Endnotes from the National Conference on Volunteering and Service
By Nancy Long
Executive Director
Executive Service Corps
The conference ended with a rousing call to action from a California philanthropist and with depressing news from the White House that contradicts all the promises and optimism emanating from the stage.
On the up note: The largest volunteering and service conference in history wrapped up on Wednesday afternoon with a panel discussion with David Gergen, Senior Political Analyst for CNN and professor of public service and the director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, moderating a panel discussion on social innovation. Panelists include Megan Smith, Vice President New Business Development, Google; Sonal Shah, Director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, The White House; Dr. Robert Ross, President and CEO of The California Endowment and Sean Parker, the Founding President of Facebook and a founder of Napster and Plaxo.
Dr. Bob Ross provided a perspective on the potential of service to be transformative that seemed to be missing from the rest of the conference. Dr. Ross comments went beyond the feel-good sentiments that characterized the conference presentations and he was greeted with spontaneous cheers and hurrahs from the crowd. He said “This is a new day. Charity was a good thing, but change is a better thing.”
Ross also lamented the name “nonprofit sector,” suggesting that we rename the sector the “delta sector” after the Greek letter that signifies change. “We need to be more intentional about change and transformation,” he said. “Business as usual is leaving too many families broken and too many families and folks with hopelessness and despair.”
On the down note: On the same day the conference ended Nikola Goren, the acting CEO of the Corporation for National Service, announced that several aspects of the Serve America Act have been ditched by the Obama Administration. The two programs designed to attract volunteers aged 55 and older, Silver Scholarships and Encore Fellowships, are round-filed, as well as Campuses of Service, and the $25-million Nonprofit Capacity-Building Program, which would have increased the capacity of small and medium medium-sized charities.
The president also proposed cutting the Volunteer Generation Fund, which would provide grants to help nonprofits recruit and manage volunteers, from $50-million to $10 million. This decision seems to be completely at odds with the statement made in the closing session by Sonal Shah, “The volunteers will be there, we’re focused on building the capacity of the nonprofit sector.”
These contrasting stories from San Francisco demonstrate the risks of a PR-based campaign for service. If we are not prepared to make significant new investments in the infrastructure of nonprofit organizations, organizations will not be able to use volunteers in meaningful ways that actually create positive change in the lives of people and our planet.
Tags: congress, Economy, nonprofit partners, public policy, Serve America, stimulus
