The Mother Science

“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!