The new book, Nonprofit Management 101, which I recently purchased and am now perusing, is an excellent resource, but, like many books about the nonprofit sector, it consistently omits inclusion of the foundational aspect of religion in its pages.
As an example, consider this quote from one article in the book:
“More democratic efforts to encourage and professionalize philanthropy arose, with two important community-based models arising at the same place and time. The Community Chest, founded in Cleveland in 1913, was the first major effort to collect money from a broad community for a variety of causes. Its successor, the United Way, is today joined by many other such efforts.” (p. 13)
Reading this, in the article entitled, The Role of Nonprofits in American Life, (pp. 5-19) leads one to assume that secular nonprofits pretty much set the pace and tone, but, that is not the case, as Wikipedia notes speaking about Catholic Charities:
“Catholic Charities, USA (CCUSA), with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, was founded in 1910 as the National Conference of Catholic Charities. In 2010, Catholic Charities' centennial year,[8] more than 1,700 agencies, institutions and organizations composed the Catholic Charities network - including individual organizations of the dioceses, such as the Archdiocese of Chicago. Nearly 90 cents of every dollar donated to Catholic Charities agencies goes directly to programs and services.[9] In 2008, Catholic Charities agencies served over 8 million individuals.
“Together, with the local, diocesan-associated Catholic Charities, it is the second largest social service provider in the United States, surpassed only by the federal government. Throughout the centennial year, Catholic Charities USA worked together with their member agencies to find pathways out of poverty for more people than ever and to draw the country's attention to the people in our country who are struggling to find work and feed their families.”
Adding to the omission in the article (and pretty much in the entire book) of the Catholic role in American charity, is the curious fact that the author of the article is a faculty member at the University of San Francisco, a Catholic Jesuit University (also my alma mater}.
That being said, it is still an excellent resource, and another book, Catholic Charities USA: 100 Years at the Intersection of Charity and Justice, provides the definitive history of Catholic charity in America.
About
- David H. Lukenbill
- I am a California native, married, we have one daughter and live close to the American River with two cats and all the wild critters we can feed. I am a management consultant to nonprofit organizations and have an Associates of Arts degree in Administration of Justice from Sacramento City College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Public Administration degree, also from the University of San Francisco.