Within Floyd County, we will be identifying a specific subfield of instrumental service to map. For our counter mapping research, we will be mapping and counter mapping educational services and learning within Floyd County. What does mapping mean in the context of the nonprofit sector? According to Appe (2019), “The mapping of civil society entails gathering and collecting standardized information on civil society to examine its scope and functions.” (p. 14). Given that “philanthropy is about more than money; it is about mission, shared values, organization, and much else before and besides money,” we chose education to show the moral dimension of the nonprofit sector. (Payton & Moody, 2008).
The definition of education that we will abide by is as follows: Organizations that support students/individuals educationally, financially, and the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction.
This project focuses on organizations providing education to develop the community. According to Payton and Moody (2008), the objectives of voluntary action for the public good can be classified into "two general types: (1) to relieve the suffering of others for whom one has no formal or legal responsibility, and (2) to improve the quality of life in the community" (p. 28). Due to this, we believe that "the second involves enhancing the life cultural, educational, recreational, etc. of a community, however big or small", we counted any voluntary action aiming to improve the education of the community that fell within our definition above (Payton and Moody, 2008). From this definition of education, we will see various organizations on our official map and counter map. Organizations such as Montessori schools, trade schools, public and private universities, colleges, museums, science centers, fraternal organizations, associations, councils, resource centers, training institutions, PTO/PTA’s, etc. will be represented.