Policy and Advocacy

Foundations are private institutions for public benefit. With a long history that reaches back to antiquity, foundations are experiencing a renaissance and increased attention paid to them by policy makers. Already by the mid-1980s, observers had begun to report the end of the relative decline in the overall size and importance of the foundation sector—a trend that had characterized the previous decades. Some analysts suggest the possibility of a new, third “foundation wave,” after a first growth period in the late Middle Ages, alongside the rise of commerce and finance, and a second period of growth in the late 19th century, following the industrial revolution. Political stability, an increase in demand for social, educational, and cultural services of all kinds, and economic prosperity are certainly significant factors behind this growth. Yet a more immediate reason is the way in which foundations have been suggesting themselves as instruments of welfare state reform in the broadest sense.

The authors review the history of community organization, both within and outside social work, describe the various sociological and social psychological theories that inform organizing approaches, and summarize conflict and consensus models in use in the early 21st century. We review the constituencies, issues, and venues that animate contemporary organizing efforts and indicate demographic trends in aging, immigration, diversity, and the labor force that suggest new opportunities for collective action. Finally, the authors discuss dramatic increases in organizing for environmental justice, immigrant rights, and youth-led initiatives, as well as new activities involving information technology, electoral organizing, and community–labor coalitions.

The Congressional Social Work Caucus is a bicameral authorized Congressional Member Organization (CMO) founded by former Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns In November 2010 during the 110th Congress. The mission of the caucus is to provide a platform in Congress that will allow social workers to engage the federal government. The Social Work Caucus consists of members of the House of Representative and the U.S. Senate who are professional social workers or who generally support the ideals, principles, and issues germane to the social work profession. Because of House Ethic rules, CMOs are prohibited from possessing resources of its own and must depend on the office budgets of its members. Consequently, the Social Work Caucus participated in a number of congressional briefings and seminars in conjunction with other social work organizations such as the National Association of Social Worker (NASW), the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), and the Social for Social Work and Research (SSWR). These public events covered a wide range of topics such as social workers roles in the Affordable Care Act, military social work, funding for mental health research, and trauma-based practice in child welfare.

Of the 1.6 million tax-exempt organizations registered with the IRS as of March 2012, about one-fourth are human service nonprofits, including some 254,100 charities with about $134.5 billion in total revenues. In 2011 human-service charities received about $35.4 billion in charitable contributions. This represents 12% of all charitable contributions (Giving USA Foundation, 2012) and is about 15% of the combined revenues reported by the roughly quarter million registered human-service charities. While government funding is a major driving force for human-service nonprofits, philanthropic funding clearly is important as well. Securing such funding requires solid understanding of the fundraising process and dedicated time and effort, however. Moreover, competition for donations (and fundraising expertise) appear to be growing across the board, with donations from individuals, United Way, and corporate contributions most at risk for human-service nonprofits.

The major international governmental and nongovernmental organizations and their activities are discussed with reference to their global co-coordinating, advocacy, service, and research functions. Attention is also given to the work of international professional associations.

In U.S. society, individuals are designated “professional” when they meet the requirements for a profession. However, professions are developed and maintained through various professional organizations and associations. As social work has evolved, the professional membership and professional education organizations have periodically unified, split, and later reunified when maintaining an identity as a single profession competed with the need to address the interests of different practice specialties, educational levels, and special interest groups within social work.