A Sector with a Weak Sense of Identity

Generally speaking, few not-for-profit executives are well-prepared to tell the story of the community sector outside of their specific organization or the field of service in which they operate (i.e., arts, education, health, human services, religion, etc.). Competition for limited resources offers little incentive for turf-conscious organizations to position their work in the context of their work in the context of their peers or the sector as a whole. The sheer diversity of the sector also presents a genuine challenge to anyone wishing to tell a concise, coherent story.

"We have a problem with the product itself," said Dr. Sara Melendez, president of Independent Sector, during the organization's 1996 national conference which was held in Seattle. (The conference received almost no media coverage.) Independent Sector is a national coalition of 800 voluntary organizations, foundations and corporate giving programs. Its mission is to create a national forum capable of encouraging the giving, volunteering and nonprofit initiative that helps all Americans better serve people, communities and causes.

"We're unclear about the sector's identity," Melendez said. "We in the sector have to be our first key audience. Most of us are engaged because we care about a particular cause and not the sector as a whole." Melendez advocates that not-for-profits make public education about the sector a priority, and a permanent part of their work.

At least one grantmaker concurs with Melendez, for reasons that are specific to the Northwest: "With this part of the country being so young, money is very new here and as a result the traditions of philanthropy are very new, so I think teaching philanthropy is very important. It's a mission for us."

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