NGO Congress

Deputy Chief of Mission Maryruth Coleman
Remarks for 5th Slovene Congress of Volunteers
January 13, 2006
Sežana

Thank you – it is a pleasure to be here this morning.  I want to thank the Slovene Philanthropy and its president Anica Mikuš Kos and the other partner organizations for the opportunity to address this Congress.

I also would like to recognize President Drnovšek and to applaud his efforts to encourage Slovenian philanthropy and volunteer work.

Voluntarism – the willingness of people to give freely of their time and resources to help their neighbors and their communities – is one of the most precious things a society can have.

I know this because America was built on voluntarism:

- Nearly 30% of our citizens are active in volunteer activities
- 3 out of 4 Americans are regular contributors to charity
- out all the charitable funds in the U.S., 90% comes from individuals and only 10% from foundations or businesses.

America’s thriving democracy grows out of our propensity to come together for the common good.

From suffrage movements to immigrant aid societies, from environmental NGOs to parents’ groups fostering better public education, America’s volunteers have often been far ahead of our government in identifying and meeting the needs of our citizens.

Because they are closer to the people they serve, our charitable and volunteer organizations often deliver better results than government.

Indeed, the truth is that the generosity, dedication and even stubbornness of American volunteers is indispensable to protecting our freedoms, keeping our government honest, providing help to needy people and focusing society’s attention on neglected social problems.

Many of my friends have volunteered overseas in the Peace Corps.  Over 180,000 Americans have served in 138 countries as teachers and engineers.  They have helped farmers get better yields, they have helped small businesses grow; they have educated communities about important public health issues.

What my friends later tell me is that the experience of volunteering is as enriching to themselves as it is to the people they help.  It brings people close together; it provides enormous satisfaction to find solutions to problems; it inspires others to volunteer in turn.  

Slovenia has a vibrant democracy and volunteerism is growing. I understand that over 18,000 organizations are officially listed as involved in NGO activities.  I also know first-hand how willing Slovenians are to step forward and help others in need.  After the disaster of hurricane Katrina in the U.S., Slovenia quickly provided assistance to the victims of the storm.  So too after the terrible tsunami and earthquake in Pakistan last year.

The challenge for NGOs in Slovenia as it is everywhere else in the world, is to channel people’s generosity into effective social action.  This Congress and all the partner organizations are doing vital work to help NGOs build strong organizational structures, enlarge their membership and broaden their financial basis.

The U.S. Embassy has worked hard this year to support the growth of Slovenian NGOs by encouraging cooperation, supporting public awareness and pushing for greater involvement from the private sector.

We sent Slovenian NGO leaders to a regional training session in Prague, to trade experiences with NGO officials from all over Central and Eastern Europe. We also brought NGO leaders together for a daylong workshop in Ljubljana with former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Nancy Brinker, the founder of one of America’s most successful NGOs – the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

In the year ahead we will continue to work closely with Slovenian NGOs and volunteers. In conclusion, when people ask what is volunteerism, my favorite definition was offered by the first President Bush a few years ago in which he called his volunteer initiative, a "Thousand Points of Light.”

Some people did not understand that metaphor.  But I believe that all you need to do is to look upward and see the thousands of points of light that are the stars.  They, like the spirit of voluntarism lift us up and take us to a better place.

Thank you.