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October 17, 2003/Tishri 21 5764, Vol. 56, No. 4
Tallying the ways we give
FLORENCE ECKSTEIN
Publisher
Consider this: Approximately 22,250 nonprofit organizations operate in Arizona. Their 105,500 salaried employees and hundreds of thousands of mostly part-time volunteers comprise a total workforce of 316,000 people.
In 2001, the 18,950 Arizona charities with 501(c)(3) status reported revenues of $10.37 billion, of which $2.18 billion came from contributions, gifts and grants, with the rest from fees, contracts, dues, investments and special events.
It's in this crowded environment, with organizations vying for the hearts, minds and generosity of participants, contributors and volunteers, that our Jewish community's nonprofits are working to distinguish themselves - with mixed success.
The figures about Arizona nonprofits come from "Arizona's Nonprofit Sector: The Spirit of Arizona," authored by Tim Delaney, president and founder of The Center for Leadership, Ethics & Public Service, and published by the Arizona Community Foundation. The must-read report surveys the state's nonprofit landscape from several perspectives, providing invaluable context for professional and lay leaders in Arizona's Jewish community.
Of note is that 87.3 percent of Arizonans surveyed by ASU for a new report on how Arizonans give and volunteer said they contributed to charity last year - slightly more than the 85 percent of respondents to the 2002 Greater Phoenix Jewish Community Study who said their households made a charitable contribution in 2001. Just half of the respondents to the Jewish community study (conducted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix) said they gave to a Jewish charity.
The "Spirit of Arizona" report enumerates how nonprofits add value to our lives, as "champions of the common good," "laboratories of leadership," "weavers of community," and "incubators of innovation." How well do these terms describe the nonprofits you support?
A list of challenges Arizona's nonprofits face is all too familiar: less money, more demand for service, greater scrutiny, more competition, lack of communication and coordination, and exhaustion.
The final pages of the report suggest how nonprofits can help themselves - be accountable, innovate, combine energies - and how funders, businesses and individuals can assist the nonprofits they care about.
"The Spirit of Arizona" inspires thinking about what could happen if we made nonprofit involvement a family priority. Imagine visiting a different nonprofit Web site each week; talking at the dinner table about what we can do to make a difference in our community; deciding together how to distribute charitable dollars; volunteering as a family; and inviting friends and neighbors to join us in giving and volunteering.
It's worth considering.
For a copy of "Arizona's Nonprofit Sector: The Spirit of Arizona," send $12 to the Arizona Community Foundation, 2212 E. Highland Ave., Suite 400, Phoenix 85016.
Contact the writer at flo_eckstein@jewishaz.com.
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