I marvelled at how often powerful Phil powerless, but in the face of this sense of disempowerment, there's no decline in involvement in organizations which seek to share wealth and opportunities, protect one another's rights, and work towards the common good. According to the UN, civil society groups have grown 40-fold since the turn of the last century. Internationally, the non-profit sector is worth one trillion dollars, and there are 700,000 not for profit organizations in Australia alone. The UN recognizes 37,000 specifically civil society organizations across the globe working in international relief and gives accreditation to many of them. This profound movement towards harnessing voices and resources from outside the realm of governments and officialdom reflects a growth in trust the third sector NGOs, Putnam who discovered in the field of local government in Italy, the best predictor of governmental success was the strength and density of a region's civic associations.