Non-profits, charities and social services
One of the defining attributes of Western civilization is the depth and breadth of the social services movement. While social services are an outgrowth of charitable organizations that span back to the first person to lend a hand to someone less fortunate, the larger scale social services movement really began in the last two centuries with the founding of the YMCA in 1844[1] and the United Way in 1887 in Denver Colorado[2]. Prior to that Community Chest organizations throughout the United States raised funds for small community oriented charitable organizations spread throughout American communities.
The spirit behind the social services movement is a spirit of care and compassion and is not unlike the spirit of the medical profession and primary healthcare organizations.
The first international social services organization was the International Society of the Red Cross[3] founded in 1863 which is an organization that has always bridged the gap between social and humanitarian issues and healthcare issues.
Today, millions of charitable and non-government agencies exist around the world with mandates ranging from helping the homeless and the destitute, to business, political, religious and recreation issues, to human and animal rights advocacy and ecology and cultural survival groups. If there is a cause, an issue or a profession there is probably an organization dedicated to it. There are more than 2 million non-profits in the United States and approx. 200,000 in Canada. In Canada alone, the non-profit sector’s economic impact is the same as the GDP of British Columbia.
The Sector is growing:
The nonprofit sector in America employs a steadily increasing segment of the country’s working population. According to the latest measures, the average annual growth rate in employment for nonprofits (2.5%) was significantly higher than for business (1.8%) or government (1.6%). The number of Americans employed in the nonprofit sector has doubled in the last 25 years. Nonprofit employment represents 9.5 percent of total employment in the United States, with total employees numbering 12.5 million.[1]
[1]INDEPENDENT SECTOR, Non-Profit Almanac. Facts and Findings, 2004, www.IndependentSector.org
[1]http://www.ymca.net/about/cont/history.htm
[2] http://national.unitedway.org/about/history.cfm
[3]http://www.icrc.org/
The spirit behind the social services movement is a spirit of care and compassion and is not unlike the spirit of the medical profession and primary healthcare organizations.
The first international social services organization was the International Society of the Red Cross[3] founded in 1863 which is an organization that has always bridged the gap between social and humanitarian issues and healthcare issues.
Today, millions of charitable and non-government agencies exist around the world with mandates ranging from helping the homeless and the destitute, to business, political, religious and recreation issues, to human and animal rights advocacy and ecology and cultural survival groups. If there is a cause, an issue or a profession there is probably an organization dedicated to it. There are more than 2 million non-profits in the United States and approx. 200,000 in Canada. In Canada alone, the non-profit sector’s economic impact is the same as the GDP of British Columbia.
The Sector is growing:
The nonprofit sector in America employs a steadily increasing segment of the country’s working population. According to the latest measures, the average annual growth rate in employment for nonprofits (2.5%) was significantly higher than for business (1.8%) or government (1.6%). The number of Americans employed in the nonprofit sector has doubled in the last 25 years. Nonprofit employment represents 9.5 percent of total employment in the United States, with total employees numbering 12.5 million.[1]
[1]INDEPENDENT SECTOR, Non-Profit Almanac. Facts and Findings, 2004, www.IndependentSector.org
[1]http://www.ymca.net/about/cont/history.htm
[2] http://national.unitedway.org/about/history.cfm
[3]http://www.icrc.org/
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