The sun's rays seem to be fleeting at this time of year. The darkening skies, coupled with incessant news coverage about a drab economy in a city out of order, might depress even the most optimistic among us. And yet, amidst our troubles, thousands of upbeat directors, staffs and trustees for local nonprofit organizations endeavor daily to take on ostensibly impossible goals -- such as eradicating homelessness, cleaning the rivers and bringing new life to decaying boroughs and towns.

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Many of them believe that our best days may be yet to come. And recent research about this Pollyannaish lot has cast more sunshine on a sector of our region about which too little has been known. Indeed, the more we know about them, the more we may turn to this nonprofit vanguard -- rather than political or corporate leaders -- to lead us forward.

Pittsburgh's nonprofit vanguard is both visionary and straightforward -- such people as Saleem Ghubril, executive director of the Pittsburgh Project, and Myrna Zelenitz, executive director of East End Cooperative Ministries, ought to be quoted about community matters on the pages of local papers or in front of cameras as often as are government and business CEOs. They have much to say for at least three reasons.

They command more clout than you might have guessed. From three modest sites in northern Allegheny County, North Hills Community Outreach provides food, financial assistance and human services to thousands of residents annually; they do so on a budget slightly more than $1 million. With a budget about half that amount, The Mentoring Partnership provides training, technical assistance, and outreach for more than 100 programs that connect children to caring adults.

Spending millions by the month, if not by the day, Carnegie Mellon University trains new generations of men and women who will research, invent and lead. Thousands of other private nonprofit organizations -- from smaller groups such as the Good Grief Center for Bereavement and Sustainable Pittsburgh to such larger institutions as UPMC and The Pittsburgh Foundation -- enrich our lives, provide important services and foster civic participation.

Indeed, the 2,674 nonprofit organizations operating in our region spend about $12 billion annually on our well-being. Of that amount, private nonprofit hospitals and health systems account for roughly $6 billion; private nonprofit higher education institutions account for roughly $2 billion; and private nonprofit human service providers account for roughly $1.2 billion. While it should be noted that "typical" organizations spend about $463,000 annually, the region's nonprofits nonetheless collectively hold $23 billion in assets. Unquestionably, the fiduciaries of these assets represent a social and economic force.

They're asking us to pay attention. Increasingly, local nonprofit leaders are engaged in advocacy, participating in community outreach and launching appeals to individual donors precisely because they have urgent news about which they want us to do something. Nonprofit leaders, perhaps better than anyone else, know the severity of our community's ills; they work every day in the trenches.

Among them, 87 percent think our quality of education is a serious problem; 79 percent deem hunger a serious problem; and 69 percent consider affordable housing a serious problem. By contrast, only 27 percent of local residents describe educational quality as a serious problem; only 14 percent regard hunger as a serious problem; and only 24 percent cite affordable housing as a serious problem.

The gulf in perception is truly troubling. For example, about 120,000 people are helped, each month, by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Some might say more public awareness campaigns are needed; and yet, numerous stories about hunger have run in local newspapers during the past year, to say nothing about television coverage as well as mailings from hunger relief agencies to thousands of local homes. Either we're not paying attention, or we don't care.

They're asking for our help. Even when the economy was still high-flying in 2000, 40 percent of local nonprofits ended the year with a negative balance sheet. While some may attribute this debt to mismanagement or the duplication of services by too many nonprofits (and they would not be entirely wrong), data reveal that, compared with other metro areas, our nonprofit sector is not only not bloated but is actually stretched in meeting people's needs. Most operate with less than a 3 percent cushion in their budgets; and, on average, more than $4 of every $5 supports programs.

While private donations add $1.1 billion to the region's entire nonprofit sector, $10.5 billion comes from fees paid by clients, contracts and government grants. The government contracts extensively with nonprofits because nonprofits provide public services that we, the public, would demand in their absence. If there were no local hospitals, universities or museums, we would expect the government to create them. That's precisely why we exempt nonprofits from certain taxes. Yet, government support for nonprofits, along with support for exemption, is waning.

So, can we really expect any increases in private giving to offset anticipated shortfalls from other sources? Truth be told, we Pittsburghers are not as generous as we might be. While Pittsburgh's families maintain fairly high discretionary income levels when compared with 24 other large metro regions, our level of giving rates nearly last among those same cities. Furthermore, when local residents were recently asked how they could best help address such problems as hunger and illiteracy, they rated "donating money to charity" last. Last? Among the public, the assumption persists that nonprofits need volunteers, for example, more than they need dollars. Not true.

We're fortunate in the Pittsburgh region to be blessed by a mature and sophisticated nonprofit community. We should accord high respect to our nonprofit leaders, and we should call upon directors of such leading organizations as the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, Action-Housing and Human Services Center Corporation to be seriously and actively engaged with local planning institutions as we re-envision and rebuild our region. We'd be silly not to ask them.

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Correction/Clarification: (Published Dec. 15, 2004) The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank helps 120,000 people each month. An inaccurate number was used in this "Private Sector" column in Dec. 14, 2004 editions.