Not-for-Profit New York

New York is a city quite unlike any other I have been to. Constantly buzzing, it is very difficult to have a dull moment. I was fortunate to be able to spend some time with my good friend Ginny, whom I met back in 2000 when we both worked at a summer camp for people with disabilities in Virginia.

Ginny has followed an interesting career path since her time in New York. She arrived in New York on her way to London on September 10^th 2001 her flight was scheduled for the 12^th. On the morning of September 11^th Ginny was on the subway making her way to the bank located in the shopping mall beneath the World Trade center at the time of the terrorist attack. As a qualified nurse Ginny immediately offered her services to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and continued to provide assistance to families and communities in the aftermath of the atrocity. Ginny has stayed in New York ever since, working as a nurse and dedicating much of her free time to volunteering and supporting others in the community and is currently dedicating a significant amount of time to supporting young people born with HIV.

Ginny was an excellent gateway into the not-for-profit sector in New York. I met a number of organisations and groups via Ginny that allowed me to gage the role of the voluntary sector in relation to local government in the United States.

My initial observations are:

• As in the UK the voluntary sector is often a key provider of  public services, although this is in a very competitive environment with the private sector.
• Government contracts can be bureaucratic, put organisations in direct competition with one another and not necessarily have open, transparent and consistent processes, although in New York it appears that a 3 year commitment to a government contract is standard.
• Strong relationships appear to exist between voluntary and civil society organisations and partnership working seems to be well established.
•  The relationship between the voluntary sector and the state is often a difficult one. On one hand voluntary organisations are paid to deliver services and on the other they are there to advocate for social justice (often against the state) in favour of their beneficiaries.
•  The funding model for many not-for-profit organisations is far more diverse, partly because of this, but also because the level of funding from the state is often limited. Corporate sponsors, private foundations and faith bodies play a far greater role in funding such activities, although these sources can equally present dilemmas in terms of mission and ethos.
• Volunteerism is a very strong concept in the United States, with many people (such as Ginny) giving up their time to help others. This tends to be focused on activities dealing with people’s basic needs, such as health, housing, food, finance etc… In the UK there is an expectation that many of these needs are met by the welfare state.  

The few days spent in New York has helped to orientate me around the relationship between civil society and government in the United States. This is a really useful induction to prepare me for 3 weeks of fieldwork with community organizing movements in San Francisco, California.