The Parallel Census Universe: Philanthropy, Nonprofits And Promoting The Census

December 8, 2009

At a hearing last week, the House census subcommittee highlighted outreach and promotion activities for the 2010 count. The focus wasn’t on the Census Bureau’s extensive communications program but on grassroots organizations, state and local governments, and businesses – sectors that are operating in what I call a “parallel universe” to help ensure an inclusive count in all communities.

Groups representing hard-to-count populations are coordinating activities with the Census Bureau, while also working on their own to tear down significant barriers that keep millions of people from responding to the census. Their efforts are no small matter.

At a recent 2010 Census Advisory Committee meeting, Census Director Robert Groves frankly acknowledged that many Americans would dodge the decennial count were it not for the extensive work of community groups and other trusted voices. The director’s observation might seem obvious to advocates representing the interests of hard-to-count populations or to nonprofits serving the needs of distressed neighborhoods, where many residents view government with a skeptical eye.

But the Census Bureau’s robust effort to harness support from stakeholders in every sector and at every level of society — the Partnership Program — doesn’t translate into dollars for those whose voices resonate loudest in hard-to-enumerate communities. Instead, foundations – mostly private, some corporate — have made much of the parallel universe activity possible. In an unprecedented collaborative approach, funders are supporting census outreach and promotion activities from the national to neighborhood levels.

Projects with a broad reach include Nonprofits Count, Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network, It’s Time! Make Yourself Count!, , ya es hora! Hagase Contar!,  Indian Country Counts and similar campaigns targeting the Black, Asian, and Arab American communities, among others. (My favorite poster from this other-census-world is a minimalist but striking depiction of Mary and Joseph following the star to Bethlehem, to be counted in the first census, courtesy of NALEO.)

Philanthropy also has teamed with states and municipalities, and pooled resources, to fund grassroots education and fill-out-the-form events. Examples include Count Me In! campaigns in Illinois, Long Island, New York City and Massachusetts, and collaborative initiatives in California, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon and Ohio.

The Census Bureau will spend $400+ million on its own worthwhile communications campaign, blanketing the airwaves and cyberspace with ads and messages starting next month. Should some of this money go to community groups desperate – and well positioned – to help carry those messages to the street? I think it should, but getting dollars into the right hands is easier said than done.

The Census Bureau is a statistical, not grant-making, agency. Setting grant eligibility requirements won’t be easy when almost any grassroots organization could reach a segment of the hard-to-count population, and when members of Congress will want to ensure a share of the pie for their own districts.

But Congress should consider the options soon. Given philanthropy’s growing involvement in the census, leading civic role, knowledge of hard-to-count communities, and grant-making prowess, foundations might be a natural conduit for government funds in a public-private partnership that both Republicans and Democrats could love.

The writer is a consultant to the Funders Census Initiative, an ad hoc coalition of foundations and philanthropic affinity groups interested in a fair and accurate census.