Civic Compassion
Our last blog, Hope Is a Strategy, put forward the idea that hope is a potent force, one that can turbocharge the work of our community’s nonprofit organizations. At its core, hope requires the ability to pause, reflect, and plan, especially when our instinct is to keep pushing forward without space to breathe. It also requires that we do this work in community rather than in isolation, a theme echoed by decades of research on resilience and human motivation.
Community is central to any strategy of hope. Its opposite - isolation - is corrosive. In Bowling Alone, social scientist Robert Putnam documents how declining social connections erode trust, weaken civic engagement, and undermine democratic life. As our communities grow increasingly polarized, the need for a deliberate strategy of hope becomes even more urgent. Civic compassion is a powerful concept that can strengthen this strategy and, in turn, enrich our communities.
So let’s define the concept. Civic compassion challenges us to understand “the historical and existing conditions of groups with whom they have had no personal life experience.” Writing in Erasing History, philosopher Jason Stanley, drawing on earlier work by his father, Manfred Stanley, concludes that “without such an understanding, one cedes power to hierarchy, or potentially an autocrat.”
Nonprofit organizations provide opportunities to practice civic compassion. They create forums where people can meet others unlike themselves, understand different perspectives, grow as individuals, and see those who may previously have been invisible to them. In doing so, nonprofits play a critical role in sustaining a vibrant and resilient democracy by providing an important forum for people to practice civic compassion, understand multiple perspectives, think about difficult histories, and listen to voices that challenge the status quo.
And yet, many nonprofit organizations are under threat. These threats extend beyond restrictions on federal funding to include campaigns targeted at silencing the voices of women, LGBTQ+ communities, social justice advocates, and other marginalized populations. National nonprofit leaders have warned that such pressures weaken not only individual organizations but the democratic fabric that nonprofits help sustain. As leaders in the nonprofit sector, it is imperative to mobilize our constituents to advocate for the vitality of the sector itself.
Taking Action
The Colorado Nonprofit Association (CNA) publishes an annual legislative agenda that highlights and advocates for public policies that protect and strengthen our state’s nonprofit organizations. One example from the 2026 Legislative Agenda is “Protecting Nonprofits from Federal Threats, which has just passed the Senate committee and will soon move to the Senate floor for further consideration”. Adding your support to this and other legislative initiatives is critical to their success, and so we urge you to follow the following action steps:
Familiarize yourself with CNA’s 2026 Legislative Agenda
Contact your elected representatives to express your support for these initiatives
Encourage your board members to engage in this advocacy effort
Discuss these advocacy efforts with your colleagues, partners, and funders, and encourage their active participation
Nonprofit organizations provide one of the most effective ways for people to engage in civic compassion, which is essential for democracy to flourish.
The challenges we face today, both as individuals and as nonprofit leaders, can feel overwhelming. At times, it may feel as though we are staring into an abyss, fearful of what might be lost. But there is hope. The leadership of our nonprofit organizations is uniquely positioned to make that hope tangible. Ensuring that these organizations not only survive but thrive requires us all to make our collective voice heard.