Dr. Lester Salamon, author, professor and director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies was the keynote speaker at Imagine Canada’s Symposium “Learning from the World: Canada’s Charitable & Nonprofit Sector through a Global Lens.” Salamon’s presentation, entitled “Ten Myths of Global Civil Society,” centred around research conducted in 37 countries worldwide, and challenged a number of the myths that plague the third sector.

Despite the enormous outpouring of efforts, Salamon’s main conclusion is that the “Civil Society Sector” is an industry that is very poorly understood. “We are clouded by ideological screens that distort our view and get in the way with this sector’s ability to move forward,” he proclaimed. The reason for his presentation was to “explode and get behind the myths” that have driven our perceptions.

Myth #1: That civil society is only made up only of NGOs. As a sector, we tend to focus on what is different about us, instead of on our commonalities, he commented, and we tend to use words that obscure some organizations, while shining a light on others. The use of the word “NGO” for example, has its own connotation of development work to facilitate social change, but “NGO” leaves out other valid sources of nonprofit activity, including hospitals, universities, human rights organizations, trade associations, sports clubs, grassroots and other nonprofit groups. There are a number of different models that work, that are also representative of civil society; therefore, it is possible to broaden the term.

Myth #2: That civil society sector is a marginal actor economically.

This is simply not true, as research assembled from countries all around the world proves. In the 37 countries measured, the civil society sector employs a total of 4.5% of employees in the workforce and spends $1.33 trillion in operating expenses. Measured by gross domestic product, it is the 5th largest industry in the world, and employs eight times the number of employees in the utilities sector. (In Canada it employs 2 million people- two and a half times more workers than the construction industry.)

Myth #3 & 4: Civil society organizations are chiefly an American phenomenon and are not present in the welfare states of Europe, where reliance on government is greater; and that there is no civil society sector for all intents and purposes in the Scandinavian countries, where the welfare state is most fully developed. The truth is that civil society is a global phenomenon, and when measured as a percentage of the economically active population, the United States ranks 5th behind the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium and Ireland. Scandinavian countries actually rely heavily on civil society organizations to deliver services privately with state-financing. Canada’s civil society sector was classified by Salamon as “robust.”

Myth #5 & 6: Volunteers play a more important role in the civil society workforce in developing than developed countries; and paid staff drives out reliance on volunteers. The worldwide average shows us that nearly half, or 44% of the workforce in civil society organizations are volunteers, and this statistic does not vary widely with wealthier versus less wealthy countries. That said, volunteers do tend to play a somewhat more important role in the civil society workforce in developing countries than in developed countries. Volunteering is a social act that needs to be mobilized and research proves that an effective volunteer effort significantly benefits from the presence of paid staff to provide structure. In Canada, only 25% of our civil society workforce is comprised of volunteers.

Myth #7: The civil society sector is mostly engaged in the provision of services. There are a number of functions that civil society organizations undertake, including provision of services (68% on average, of an organization’s activities.) Advocacy and community building represent 32% of an organization’s activities, however, and these are activities which serve to establish trust, bonds of reciprocity, and the social capital essential to a healthy society. Civil society sector organizations act a vehicle for the expression of a variety of human values, including cultural and religious values. Salamon bemoaned the restrictions that Anglo- Saxon society tends to place on advocacy (he included Canada and the US in that group.)

Myth #8 and #9: Philanthropy is the chief source of civil society revenue; and philanthropy is at least the chief source of civil society revenue in the United States. The global average of civil society sector revenue breaks down as follows: government contributions contribute 35% of revenue, fees and charges contribute 53% of revenue, while philanthropy contributes only 12% of revenue. (In Canada, the breakdown is 31%, 51%, 9% respectively, whereas in the US it is 57%, 31% and 13%, respectively.)

Myth #10: The civil society sector is growing at a slower rate than the private business sector. Employment statistics measured in eight countries between 1990 and 1995 demonstrate that the sector experienced 24% growth compared to an average overall employment growth of 8%.

We are experiencing a global associational revolution, confirmed Salamon, and there is a worldwide search on for new models to effectively manage civil societies. There has been a corresponding rise in social entrepreneurs (lawyers, engineers, physicists) who are frustrated by the lack of opportunities in their chosen professions, and who consciously turn to civil society organizations to give meaning to their lives.

Civil society institutions are surprisingly well structured and exuberant, yet unnoticed. They are fragile organisms, facing immediate challenges of legitimacy and sustainability, but potentially limited by the unrealistic expectation that philanthropy alone will sustain it and help to build its capacity. “We simply cannot go it alone, and have prided ourselves on our independence for too long. The key to the future is cross-sectoral initiatives,” stressed Salamon, who then reminding delegates about their collective raison d’être, which in its simple form, is all about justice.

Melanie Lovering is executive director of the Stephen Leacock Foundation for Children. She can be reached at leacock@sympatico.ca.

This article first appeared in the April issue of “The Contributor”, the AFP Greater Toronto Chapter’s monthly member newsletter, and is reprinted with permission.