Three Themes for Civil Society in a Networked Age
February 14th, 2007 by mcg
Back at the beginning of 2006, at Nonprofit Online News, I shared the following aspiration:
I have three wishes for the nonprofit sector in 2006. I hope you will help me make them come true. In brief, my wishful thinking is this: (1) Mainstream leaders across US civil society wake up to the fact that the fundamental underpinnings of our sector are being destroyed. (2) The traditional silos and boundaries of nonprofit corporations loosen and open enough to take advantage of the power of networks. (3) Those who concern themselves with innovation in the sector will stop confusing it with hipness and will start investing in true structural enablers of new ideas.
As I look back at my work over the last ten years, I realize that these three themes really do capture my professional agenda with regard to civil society. Starting this weblog is one way to approach these themes less obliquely and in more depth.
Despite the information resources that I have at hand through Nonprofit Online News, I’m not in a position to assess what kind of progress is being made in any of these areas. Other political forces may keep us from eroding more of our foundations. I do see some examples of network oriented thinking and a smattering of things labeled as innovation. I would be interested in hearing from people who are tracking these three things.
As shorthand (and probably as categories for posts) I will probably use three phrases to capture these themes: Underpinnings of Civil Society, Permeability and Networks, and Enablers of Innovation.
