The Case for Better Maps of Social Service Provision: Using the Holy Cross Dispute to Illustrate More Effective Mapping

Abstract

Third-sector organizations provide essential services, but not all types of organizations operate equally well given different intensities of public problems. This article argues for maps that would help social service funding bodies. Those maps would include three elements: (1) a measure of service demanded by a community, (2) data on the full range of organizations able to supply those services, and (3) a chart that identifies those organizations that provide services at different intensities of need. By providing information about the supply of organizations in a community, with measures of demand for services, state funding bodies, foundations, and individual philanthropists can make informed decisions about where to allocate funds. An ideal map is illustrated by using the case of the Holy Cross Dispute (2001), whereby a host of voluntary sector organizations provided a voice for residents in this divided Belfast community. The result is a call for more intensive mapping exercises of voluntary sector social service provision.Résumé Les organisations du troisième secteur fournissent des services essentiels; pourtant toutes ces organisations n'opèrent pas de façon égale en fonction de l'intensité des problèmes publics. Cet article préconise l'utilisation de cartes qui viendraient assister les organismes de financement des services sociaux. Ces cartes comporteraient trois éléments: (1) le service demandé par la communauté, (2) des informations sur l'ensemble des organisations en mesure d'apporter ces services, et (3) un graphique qui identifie les organisations fournissant ces services à différents niveaux d'intensité des besoins. En donnant des informations sur l'apport de ces organisations fait à la communauté, avec notamment des valeurs portant sur la demande de ces services, les organismes de financement nationaux, les fondations et les bienfaiteurs individuels peuvent prendre des décisions sur l'allocation des B. Never ressources en toute connaissance de cause. Une carte modèle est illustrée avec l'exemple du conflit de l'école Holy Cross (2001), grâce à laquelle un grand nombre d'associations avaient permis aux résidents de cette communauté divisée de Belfast de s'exprimer. Le résultat est la demande pour étendre l'utilisation des cartes en matière de distribution des services sociaux associatifs.Zusammenfassung Dritte-Sektor-Organisationen erbringen Grunddienstleistungen, aber nicht alle Typen von Organisationen operieren gleich gut aufgrund der unterschiedlichen Intensität von öffentlichen Problemen. Dieser Artikel argumentiert für Karten, die Trägern von Sozialdiensten helfen würden. Diese Karten würden drei Elemente beinhalten: (1) die Dienste, die in einer Gemeinschaft gefragt sind, (2) die Daten aller Organisationen, die diese Dienste leisten können, und (3) eine Ü bersicht, die diejenigen Organisationen identifiziert, die Dienste auf verschiedenen Stufen von Not leisten. Indem Informationen über die vorhandenen Organisationen in einer Gemeinschaft, mit Maßgaben für nachgefragte Dienste, zur Verfügun...

Mapping Civil Society in the Digital Age: Critical Reflections From a Project Based in the Global South

“…For example, the U.S. Federal Government has classified nonprofits into “tax categories—in order to make them ‘fiscally legible’” (Scott, 1998, p. 68, as cited in Nickel and Eikenberry, 2016, p. 399). Academic projects focused on the Global North (Never, 2011; Roudebush & Brudney, 2012), Global South (Brass, 2012; Fruttero & Gauri, 2005), and comparative mapping across both (Salamon & Sokolowski, 2016) assert that nonprofits are not legitimate policy actors if they are not formally defined, making mapping essential to legitimization of the sector. Mainstream efforts to map civil society thus reproduce “a mode of knowledge inquiry that facilitates statecraft” (Nickel & Eikenberry, 2016, p. 398) and maps comprising “uniform governable units” (p. 394).…”

“…Mainstream approaches to civil society mapping involve collating standardized information on nonprofits, NGOs, and voluntary organizations and groups, and, often, making these data publicly available (Appe, 2013). The benefits ascribed to civil society mapping include enhancing our understanding of the size and scope of the sector (Grønbjerg, 1994; Lampkin et al, 2001), facilitating comparison of the sector across various contexts (Heinrich, 2005; Salamon & Anheier, 1998; Salamon & Sokolowski, 2016), improving economic and democratic efficiency through regulation and collaboration (Fioramonti & Kononykhina, 2015; Never, 2011; Salamon & Sokolowski, 2016), and legitimizing the role of civil society in burgeoning democracies (Appe, 2011, 2012, 2013).…”

Mapping civil society

“…In the context of mapping civil society, we see a standardization of information and, at times, these data are more regularly publicly available through information technologies and innovations like GRNDS. Many scholars have suggested that mapping can enhance the understanding of the size and scope of organized civil society, facilitate useful comparisons across contexts, and improve social coordination and efficiencies (e.g., Never, 2011;Roudebush & Brudney, 2012;Salamon & Associates, 2004). Perhaps the strongest assertion is that mapping civil society helps to legitimize the sector (Salamon & Sokolowski, 2016).…”

Moving to Need: The Effect of Federal Contracts on Service Provider Location

“…Seemingly disconnected from the rich literature in human geography, nonprofit scholars have also developed a literature on nonprofit location to develop maps of the sector (Never 2010;2011). Bielefeld, Murdoch, and Waddell (1997) explore the demographic composition of neighborhoods in the Dallas metropolitan area and the types of nonprofit organizations that operate in those geographies.…”