Civic Engagement
How Are We Doing?
Civic engagement received a thumbs up because the number of San Diego County households who volunteered increased by 8% and the number of households who made a cash donation to a local charity increased by 4% between 2018 and 2019. Volunteering and charitable giving are two fundamental ways that people in the United States participate in and contribute to their communities.
Volunteering
San Diego volunteers provide critical unpaid labor leading tours in museums, tutoring children in schools, serving food to homeless families, and cleaning up beaches and parks.
Charitable Giving
In addition to volunteering, charitable giving is an important way for people to support the causes they care most about, and donations account for a substantial percentage of funding for local nonprofits in the region.Confidence in Local Institutions
Trust in San Diego’s institutions is essential to maintaining a high level of community engagement. Trust is the bedrock on which the nonprofit sector rests and the public’s confidence drives their engagement in the sector. Based on research on San Diego’s nonprofit sector, individuals who express confidence in nonprofits are two times more likely to donate and three times more likely to volunteer.Why is Civic Engagement Important?
High quality of life means the region boasts a thriving economy, a healthy environment, and is an equitable place for all San Diegans to grow and prosper.
- Environment: For decades, environmental justice efforts have prioritized community engagement at the local level and helped bring awareness to the environmental challenges communities face. The rapidly changing climate calls for heightened levels of engagement that catalyzes community voice and input as a critical strategy to address the environmental challenges we face today. San Diego County has seen increased participation in marches and political action around climate change and the number of climate-focused advocacy nonprofits has increased.
- Economy: Civic participation in the form of attending meetings, volunteering, helping neighbors, registering to vote, volunteering, and voting, can strengthen economic resilience, and protect against unemployment.
- Equity: One way to close the equity gap in San Diego is promoting civic participation. Through actions such as voting and volunteering, people develop knowledge and skills and broaden their social networks. Research suggests that communities with higher rates of civic participation have higher rates of social capital and lower rates of income inequality.
Regional Response
Projects
RISE San Diego and Leaders 2020 are programs encouraging civic engagement through developing young leaders. RISE San Diego develops urban leaders to become civically engaged in the neighborhoods in which they live and work. Leaders 2020 provides education, training, and networking opportunities to support young leaders in building a more environmentally and economically sustainable San Diego.
Partnerships
The Center on Policy Initiatives supports a number of coalitions consisting of community members whose goal is influencing local government and policies for the betterment of San Diego and its people. Raise Up San Diego and Invest in San Diego Families (ISDF) are two of the coalitions with a focus on economic prosperity and investment in people and communities respectively.
What Are We Measuring?
The Nonprofit Institute partners with Luth Research in the administration of a quarterly survey to gauge San Diegans’ perceptions of local nonprofits and to measure their giving and volunteering activities. The State of Nonprofits Quarterly Index is administered online to a panel of San Diego residents. The sample reflects the racial and ethnic distribution of the region. Learn more about the data.