24 • Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina
Ideas
The spirit of voluntarism
October 1993
Coles offers insists into volunteers
Culminating a lifetime of writing
about the struggles of children
and women, Harvard child psy
chiatrist Robert Coles now exam
ines the motivations and chal
lenges of people who serve oth
ers. The result is a call to service.
By Katherine Noble
W arning: Don’t read this
book if you read books to
occupy your leisure time.
Robert Coles’ new book probably will
make you want to spend your time as
a volunteer.
It may not have been the author’s
intention, but it’s difficult to read
“The. Call of Service, A Witness to
Idealism,” without feeling guilty for
not devoting one’s entire life to com
munity service.
The stories of altruism, sacrifice
and dedication that till the pages of
Coles’ latest book are heartwarming
and inspiring.
One would be hard put to find a
more compelling documentation of
good works than in Coles’ book.
The book is a record of volun
tarism and activism that Coles, 63,
has witnessed throughout his life,
and was written, he says, as a tribute
to his mother and father, volunteers
of different sorts.
Perhaps it was the stark contrast
between his liberal. Idealistic and
activist Catholic mother, and his
stoic, serious and almost cynical
father - and the fact that they both
devoted years of their lives to volun
teer work - that
led Coles to
investigate the
motivations for
voluntarism.
Coles, using
a narrative
approach he’s
applied in pre
vious books,
brings many
people, young
^d old, to Me. Robert Coles
Quoting volun-
teers verbatim has the effect of hold
ing up a mirror to the reader, who
may end up questioning his or her
own motivations for helping - or fail
ing to help-others.
There’s the story of ei^t-year-old
Tessie, cau^t in the midst of school
desegregation in the South, who goes
to school every day among mostly
white children, holding up her head
and walking proudly past protesting
mothers.
There’s the story of two college
volunteers who tutor inner-city chil
dren and wonder whether their work
BOOK REVIEW
is really helping.
“I will leave that school some
days, and while I’m sitting on the sub
way, I feel so sad, so upset -1 feel I’m
not really being of help to anyone
except maybe myself,” laments the
female college student.
There’s the story of a well-to-do
mother who devoted her free time to
golf and gardening until her dau^ter
was diagnosed with leukemia in 1975.
At the hospital, the white mother
meets a black mother who also has a
daughter undergoing chemotherapy.
To get to the hospital, the black moth
er and her dau^ter ride two buses
and the subway, arriving already
exhausted for the treatments.
The white suburbanite begins dri
ving the family to the hospital.
“My mother became a little differ
ent after Alice got sick,” the girl’s sis
ter tells Coles. “She has been going
to church a lot, and she doesn’t
worry about the usual stuff - what we
eat and whether she’s overspent on
her allowance! She goes aH the way
to Roxbury to help that family;
they’ve become her friends.”
The girl continues: “Daddy is
scared because of the nei^borhood,
but Mom says the people are very
nice to her. She says
they’re nicer than
our neighbors ...
they’ll stop you on the
street and ask you
how you’re doing, and
they seem to mean it.”
Coles writes: “Amid
all the fear and sad
ness of that illness, her
mother was awakened
to the needs of others
as wen as those of her
own daughter. ... As to
service, it’s hard to
decide which of the
women offered more to
the other.”
This kind of “personal and idio
syncratic” service, brought about by
a fateful encounter at a hospital, is
one of hundreds of stories of human
beings helping others that Coles tells
in his book.
But the book isn’t just about the
good that people can do. It also is
about why they do it. In between
each story is Coles’ commentary as
teacher, psychiatrist and activist, on
the challenges and frustrations of
voluntarism and social activism.
That the book was published as
President Clinton is launching his
National Service Plan, is coinciden
tal. Still, the timing underscores the
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movement afoot in the
U.S. to bring public ser
vice to the forefront of
social change.
Coles says he
believes students today
are turning more and
more to service.
“Half of my students
are doing community
service,” Coles says of
the undergraduate course he teaches
at Harvard College. And although
motivations may differ, reaching out
to others is. Coles believes, funda
mental to human beings.
“If you even watch little children,
they’ll see another child in distress
and they’ll react,” says Coles, a child
psychiatrist.
T think it’s a fundamental part of
us to reach out.’”
Coles’ latest book is a moving
portrait of the spirit that drives ordi
nary Americans to try to make life
better for other people. And it may be
doubly moving if reading it spurs
people to become volunteers them
selves.
“The Call of Service” is indeed a
call to service.
Gaining public trust
NSFRE leader focuses on fundraising ethics
At a time of increased govern
ment and media scrutiny of non
profit fundraising, the National
Society of Fund Raising Execu
tives is making efforts to im
prove donor trust and heighten
public awareness of the role of
professional fundraisers. The
Philanthropy Journal recently
talked with Patricia Lewis, pres
ident and chief executive officer
of NSFRE, about her organiza
tion’s agenda for change.
JOURNAL: NSFRE and four
other national nonprofit associations
are now working on a Donor’s Bill of
Rights. What was the impetns for the
bill and what will the document say?
LEWIS: It jnst seemed to be
something that would be useful to us
as a profession. It’s part of trymg to
help people understand that this is a
two-way relationship, that donors
have rights and they shonld know
what they shonld be asking tor.
Donors have a ri^t to see financial
statements, to know how their gifts
will be nsed and they shonld be
offered the mission statement [of the
organization soliciting funds]. We’ll
be distribnting the bill through
NSFRE members and will have a
press conference once it’s finalized.
JOURNAL: NSFRE has also
formed a task force to look at mem
ber salaries after finding that women
fnndraisers earn less on average
than men.
LEWIS: 'The parity issne is signif
icant. We fonnd that the national
average salary for men in the profes
sion is $52,000. For women, it’s
$40,000. After three surveys in a row
showing the same thing, we decided
to do something about it.
JOURNAL: What’s it like to be a
woman in the fundraising fieid?
LEWIS: It’s not really a gender
issne. This is a profession for people
with certain qnalities - outgoingness,
a commitment to philanthropy and
the not-for-profit sector. It’s a profes
sion that has great flexibility. Women
can come in and have flexible hours.
Q&A
Many women
come into the
profession after
having been
volimteers.
JOURNAL:
What’s the
most important
challenge fac
ing the fund
raising profes
sion today?
LEWIS
Patricia Lewis
Figuring out how to advance the pro
fession in a way that’s ethical. We
have a responsibility to promote the
fact that we believe there are ways
that philanthropy can be respectful of
donors. I’d like to see NSFRE main
tain a leadership role in building the
pnbUc trust.
JOURNAL: Do people understand
what fundraisers do?
LEWIS: Not at all. I think people
have a very negative view of fundrais-
O'HERRON & COMPANY
Investment Counsel
3301 Woman's Club Drive, Suite 148
Raleigh, NC 27612
Phone (919) 571-7722
FAX (919) 828-7911
Technology
Continued from page 3
the United States to parents who
speak En^sh and Spanish.
“Thanks to the previons posting
we were able to hire an additional
staff person this summer,” wrote
Caroline Arvani-Cardona of Legal
Services in her electronic thank-yon
note. “Ms. Billareal is extremely
mature and a fine person. After our
experience, we highly recommend
this program.”
If a request for finding bUingnal
employees isn’t exactly unnsnal, con
sider the cry for help from Debby
Warren at Raleigh’s N.C. Client and
Community Development Center of
Legal Services of North Carolina.
Warren, whose breadth of low-
cost housing knowledge is impres
ers. The overriding sense is that
fundraising is a hnstle. It’s not. There
are hustlers who call themselves
fundraisers. But fundraising is a
process. The practice of fundraising
is not easy. You have to be both gre
garious and highly organized, present
your cause and connect with poten
tial constituents. That doesn’t come
out of one’s hip pocket. It comes out
of continuing education and skill
development.
JOURNAL: The national ACLU is
being criticized for failing to disclose
a $500,000 gift from Philip Morris
USA to its members. What’s your
feeling about the issue of donor confi-
dentiSity in nonprofit fundraising?
LE\^S: My personal opinion is
that when an organization receives a
contribution from a source that could
be controversial to the mission of that
organization, they should disclose it
to the board. That puts the gover
nance of an organization where it
belongs - not with the public or the
media, but with the board. I think
donors should be offered the opportu
nity to be anonymous. But organiza
tions shouldn’t hide the sources [of
contributions].
JOURNAL: Are fundraisers
reaching out to new kinds of donors?
LEWIS: I think women are the
new philanthropists of the 1990s. Our
tradition is to ask the men, but
women are being asked more now.
Another group is young career people
in their 30s, usually with dual
incomes. And there are a lot of minor
ity populations that have not been
recognized but are very philanthropic.
JOURNAL: National surveys
show that individual giving continues
to grow despite economic hard times.
Why do people keep giving?
LE\^S: People beUeve in causes.
That’s always been part of how we do
things in this country. They give
because they are asked. How many
millions of people do we have in this
country who’ve never been asked? I
really am a proponent of philan
thropy as a partner with business
and government in improving our
communities.
sive, nevertheless didn’t know much
about affordable alternative sewer
systems for Eastern North Carolina,
site of several new community devel
opment projects. Many sites don’t
percolate properly, she announced in
an electronic message to NC
Exchange/ HandsNet’s Q&A forum,
called Across the Back Fence.
Back came a reply from the NC
Rural Communities Assistance
Project Inc. Not only did the answer
briefly discuss some options, but —
in a stroke of coincidental good for
tune — NCRCAP was about to pub
lish “Considering Alternatives: A
Guide to Wastewater Technologies
for Small Communities.”
Clearly, one of HandsNet’s major
goals has been achieved in North
Carolina: Enhancing cross-discipli
nary issues among groups working
in ^ferent areas.
Even better, some might say, is
the realization that technology can
advance the credo of sharing that is
fundamental to the ethical and prac
tical survival of nonprofits. Thanks
to computer networl^g, everything
you do does come back to you - just
much taster.
ELECTRONIC CONTACTS
NC ExChange/HondsNet:
Housing: Martho Are,
[919)833-6201.
Agriculture: Betty Baily,
[919)542-1396,
Women: Arme Madrie,
(919) 833-4055.
Low-income: Lynnette Willioms,
(919) 832-7130
Nonprofits: Leslie Takahashi,
(919)571-0811.
Politics: Diane Henderson,
(919) 261-2689.