From the Archives – October 2021: The Mother Science

From the Editor: Since I’ve been down with a nasty virus all week, and the future of nonprofits is heavy on my mind, this short article I wrote in 2021 keeps coming to my mind. There is a lot of fear in the nonprofit community, especially among our 501c6 segment because of the rapid pace of change brought on by the new Administration. But what makes us special is the place where we came from – the individual’s right to freely associate. That is what sets us apart and that is why we are important to the fabric of society. Our contributions are valuable and unique; that is why we are needed. 

“When citizens can associate only in certain cases, they regard association as a rare and singular process, and they hardly think of it. When you allow them to associate freely in everything, they end up seeing in association the universal and, so to speak, unique means that men can use to attain the various ends that they propose. Each new need immediately awakens the idea of association. The art of association then becomes, . . ., the mother science; everyone studies it and applies it.”

This quote by Alexis de Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America, is one of the founding principles and thoughts related to the birth of what we now call associations. While de Tocqueville is often misquoted as saying “America’s strength is in its groups,” the true spirit of his observation is the strength of ASSOCIATION.

The American attitude supporting individuals associating for a common cause is one of the things that set our country’s society apart from others at the time. We continue this attitude of Associating today with our modern system of associations, charities, and foundations, the organizations that make up most of the nonprofit community.

Our ability to “associate freely in everything” has given us the knowledge, insight, and inspiration to create what is needed for the present (especially handy during a global pandemic) and to look to the future as we realize that all things are possible if we work together.

 You may not think that relationships – the building block of associations – are necessarily scientific but using this framework as a lens into planning and problem solving is another characteristic of what sets non profits of all kinds apart. Hooray for science!

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Courage and DEI

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The Shape of Things to Come – No More Nonprofits