Why do human service providers still need charitable donations? 

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Local human service providers maintain the community's foundation and everything growing from it. With smart automation expected to displace a net 40 percent of today’s jobs within 15 years, driving labor participation down to 38 percent, robust human services will only become more vital. So why must these important service providers depend on charitable donations to survive? 

A corollary question is, "Why has the problem worsened, despite decades of philanthropy?" It is not because financial support is not necessary, and it certainly is not because human service providers are not good at their jobs. Rather, something important is missing from local human service systems that all other major sectors have – organization.  

The human services sector lacks the systematic integration needed to accomplish their complex and essential work. Without network integration, there is no real-time data to guide current efforts. Without data, we cannot grow accountability, learn and design better strategies for the continuously adapting communities we support. Without continuous innovation, sustainable outcomes are not achievable.  

Human services exist inside the system in which those it serves also live: a complex, adaptive system that is influenced, not controlled. Visibility is limited, and understanding the behavior of the whole is impossible without comprehensive and coherent data.  

Human services will not have sustainable business models or the recognition due them without a human service-based organizational infrastructure. The Oregon Department of Human Services needs a system transformation initiative. Philanthropy is still needed, but it must develop a focus on critical points of leverage within more organized systems that hold the keys to a sustainable future for everyone. 

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CommunityMichael Rohwerhuman services, self-organized, integrated care, complex adaptive system