04.01.05 The 1% Solution
"As a firm owner, it always amazed me that there weren't more resources recognizing or supporting pro bono work. While many architects are generous with their time, the profession as a whole has never encouraged pro bono service or recognized it as an integral component of a healthy business model."
--John Peterson, principal, Peterson Architects (San Francisco, CA)
Full disclosure:
The executive director of Public Architecture, which coordinates the 1% Solution, is also one of the co-founders of ArchVoices. Today's issue, however, was written by two other ArchVoices editors. We firmly believe that the goals of the 1% Solution are at least as critical to a vibrant future for this profession as is modernizing our internship and licensure processes.  Yesterday evening, during a reception at the Center for Architecture in New York, a new web-based initiative called the 1% Solution officially launched. The 1% Solution challenges architecture firms to pledge one percent of their billable hours to the public good through pro bono or public interest work. Based on a 40-hour workweek, one percent represents a modest 20 hours a year per person. If all 240,000 architecture professionals in the U.S. were to sign on, the collective effort would be the equivalent of a 2,500-person firm (the largest in the world) working full-time for the public good.
The 1% Solution focuses on firms rather than individuals in recognition of the fact that the policies and practices of firms are key to the ability and willingness of individual employees to undertake pro bono work. However, this program also recognizes that many firms already participate in significant pro bono efforts, and is thus intended to also provide a means for those firms and for the profession as a whole to gain recognition for existing efforts. Phase One of the 1% Solution will establish a baseline for existing public interest work and pro bono architectural practice, with an ultimate goal of increasing the quality and quantity of that work. Phase Two will establish an online forum to match nonprofit organizations and communities in need with architecture firms and professionals.
The 1% Solution website was launched in conjunction with the Association for Community Design (ACD) and Structures for Inclusion (SFI) conferences. Both of these organizations have consistently worked to ensure access to high quality design services for institutions and communities that couldn't otherwise afford them. Public interest design work, however, does not need to be wholly separate from or incidental to traditional commercial practice. We invite you to browse the 1% Solution website, and if you already work for a firm that combines profitability, good design, and good works, we encourage you to mobilize your firm to sign up.
Visit www.theonepercent.org.
1. Pro Bono Does Not Mean "For Free"
2. Precedent
3. How You Can Help
4. Press Release
1. Pro Bono Does Not Mean "For Free"
As is explained on the 1% Solution website, we want to emphasize that "pro bono" does not mean "for free," but rather, "for good." It typically refers to work done on behalf of people or groups who could not otherwise afford to hire a professional (rather than for those who would simply prefer not to pay one). As a result, working extra hours for a corporate or paying client and simply not charging for that work is not pro bono work.
However, even pro bono work for individuals or groups of limited means is not simply charity work. Pro bono work is intended to account in part for the increased cost of professional services imposed as a result of the profession's monopoly over those services. If architecture weren't a licensed profession, then architectural services would be cheaper and these other clients could more likely afford these services (albeit at a presumably lesser quality). So when we say that professionals have an obligation to provide pro bono services, it is less a function of pure charity and more a result of the professional status itself.
This is also why properly charitable activities like Canstruction or a weekend painting for Habitat for Humanity are commendable, but not pro bono work. Unless the services you're providing are truly professional services, then they don't help to rectify the economic imbalances caused by the regulatory status of architecture as a licensed profession. That said, work that improves the profession itself or contributes to relevant public policy (such as service on planning or historic commission boards) is also often included.
2. Precedent
The 1% Solution was inspired in part by ongoing and well-established efforts in the medical and legal professions to define, measure, and promote pro bono work. In particular, the American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct encourages lawyers to contribute 50 hours a year to pro bono efforts, and three states (FL, MD, and NV) have started requiring lawyers to report their pro bono activities annually (note: these states require you report on any pro bono work; they don't require pro bono work itself). As an example, in 2003 approximately 31,000 Maryland lawyers performed over 1,000,000 hours of pro bono service (as defined by the Maryland bar), with family/marriage-related matters receiving the most service. Collecting and publicizing this data encourages substantive individual pro bono efforts, but also emphasizes the profession's collective commitment to providing quality services to the public.
Based on studies in the legal profession, the Pro Bono Institute has identified a number of practical, business-related benefits of pro bono activities, including: retention and recruitment of valuable staff; training and professional development of existing staff; enhanced firm morale and pride; and marketing for the firm. Additionally, through pro bono work in the legal profession, young associates are often able to take a case to trial, work directly with a client, or handle other more senior duties, albeit with appropriate supervision. As a result, many law firms have integrated their training and pro bono programs. Firm principals are able to see and evaluate younger employees' more advanced skills, and thus are also in a better position to be able to provide effective mentoring and to evaluate the employee's professional skills, maturity, and judgment.
Another business-related benefit of documenting and promoting pro bono activities is that a significant number of graduates and young professionals are seeking firms that demonstrate a commitment to their community. Approximately 1/3 of respondents to the 2003 AIA/ArchVoices Internship & Career Survey indicated that community service was a priority and something they did often. According to the 1996 Building Community report, 22% of architecture students cited "improving the quality of life in communities" as the single most important reason for entering architecture. In the legal profession, support for pro bono is an extremely common criterion for graduates and lateral hires seeking new employment, and most medium and large law firms have formal policies on pro bono work.
3. How You Can Help
1. Pledge one percent.
2. Submit pro bono project profiles.
3. Spread the word.
4. More Information
Click here to download the 1% Solution website launch press release in PDF, or click here to download it in Word.
Visit www.theonepercent.org for more information about the 1% Solution or www.publicarchitecture.org for more information about Public Architecture.
ArchVoices is an independent, nonprofit organization and think tank on architectural education, internship, and licensure.
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