The current Presidential administration in the USA wants to cut federal funding for a range of programs, including Special Olympics. Betsy DeVos, the President’s Secretary of Education, says it’s because these programs “enjoy robust support from private donations.”

Charity has never been enough to address homelessness, illiteracy, maternal health problems, gaps in education, the needs by those affected by domestic violence, the needs of people with disabilities, and on and on. Charity isn’t enough to promote the arts (arts involvement isn’t just nice – it’s essential to a whole range of quality of life issues), maintain public lands, and on and on. Charity is essential – but, alone, it will NEVER be enough, for Special Olympics or any other ESSENTIAL program. There MUST be government funding – tax dollars – for human service, environment, education and arts programs to be more than little feel-good PR moments benefitting just a small group of people.

My mother announced when I was 14 that I would be volunteering to escort the Henderson County team to the state Special Olympics in Bowling Green, Kentucky – a cousin was involved in organizing and this was how we, as a family, would support her – with me. Yes, it was a “voluntold” moment. I had never been around people with developmental disabilities and I had no idea what Special Olympics was and I had no idea who Eunice Shriver, the featured speaker, was. I won’t say I entirely understood it all at 14, but that participation changed ME for life and how I relate to people with developmental disabilities. It put me on a lifetime journey of trying to understand – all because of volunteering at one Special Olympics event. It wasn’t just a “nice” thing to be involved, not a oh, look at these poor children isn’t their spirit adorable thing – it was a TRANSFORMATION, for athlete, family member, volunteer and audience alike. This is so much more than “charity.” And government support is necessary for it to be anything more than a few small events here and there.

In fact, the Oregon Special Olympics keeps canceling events because of lack of funding. Special Olympics Oregon lost $325,000 on $4.5 million in revenue in 2016, lost more in 2017, and expects to lose money again in 2018, according to a news release. The reality is that corporations and other funders are NOT stepping up to fulfill the needs of Special Olympics.

The San Francisco Bay Area, including Silicon Valley, has rapidly become the richest region in the country. It’s a place where $100,000 Teslas are commonplace, unfiltered “raw water” goes for $37 a jug, and companies pay mega bucks for parties for employees, featuring high-profile comedians and other celebrities. Yet Sacred Heart Community Service, a San Jose nonprofit that helps low-income families with food, clothing, heating bills, and other services, actually received less in individual donations from the community in 2017 than it did the previous year. “We’re still not sure what it could be attributed to,” Jill Mitsch, the funds development manager at Sacred Heart, said in this story about corporate profits and philanthropy in Silicon Valley. It’s not the only nonprofit trying to keep donations up—the United Way of Silicon Valley folded in 2016 amidst stagnant contributions. Here’s more in this story. Record homelessness, record numbers of people needing health care, more and more polarization in society, more and more social isolation, less and less feelings of community – and, yet, Silicon Valley is holding on tightly to its wealth and not investing in the nonprofits that cannot keep up with demand.

Charity isn’t enough. In fact, volunteering, by itself, isn’t enough to save the world. But that’s another blog…

Also see:

• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Advice for ethics, strategies & operations
• time for USA nonprofits to be demanding
• Trump is trying to eliminate national service – again
• Trump’s War on Volunteerism
• A plea to USA nonprofits for the next four years (& beyond)
• Governor Bevin & Donald Trump Are Wrong on Community Service Requirements
• Requirements to volunteer are getting out of hand
• Kentucky politicians think volunteers are free
• How Will Trump Presidency Affect Humanitarian Aid & Development?
• Volunteering, by itself, isn’t enough to save the world