January 9, 2011: International News From the Field

9 January: In an impressive show of government communication, the British Cabinet Office has released what is called the “Giving Green Paper” through a Web page that also offers seven accompanying essays solicited to add to the discussion. Go to http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/giving-green-paper to download all the items and see for yourself the way they are presented. It is introduced as:

The Giving Green Paper sets out the Government’s initial ideas for building a stronger culture of giving time and money to start a national debate on our society’s attitude to giving. This is not a conventional green paper. We want it to embody a collective approach to building culture change so it is written from a variety of perspectives. In addition to our own proposals and announcements, we have highlighted many ideas from outside of government. Taken together, the ideas and examples in this paper highlight the huge amount of innovative and creative activity going on across the country to stimulate social action.

Regardless of your opinion of the “Big Society” effort or of the away-from-government-and-back-to-the-people philosophy, the Giving Green Paper is thoughtful and worth some attention.

For those unfamiliar with the Cabinet Office or the concept of a “green paper”:

The Cabinet Office describes itself as sitting “at the very centre of government, with an overarching purpose of making government work better. We support the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, helping to ensure effective development, coordination and implementation of policy and operations across all government departments.”

Rob Jackson at Volunteering England explains:

A green paper allows government to set out its thinking on an issue and invite input. It’s a position paper of sorts. The input received then goes on to shape a white paper which is more like a statement of government policy. Again, these allow for input from others. A white paper would then be followed by a bill which winds its way through the legislative process, potentially becoming enacted into law.