of volunteer and philanthropic activities:

• Is there an active community foundation?
• Do local corporations have active giving programs?
• Does the community have long-term philanthropic goals?
• Do local programs encourage and honor volunteers and philanthropists?
• Do government and business work closely with the nonprofit sector?

People can and must be empowered with the knowledge that what they do matters and that they can make a difference. Once they have this knowledge, an ethic of giving and sharing as a way of life will be added to the community's culture.

For information on how the concepts and techniques presented in this column can be applied in your community or for a copy of the 1999 Revised Civic Index, contact the National Civic League by e-mail at ncl@ncl.org; on the world wide web at www.ncl.org; or by phone at (303) 571-4343.

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