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INTRODUCTION
This toolkit is directed at those looking to sustain community and civic assets — specifically ones that have long
received a great deal of financial support from government, including parks, libraries, recreation centers, senior
centers, theaters, art galleries, and art museums. Such assets are under threat from government spending cuts,
reductions in foundation endowments after the 2008 economic crash, ideological challenges to certain things
being funded by the public sector even when public finances are healthy, and changes in life-style (notably the
growth of online communities and the emergence of computer games). However, there are also opportunities
as governments encourage greater giving of time and money and, in the U.K. at least, increased powers for local
government and community groups.
Government is changing and civil society is being asked to do more
Many post-industrial countries around the world, motivated by a mix of perceived economic necessity and ideology,
are looking to refashion relations between state (government) and civil society (foundations, non-profits, business,
communities, and individuals). This is certainly very true of my own home nation — the United Kingdom,
specifically England — upon which I will focus in the rest of this section. In terms of government at the national
level, there has recently been a more pressing desire, partially to retain credibility with international investors, to
bring down high budget deficits (the extent to which spending commitments exceed tax revenue) and national debt
(money owed on the bonds that government issues to raise additional funds for public spending).
The cuts have included substantial reductions in the grant given from central government to local authorities,
which hitherto made up the majority of local government funds. This is despite there being no concomitant
reduction in the central government tax take. This latter instead continues to be allocated to centrally determined
items such as defense, social security, health, and bond repayments. The extent to which public spending cuts are
needed has been the subject of much debate in recent years, with some preferring growth measures (growing the
economy so that tax revenues increase and social spending diminishes) over austerity ones. At a more ideological
level, there are also longer-standing pressures from the political right, sometimes dubbed the “Tax Revolt” in the
United States, to bring down taxes even if budget deficits can be eliminated and national debt paid off.
Public services are subjected to greater market discipline through increasingly being “contracted out” to the
private sector and social enterprises and/or through funds being linked directly to service users such as pupils
or patients. New forms of finance called Social Impact Bonds are being experimented with. These see private
investment in public services and results in profits if savings are delivered (the principle of payment by results).
Cuts in British central government grants to local government have occurred alongside greatly increased
freedoms for local government to use the central money it gets. Such freedoms are part of a deeper ideological
desire, from all three main political parties, to put government nearer to the people through more decisions
being taken by local government.
Introduction | 20