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Your message — getting your case for resources right
This section offers guidance for those of you thinking about how to make the case for assets that already exist
or of ones that you think you want to establish. Making the case involves a combination of stressing benefits
and the need for the asset in your community or city. This is useful for those looking for resources from local
government/taxpayers, foundations, donations, and voluntarism, which often means non-profit groups such as
friends and conservancies as these are almost invariably the ones making the case.
If you looked at all of the possible arguments you could be making about your asset, you could be forgiven for
feeling daunted. This section also outlines a range of places that you might look to for assistance.
If you are one of those individuals, grant-makers, foundation managers, or philanthropists being asked to give
money or time, this section will demonstrate why you might want to give (assets may be the solution to some of
the social problems you are looking to tackle), what questions to ask of applicants and whether the applicants,
have been doing everything possible to make their case to you.
You need to prove benefits of your existing or desired asset
Table 2.2 show the type of benefits that community and civic assets can deliver to users. These benefits overlap
with things typically seen to be vital constituents of the “good life”: sociability; tolerance; well-being; education;
social justice; environmental quality; and economic prosperity. However, there is a wide range of beneficiaries
from assets, including many benefits for those that do not even use the assets – outlined in Table 2.3.
Figure 2.5: Senior centers are places to meet, make friends and learn
A jewelry-making group at the Harford Senior Center, Baltimore.
(source: Harford Senior Center)
31 | The New Barn-Raising