The Philanthropy Column: Community Impact
Abstract
The What and How of Community ImpactThe theme of this Winter 2012 edition of the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal is Community Impact. What is interesting about this concept is the approach—the proactive decision to collectively tackle some desired state of change. In this latest Philanthropy Column, I explore the “how” of community impact.
Community impact is about people and organizations coming together to improve a situation in a measureable way. This idea of “coming together” has been on my mind recently. The concept, in varying forms, has been in the news. It has come up in conversations with funders, those in the philanthropy space, and nonprofit organizations during site visits. And it has been discussed at conferences.
Held on November 3, 2011, the Delaware Valley Grantmakers’ Fall Conference theme was “Holding Together in High-Wire Times.” The topic of nonprofit collaboration was brought up during the Leadership Discussion in a room filled with both nonprofit organizations and funders from the Delaware Valley. The overall discussion was cordial, but you could feel the tension from some nonprofit executives and staff who are tired of hearing funders talk about collaboration and partnership. It’s tough! We all know it. It takes a perfect storm of elements for partnerships to be successful. But in this day, with this economic climate, nonprofits can’t afford not to come together!
Even before the current economic crisis, there was concern within the industry that there were just too many nonprofit organizations sprouting up across the country with a limited amount of support available. The Philadelphia Foundation’s Nonprofit Study (2010) conducted by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia used IRS 990 filings to gather a range of financial data on nearly 7,300 nonprofits in the 5-county Philadelphia region. Since the year 2000, the number of nonprofits in Southeastern Pennsylvania has grown by about 40 percent. The economic crisis has made collaboration essential for some nonprofits to survive.
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Copyright (c) 2012 Teresa Araco Rodgers (Author)
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