The Power of Nonprofits was an interesting article about the responsibilities of the people to govern themselves. It made me think about a comment one of my sociology professors made to my class this year. He said that he’s waiting for our generation to “do something”. He thinks we are too docile and even though we are being taken to the cleaners while attending college, we remain relatively quiet and just keep footing the bill. I think that our generation does lack the need to protest in the traditional sense. I don’t know if it’s lack of time or access to greater technology but we have yet to really push back.
Maybe we should be more like the students in London? They are protesting about possibly having to pay $14,000 to attend school. Sounds like small potatoes compared to what we pay. Take a gander.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le-2nCBAZBk&feature=fvst
The Publicizing Questionable Charities article was short and got to the point. I agree that charities that use their money irresponsibly should be held accountable and it is great that there is so much support within the nonprofit community to stop this.
The Senate Bill 40 article presented a slightly different and more in-depth view of what the bill really means. It still sounds like a good idea to me but I thought it was interesting that most of the charities money is going to the fundraising telefunding company they hire. Why is that? Are these nonprofits just uneducated about how much the company is going to take? Because it seems if they were going to use the money irresponsibly, they would have to collect it first. If it is all being taken in by the telefunding company then isn’t the bill more geared towards that field? Confused.
The Arts Groups article was kind of a flop for me. I think that the art based nonprofits are radically different from the social service based ones. It is hard to really compare the two. Those who support galleries and orchestras are often times in a different socioeconomic situation then those who focus their attention more on social needs and problems. I am defiantly not opposed to funding the arts; I just think it’s a different sphere then funding what I tend to think of as more “traditional” nonprofits.
Poetry Gives Teens a Voice article is a good example of the balance of the arts and nonprofit work. I really liked what the Youth Speaks program is doing and I think that it’s a great way to bring the importance of art down to an organic level I would feel really good about giving to.
The book chapters (7 & 8) discussed advocacy and arts and culture nonprofits. I thought that these two chapters compliments the online readings well. I liked the statement that Americans vote with their feet by attending events they choose to support. People turn out for things that they are passionate about and advocate for things that affect them directly. Locating and targeting those people is, I think, the key to a nonprofits success.
I like your point that people of higher means are usually associated with supporting the arts, they are generally the ones enjoying it too. The Poetry article showed that non profits can expose the arts to a much more diversified group of people.
ReplyDeleteI heard about the London protests - cool youtube link, thanks. I had a friend studying abroad in Argentina last term and he said similar things were going on there. Social movements are a really unique sociological event. I took SOC 313 last year and it basically was an in depth look at the grassroots organizing of the civil rights movement. It was totally fascinating if you think you might be interested in learning more!
ReplyDeleteI also heard about the students protesting in London, I think that's a great way to get people's attention but would it be as affective here?
ReplyDeleteI agree with your prof. to some extent that we are too docile a generation. But, I also think that we are very split as far as politics go. Maybe not here in OR, but in general across the country I get the feeling that there is a lack of unity in our age group. Or maybe it is a lack of connection because of our technology--is this was your prof was getting at? I could see that as being a major challenge we face. But, it could result in a twist on push back.
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