How Nonprofits Help Governments Work Better (Without Getting Credit)
Written by: Jack Villermaux, Student at the University of Delaware
When we consider government services, housing, education, healthcare, disaster relief, we usually see public agencies driving the initiative. Actually, though, a lot of the heavy work is done by nonprofits working behind the scenes in secret alliances that make necessary services more humane, efficient, and successful. These partnerships are often crucial rather than just helpful. Still, nonprofits hardly get the credit they deserve for helping public systems run.
The Power of Partnership
The foundation of this influence is cooperation. Nonprofits are often used by local, state, and federal governments to carry out initiatives that would be difficult or ineffective for internal operation. Nonprofits represent the human face of government assistance whether they be a community food bank distributing USDA goods or a reintegration program helping former prisoners paid for by public subsidies. These connections go beyond just subcontracting. Often designing, testing, and improving ideas that government agencies then implement at scale are non-profits. In the field of education, for example, many early childhood projects or after-school programs started out as grassroots efforts subsequently combined into district-wide or statewide projects.
Public Service Delivery with a Human Touch
Nonprofits provide agility, trust, and deep community knowledge, qualities not usually available to government organizations in public service delivery. Usually manned by people who live and work in the areas they serve, they are tucked into neighborhoods. This closeness helps nonprofits to better grasp the obstacles people encounter, language, transportation, documentation, fear, and to create programs with more cultural sensitivity and accessibility. For underprivileged groups, consider healthcare navigation. Multilingual community health professionals hired by a nonprofit might accompany patients to visits, assist with insurance documentation, and translate medical instructions. These are services a public clinic might not be able to provide, yet without them the clinic's offerings might go underused.
Infrastructure Without the Headlines
Beyond goods and services, nonprofits sometimes make investments in infrastructure governments rely on. Nonprofits create the physical and digital venues where public services take place from building shelters to running digital resource hubs to maintaining community centers. These groups adapt quickly during emergencies like COVID-19 or natural catastrophes, setting up testing sites, giving meals, and frequently filling these voids faster than big bureaucracies could react.
Why Don’t They Get Credit?
Part of the problem is visibility. Particularly when acting as middlemen, nonprofits are sometimes deliberately understated in government contracts. Their logos never find their way to official press releases. Although ribbon cuttings tell their stories, narrative is also important. Given the reality of significantly increased connectivity, we are taught to think in binaries, public vs. private. Especially when their main objective is service rather than publicity, nonprofits occupy a third place that is easy to ignore.
Why It Matters
Recognizing the vital role nonprofits play in providing and enhancing public services is more than just fair as public needs rise and government capacity is taxed. Policymakers should view these groups as strategic allies rather than only vendors. Funders should support not only direct assistance but also the infrastructure and creativity non-profits bring. Furthermore, the public has a right to know that many times, non-profit organizations make things possible.
