Progress of social sector truly matters for community

Over the past 75 years, economic growth has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and misery. But it is increasingly evident that a model of human development based solely on economic progress is inadequate.

Any society that fails to enable citizens to improve the quality of their lives on their own, sustain the natural environment and provide educational and advancement opportunities is, in fact, failing. Benefits for all require both economic and social progress.

Social progress has become an increasingly crucial cause for leaders and citizens, be they involved in government, private enterprise or the “independent” sectors of nonprofit organizations and nongovernmental organizations.

Broad-based citizens' uprisings such as the Arab Spring and other emergent social movements are appearing in even the most prosperous counties of the world. Since the financial meltdown of 2008, there has been a growing expectation that the business sector play a larger role in delivering improvements in the lives of customers, employees, partners, and citizens at large.

Progress on the social front is not always a result of economic advancement. While rising incomes can bring on improvements in education and literacy, sanitation, clear air and water, and housing, personal security is no better in middle-income countries than low income ones, and sometimes worse.

There are too many people alive today, regardless of income, who exist without full human rights and who experience discrimination and threats of violence based on gender, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Racial hatred is alive and well in America. Traditional measures, such as gross domestic product, do not help us address these issues.

IJ readers are already aware of the dysfunction that plagues the legislative, judicial and executive branches. How we got here is less important to discern that to know that we are here. There is a need for balanced participation and problem-solving by government, private enterprise and the independent social sectors. When any one of the three is crippled, there is going to be trouble.

When there is an imbalance between economic growth and social progress, political instability and unrest increase. Lagging social progress also acts as a restraint to economic growth itself. We need to invest in the institutions of social advancement, not just economic institutions, to create the foundation for democratic economic growth.

Into the breach comes the social sector — the nonprofit organizations that make up the world of mission-driven change. Upward of 12 million U.S. citizens work in the social sector, myself included. Together, we contribute more than a trillion dollars of economic value.

I contacted Nora Silver and Patty Debenham, the founder and executive director, respectively, of the Center of Social Sector Leadership at the Haas School of Business on the University of California at Berkeley campus, to learn more.

I learned that more people volunteer in this country than vote. Volunteering is a uniquely American activity. People vote from their heads and hearts, but also through their feet and their hands. Volunteering reflects an advanced level of belief in society.

Volunteers give one and a half to two times more money than donors who do not volunteer. What do they know that the rest of us don't?

Silver and Debenham say volunteers understand that serious problems require teams of people to solve them. In case you haven't noticed, there is no “I” in the word team and there is no “team” in Congress.

I learned that change happens best when it starts locally. Local people working in teams for local nonprofit organizations are sensitive to local needs. Nonprofits are the first responders. With all due respect, the people in our churches, schools and local shelters know what's needed more than our elected officials.

It is up to us to take care of us. Not every nonprofit is as efficient as its leaders might like, but it can be argued that the social sector is at least as effective as either government or private industry, simply because the people who do the work are driven by an organizational and social mission. They are driven to improve society, not individual power or profit.