Today I read a report on the current state of community organizing by the Loka Institute. This report was dated a bit (1998), but one aspect of the report peeved me.
The report outlined the great results that community organizing produces everyday, and that the only thing that the field needed is a bigger investment of resources. The next several pages should've been tissue paper for all the tears I had from its sad sob story about how government and businesses have 50 million dollars for Doritos chip research but can only muster 10 million dollars to fund all of the research endeavors within community organizing.
You know, for a field that is so proud of getting communities to stand up for themselves, we sure don't mind begging for pennies to help pay for our work. I think instead of always complaining about what other people aren't giving us, we should spend that time and energy devising ways to get the money that we feel is much needed. When it comes to funding, I think every organizer should take the advice of the great Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata,"It's better to die upon your feet than live upon your knees!"
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2 comments:
It's a little presumptuous to assume that community based organizations are not developing new and innovated ways to obtain the funding they need. I have not read the article, but I would think that their references to the Doritos company was meant to make a statement about the lack of financial assistant to other areas of need rather than simply complaining that they are being mistreated. Likewise, isn't educating the public about the lack of support for such organizations a way in which people are "doing something about it?"
Thank you for your feedback Jill...by no means do I intend to degrade the organizations out there who do try to find creative ways to support themselves. There are organizations that support themselves through radio programs, magazines, dues, selling products, etc. I think we should look towards these groups as a model. However, I do believe there is a predominant thinking amongst a lot of non-profit organizations that "the market corrupts" and avoid trying to take advantage of opportunities within business. Moreover, I am all for educating the public, but we can't control the public's responses. I feel that seeking donations actually weakens our power as we spend more time soliciting money, and if we get that money, then the donors are now our puppet masters with the ability to pull out their funding if they do not agree with a decision. Thanks for reading my blog!!!
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