Contact:
Christopher Toppe
Points of Light Foundation
202-729-8123

Points of Light Foundation Announces a New Paradigm for Studying Civic Engagement

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 14, 2006) The Points of Light Foundation today released a new model for conceptualizing the study of civic engagement. The paradigm provides a way for researchers and practitioners to study and discuss how people help each other.

The new model breaks civic engagement into four broad areas: helping, giving, influencing, and participating, what we call the verbs of civic engagement. “People have the opportunity to be engaged in many ways beyond formal giving and volunteering,” said Chris Toppe, POLF senior social scientist, who created the model. This model attempts to capture the richness of these opportunities and to provide a framework for their study. The Foundation is planning to field such a study.

“There are some breaks from tradition,” Toppe added, noting that volunteering has been defined as helping only organizations and people. People who act to change opinions, such as toward justice or the environment, were put under the influencing branch of civic engagement. “Volunteering is conceived of as having direct recipients, meaning people or organizations. Volunteering without a direct recipient has been moved to influencing to reflect more accurately the nature of the engagement.”

A paper that discusses the work derivation of this civic engagement paradigm is available on http://www.pointsoflight.org/resources/research/.

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