Nonprofits Struggling in Stockton

In a story from the Stockton Record, the impact of lower government funding on the many nonprofits largely funded through San Joaquin County general funds, is dramatic, reminding us again how crucial it is to have a strong individual and corporate philanthropic effort even when a governmental one seems forever.

An excerpt.

“STOCKTON - Inside the San Joaquin County Historical Museum in Lodi, visitors can see the tools their forebears used to farm the land, the clothes they wore and the furniture inside their homes.

“The county Historical Society has more than 50,000 items in its collections, including historical documents from the county and the cities of Stockton and Lodi.

“Since 1966, the nonprofit has contracted with county government to operate the museum and preserve local history. A year ago, the county contributed $490,000 to the society. This year, that amount was about $304,000. And for the fiscal year beginning in July, so far, the society is set to receive no county funds.

“The county has a $56 million budget gap to close, but the impact will be felt beyond the departments and the services provided through the county. This year, the county meted out $800,000 to community-based organizations such as the Historical Society, but most of those organizations have been told not to expect that money next year.

“Leaders of impacted nonprofit organizations said it's the nature of the business to see funding fluctuate - whether the source be private donations or government support.”

Nonprofits Remaking Detroit

In an extraordinary partnership with the city government of Detroit, one of America’s most troubled cities, local nonprofits are coming together to remake the city, and the effort is working, as this story from the Detroit News reports.

An excerpt.

“With the eyes of the world on Detroit, old-line philanthropic organizations are leaping into the vacuum, joining forces to reinvent the city.

“Instead of toiling earnestly in the background and writing checks, they're filling a void by deploying their combined clout of $30 billion in assets and decades of experience to build organizations, fund entrepreneurship and reshape the city and its schools.

“They're bent on sparking transformation, their leaders say, rather than change by dribs and drabs, seizing on both opportunity and need.

"We can be a model of how to turn around a city and a region," said Carol Goss, president of the Detroit-based Skillman Foundation, which organized a proposed $200 million Detroit school intervention.

"This is a moment in time for Detroit," said Rip Rapson, who has reinvented the $3.1 billion Kresge Foundation to focus on Detroit's crisis. "How much time do we have? Maybe 18 months."

“But if most hearts leap at the promise of help being provided to reimagine a more vibrant, economically viable Detroit, some city residents are alarmed by this emergent power shift.

“They wonder whether foundations, with their wealth and the opportunity created by crisis, are reimagining themselves so completely they're becoming a fourth branch of government, reaching into city politics, land-use planning and Detroit public and charter schools in unprecedented ways.”

The Value of Nonprofits

In this editorial from the Sacramento Bee, we see the current value of using nonprofits to perform some aspects of public service which they might be better able to do than government, which in this case looks at the economic value.

An excerpt.

“Sacramento County workers have priced themselves so high that the public they serve is sometimes better off when county government bows out.

“The transitional housing program at the Mather Community Campus set to be taken over by Volunteers of America this week illustrates the phenomenon.

“In 1996, a voter-approved ordinance made it easier for Sacramento County to contract out for services to organizations like VOA. But that ordinance, codified as 71J in the county charter, also barred the county from displacing existing county workers with private sector employees.

“With the county in tough economic times and county workers facing layoffs, Sacramento County Counsel Robert Ryan has interpreted 71J and state civil service case law to mean that county workers can displace private sector contract workers in any job that county workers can perform. Displacement is permitted even if the county worker is more costly and less skilled and experienced than the contract worker, and even when county workers are taking on jobs they've never performed in the past.

“Armed with that interpretation, county case managers threatened with layoffs from county social service agencies last year were able to displace private case managers for formerly homeless clients at the Mather Community Campus.

“Because county worker pay and benefits were so much higher, six private workers had to be laid off to bring in just three county employees. Case loads at Mather immediately doubled and services suffered.”

Philanthropy & Relationships

The traditional take on the pairing, as expressed in this excellent article from the Nonprofit Quarterly, is that one leads to the other—you build relationships to increase philanthropy—and an important part of work building relationships with donors is telling them what you are doing, with consistency and clarity, and how your organizational mission contributes to the public good.

An excerpt.

“Robert L. Payton, the first professor of philanthropics in the U.S., defined philanthropy as voluntary action for the common good. I love that definition. People voluntarily give their time and / or their money. Voluntarily. Not because they were pressured by a friend or were exchanging favors with a business associate. Or fulfilling some obligation.

“Philanthropy is voluntary action for the common good. People give time and money to make things better in their communities.

“Years ago I was presenting in Mexico City. I heard Mexican philanthropist Don Manuel Arango Arias talk about philanthropy as “freeing the talents of the citizenry.” He was so eloquent.

“Fundraising guru Hank Rosso described fundraising as the servant of philanthropy. I like that servant concept. Reminds me of the servant-leader philosophy.

“Whether you use the term fund development or fundraising (I prefer fund development; it’s broader than fundraising.), the process is essential. We know that most people give because they are asked. (Just make sure you’re asking the right people – those who are interested!) Fund development is the partner, the servant to philanthropy. Philanthropy is all about dreaming. Through philanthropy, we change lives and we change communities. We change the world.”

Nonprofits & Property Tax Exemption

In what may be an emerging trend, the city of Baltimore is considering removing some of the tax exemption of nonprofits, as the Baltimore Sun reports.

An excerpt.

“Citing numerous examples of waste and mismanagement, a citizens group appointed to analyze city services recommended that Baltimore study privatizing trash collection, create a program to quickly dispose of vacant houses and consider extracting property taxes from nonprofits such as hospitals and schools.

“The 150-member transition committee, selected by Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake to advise her as she took the reins of city government, blasts the Department of Housing and Community Development in particular, saying it "appears to lack a clear and coherent vision for revitalizing ... neighborhoods."

“Additionally, it criticizes the department's management of the Head Start program and charges that the department sits on funding for development projects, creating "significant delays."

“The committee also levied harsh words at the Department of Recreation and Parks, condemning it as "crippled and without direction," and deploring a "lack of transparency" in the agency's capital budget.

“The members of the transition team, appointed shortly before Rawlings-Blake took office Feb. 4, spent weeks meeting with agency heads and employees to draft their recommendations.

“Their analysis exposes numerous examples of redundancy, including one city-owned building shared by four government-sponsored programs, each of which uses a different cleaning service.

“The report comes as Rawlings-Blake prepares to present a dire preliminary budget Wednesday that includes profound cuts to city services to make up for a $121 million deficit.

"It's a critical time for me to have independent advice from community and business leaders," Rawlings-Blake said.

“The mayor's budget includes several of the transition team's recommendations, according to those who have been briefed on it.

“The report suggests numerous ways for the city to raise revenue, including a tax on bottles and other containers, raising hotel taxes and levying property taxes on nonprofits.”

Nonprofit Finances

One of the good results of financial difficulty—given that the nonprofit has time to implement them—is the development of innovative strategies to replace the funding shrinkage, especially true for organizations which largely rely on the government for their funding, a sure path to long-term stress in tough times.

This article from the New York Times looks at the situation and the social enterprise exhibited by some of the organizations profiled is heartening.

An excerpt.

“A new survey of nonprofit groups suggests that this year will be as challenging for them as 2009, when many organizations suffered from declines in giving, delays in government payments and increased demand for their services.

“Some 80 percent of the 1,315 nonprofit groups responding to the survey said they expected the demand for service to be even greater this year, and only 49 percent of the respondents expected to be able to meet that demand, according to the survey by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, a charity that provides loans and other financial services to nonprofit groups.

“Only 18 percent expect to end the year above break-even financially, compared with the 35 percent that ended 2009 with a surplus.

“One of the clearest messages coming out of this survey is that any kind of green shoots of recovery are very slow to get to the nonprofit sector,” said Clara Miller, chief executive of the fund. “Any recovery is not actually reaching people in dire need and the frontline organizations that serve them.”

“More than 40 percent of the respondents predicted that government, corporate, foundation and United Way and other federated giving would fall this year. Only 21 percent predicted a decrease in giving by individuals and their board members, while 39 percent said giving would stay the same and 32 percent expected it to increase. …

“The organization is also working to lessen its reliance on government payments, which account for about 90 percent of its revenues. It has doubled its number of donors and is working harder to win grants from foundations and competitive government grant programs.

“It used $2 million it won in one such competition to open a car resale business, complete with a carwash and detailing center. The cars are donated, and participants in its programs work in the operation. “I never thought we’d be in the used-car business, but it is a great new revenue stream for us,” said John Voit, chief executive of Seguin.”

Nonprofits & the Homeless

Nonprofits traditionally do a much better job working on social problems than government, primarily due to the principle of subsidiarity (#1883 in the Catholic Catechism), and this forthcoming arrangement—as reported by the Sacramento Bee—between the County and a nonprofit could be of benefit to all, while keeping a threatened program alive.

An excerpt.

“The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors is poised to transfer control of the Mather Community Campus – site of key area homeless programs – to Volunteers of America.

“The supervisors are scheduled to discuss the measure at 11:30 a.m. today at board chambers, 700 H St.

“The move comes about six months after the county's budget problems threatened to close the campus and is part of a larger shift of social services from the county to local nonprofits.

"In the next couple years the face of nonprofit work in the community is going to change," said Leo McFarland, VOA's president and chief executive officer. "We're just testing this out."

“Mather Community Campus has been around since 1995 on the site of the former Mather Air Force Base. The campus offers transitional housing for about 320 people who might otherwise be homeless and provides them with vocational training, job search assistance, children's services and meals.

"It's a renewal. It's people who have a second chance to really turn their lives around," McFarland said.

“Grappling with budget deficits, the county cut much of the program's funding this fiscal year. General fund money for the campus dropped from about $2.5 million the past two years to about $400,000 for the fiscal year that ends June 30. The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency helped offset the loss of general fund money this year so officials could find a way to keep the campus open.”

Self Fulfillment & Money

Nonprofit folks have always understood the basic truth that living a principle-driven life is more important and fulfilling than a money-driven life, and this new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, reviewed in City Journal discusses that.

An excerpt.

“For as long as big business has been around, management has operated under a simple principle: if you want people to do more of something, pay them more. Hence, bankers earn bonuses for posting big gains. Managers earn bonuses for meeting quarterly earnings targets (and get fired when they don’t). It’s worked reasonably well as the economy has trudged along over the past few decades.

“But lately, people have begun questioning the efficacy of this approach. “In the first ten years of this century—a period of truly staggering underachievement in business, technology, and social progress—we’ve discovered that this sturdy, old operating system doesn’t work nearly as well” as it could, Daniel Pink writes in his new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Why? The carrot-and-stick approach was created for an economy of assembly lines and mindless number-crunching. But these days, “for growing numbers of people, work is often creative, interesting, and self-directed rather than unrelentingly routine, boring, and other-directed,” says Pink, a former speechwriter for Al Gore whose previous book, A Whole New Mind, so captivated Oprah Winfrey that she gave copies to the entire 2008 graduating class at Stanford, where she delivered the commencement address.

“An accumulating pile of academic research shows that rewards tend to focus the brain more narrowly on the specific task that earns the rewards—thus making it harder to encourage employees to develop creative, innovative solutions. That’s fine if you’re a manager trying to get people to stuff as many envelopes as possible. It’s not so good if you want people to dream up new products or product positioning, create new designs, generate article ideas, or, for that matter, write symphonies.

“So Pink offers a different prescription. The best motivation, he suggests, is intrinsic, that is, when people want to do the work because they find the work itself fulfilling. That doesn’t mean such workers don’t want to be paid well. They do, of course, and they also like free coffee and in-office massages as much as anyone else. But leaders who understand this higher level of motivation compensate people in a way that “takes the issue of money off the table, so they can focus on the work itself.” They pay their employees well for their industry, but equally important, people aren’t pitted against one another through compensation schemes that pay some people way more than others for the same work. These leaders create an environment where people want to do their best. This involves giving people lots of autonomy over their time, their tasks, their techniques, and their teams; providing them an opportunity to work toward mastery of their professional craft; and imbuing their work with a sense of purpose.”

Philanthropic Prizes

The great value in this new enhancement of an old idea is that it is forward looking, as reported by the New York Times.

An excerpt.

“NOT long ago, a wealthy philanthropist would be content with having a building named after him or her, or simply donating to medical research. But in the last decade, more of the wealthy have been creating prizes in hopes of drawing attention to a particular cause. It doesn’t hurt that their names are on the prizes.

“According to a report released last year by the consultant McKinsey & Company, the dollar amount for prizes over $100,000 has tripled in the last decade to $375 million a year. There has also been a shift from prizes that recognized past accomplishments to what McKinsey calls “inducement-style prizes that focus on achieving a specific, future goal.”

“The Kravis Prize fits into this category. Established by Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis five years ago, the $250,000 prize seeks to recognize leadership among nonprofit groups worldwide and share their best practices.

“We’re hoping the winners can leverage the prize in order to get additional grants to expand their reach,” Mr. Kravis said in an interview. Past winners have ranged from a project on rural land development to this year’s recipient, Pratham, which educates children in rural India. The group will receive its award on Tuesday in Manhattan at the Museum of Modern Art.

“But creating prizes is not as straightforward as setting aside a pot of money. If the amount is too small, the prize may fail to attract enough high-quality entrants to accomplish the stated goals. If it is too large, it could draw people away from other fields where their skills would be better served. Then there is the cost of administering and publicizing the prize.

“So if you’re a wealthy philanthropist, here are some issues to consider before you decide to create a prize:

“WHY A PRIZE? Prizes are nothing new. Determining longitude at sea was discovered through an incentive prize set up by the British government in the 18th century. But the growth in prizes over the last decade has been driven by the desire to effect change and bring attention to a social issue or a practical problem.”

Social Entrepreneurship

This story of a successful capitalist and his subsequent social entrepreneurship is a great reminder of the inner goodness that has come to define much of the world of American capitalism, and that is a very good thing.

An excerpt from the article from Philanthropy Magazine.

“Patrick Byrne is an entrepreneur—a self-described “rapacious capitalist.” His father, John J. Byrne, turned around auto-insurance giant GEICO. While he did, Warren Buffett began accumulating its stock, eventually purchasing the entire company. In the process, Mr. Buffett met 13-year-old Patrick, and he became what Mr. Byrne describes as “one of his life’s great teachers.” While a teenager, Mr. Byrne started his first business. He bought a wholesale lot of 500 pine trees—paying $8 each—and retailed them at Christmastime for $28 apiece.

“Mr. Byrne went on to Dartmouth College, where he earned his B.A. in philosophy and Asian studies. He won a Marshall Scholarship and received a master’s degree from Cambridge University. After picking up a certificate from Beijing Normal University, he returned to the States and earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford University. While in his 20s, he also pursued his dream of becoming a heavyweight boxer.

“Everything was put on hold when cancer struck. Mr. Byrne fought back, beating the disease three times. Afterward, he re-focused his energies on business, eventually serving as chairman, president, and CEO at Centricut, a manufacturer of industrial torch consumables, and later at Fechheimer Brothers, a Berkshire Hathaway–owned manufacturer of police, firefighter, and military uniforms.

“In 1999, Mr. Byrne bought a small, bankrupt firm that had been serving the flea-market industry. Four months later, he relaunched it as Overstock.com, an online retailer specializing in the discount liquidation of overstocked inventory. Under his leadership as chairman and CEO, the company’s annual revenues have soared, from $1.8 million a decade ago to approximately $900 million today. Mr. Byrne’s success in business has allowed him to support causes that create similar opportunities for others.

“Mr. Byrne works to reform American education through his service as chairman of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. Founded by the late Nobel Prize–winning economist Milton Friedman and his wife, Rose, the Friedman Foundation is the nation’s original advocate of school choice.

“Mr. Byrne also works extensively in the field of international development. In 2001, he launched Worldstock, a store within Overstock that sells handcrafted products from artisans in the developing world. An average of 60 percent of the sales price is passed back to the suppliers, generating more than $40 million to date for more than 10,000 craftsmen in the developing world.

“Since 2005, Mr. Byrne has built 22 private schools throughout Africa, India, Asia, and Latin America, all of which are structured around a profit-making enterprise to sustain their ongoing operations. Each of the schools is named for his mother, Dorothy Byrne. They have educated more than 7,000 students worldwide.

“Philanthropy spoke with Mr. Byrne about his background in developing countries, his work on behalf of school choice, and his use of for-profit entities to achieve charitable ends.”

Social Entrepreneurship

In this excellent article from the Stanford Social Innovation Review, we are reminded that virtually "all entrepreneurship is social".

An excerpt.

“Over the past decade or so, the term social entrepreneur has become a fashionable way of describing individuals and organizations that, in their attempts at large-scale change, blur the traditional boundaries between the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Given the ceaseless appearance of innovations and new institutional forms, we should welcome a new term that allows us to think systematically about a still-emergent field.

“One danger, however, is that the use of the modifier social will diminish the contributions of regular entrepreneurs—that is, people who create new companies and then grow them to scale. In the course of doing business as usual, these regular entrepreneurs create thousands of jobs, improve the quality of goods and services available to consumers, and ultimately raise standards of living. Indeed, the intertwined histories of business and health in the United States suggests that all entrepreneurship is social entrepreneurship. The pantheon of model social entrepreneurs should thus include names such as railroad baron Cornelius Vanderbilt, meatpacking magnate Gustavus Swift, and software tycoon Bill Gates.

“THE STEW OF POVERTY

“People tend to think that advancements in health care, for example, are the achievements of either government or the social sector. More recently, they note how the work of social entrepreneurs is improving population health, particularly in developing countries.

“Yet the experience of the United States demonstrates that business entrepreneurs have done as much—if not more—for American health in the past century and a half as did medicine or public health. In the middle of the 19th century, most of the U.S. population was ridiculously poor by today’s standards. Americans not only had low incomes, but also spent the bulk of their money on life’s basics: food, clothing, and shelter. What they purchased, moreover, was of questionable quality. Because there was no refrigeration or ability to transport foods over long distances, most people subsisted on a kind of stew that, by all accounts, was simple and tasteless. A poor diet meant poor nutrition, which meant poor health.”

Nonprofits & Public Disclosure

While it seems clear that all nonprofits—because of the tax exemption benefit they receive from the government—need to embrace the right of the public to know about anything they do; some corporate laws give them more protection than is perhaps warranted, a situation recently rectified in New Hampshire, as reported by the Nashua Telegraph.

An excerpt.

“EDITOR’S NOTE: Newspapers are watchdogs of government because of laws that protect the public’s freedom of information and right to know. Sunshine Week is an annual examination of government’s responsiveness to citizens. The project is spearheaded by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and includes the participation of newspapers across the country.

“In following the state Right-to-Know Law, municipal governments have to make most information available for public review.

“Allowing citizens to see how elected officials and public employees govern is the underpinning of the checks and balances system conceived by the Founding Fathers.

“But what happens when a nonprofit has a quasi-public function and its staff salaries are paid largely by tax dollars?

“Until last month, a nonprofit corporation fitting that profile had contended its salaries and other information were not for public consumption. The Local Government Center in Concord for seven years fought the release of its salaries, arguing that its wages were not of public interest.

“But the state Supreme Court rejected that opinion and in January ordered LGC to give a list of staff salaries to the state firefighters union as well as the public. The Professional Firefighters of New Hampshire wanted to see the salaries, and other documents, because the union contends LGC has misused public money.”

Tax Property of Nonprofits?

In this story from the Albany New York Times Union, the idea is being proposed as legislation, and it is an idea with long history, cutting to the heart of the nonprofit ideal, that work for the public good by non-governmental organizations, should be tax exempt as a way the public—in addition to donations—supports their work.

An excerpt.

“ALBANY -- A plan that would require nonprofit organizations -- from private colleges to public authorities -- to pay property taxes is being put together by a high-ranking lawmaker as Democrats who dominate the Senate develop a budget that will come with some real estate tax relief.

"It's our No.1 priority," said one senator headed for a private budget conference of Senate Democrats Tuesday.

“Three Senate officials said a budget resolution to be released soon would likely include at least parts of a circuit-breaker bill introduced by Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, and quite possibely the whole package. The component of Klein's bill most likely to be part of the plan calls for a $290 million STAR program for low-income senior citizens. The circuit breaker Klein envisions would give property taxpayers a credit or rebate based on their income level.

“While Klein's proposal would cost money -- Senate officials estimate $1.2 billion -- Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, D-Bronx, said he is researching a revenue-raising proposal. It would require nonprofits to pay into the real estate tax base so that tax relief would be spread through a community. He said he wants to include public authorities owned by the state in the group of currently tax-exempt entities that would have to share the real estate tax burden.

"Have nonprofits contribute at a time of national sacrifice," Espada said. "It's not such a bad idea." A person familiar with his plan said he is expected to introduce a bill next week. It is projected to raise hundreds of millions of dollars.

“The Espada plan would likely require nonprofit property owners, including private colleges, to pay taxes. He is proposing some exemptions, such as for small nonprofits. It is unclear whether his bill would cover the nonprofit health services network he runs in the Bronx.”

Nonprofits and Politics

The ability of nonprofits to advocate politically is being examined, as reported by The National Journal, as a result of the recent Supreme Court decision that corporations are persons—long enshrined in law—and they have freedom of speech and cannot be restricted in their political donations and advocacy.

An excerpt.

“In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent ruling to deregulate corporate political spending, public attention has focused squarely on whether businesses and for-profit companies will now lavish big money on elections.

“But Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission may have as much or more impact on another type of incorporated organization -- nonprofits of all stripes. These include 501(c)4 advocacy groups, 501(c)5 labor unions, 501(c)6 trade associations and even 501(c)3 charities, which face both fresh opportunities and dangers in the wake of Citizens United.

“Associations and advocacy groups can be expected to ramp up their political activities, election lawyers say. At the same time, the ruling -- by equating corporate and individual First Amendment rights -- could trigger sweeping changes in IRS law as it applies to political activity, some tax experts say. All this could thrust 501(c)3 charities, which are now barred from engaging in partisan political activities, into an uncomfortable spot.

"Potentially, it's going to profoundly change nonprofit tax law," said Frances R. Hill, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law. Questions raised by the ruling include: Is the ban on partisan political activity for 501(c)3 charities now vulnerable to constitutional challenge? What about the ban on charities making political contributions? It's only a matter of time before these questions land before the high court, Hill argued.

"Their general constitutional principle is that corporations are persons, and we can't distinguish among them," Hill said of the Supreme Court. "So I would regard it as a sweeping case that has the potential for changing the entire landscape for exemption in the area of political involvement."

Catholic Charities Demands Adherence to Principles

Nonprofit organizations—and their staff/boards—which are part of the institutional Catholic Church should clearly support the teachings of the Church, just as employees/board members of any nonprofit have to be supportive of the mission of the nonprofit they serve.

This story from the Washington Post reports on the issue.

An excerpt.

“Shortly after imposing limits on spousal health benefits for employees, Catholic Charities of Washington has begun requiring new employees to promise they will not "violate the principles or tenets" of the church.

“That language was added March 3 to a hiring letter that new employees are required to sign, according to spokesman Erik Salmi. He said the move did not reflect a policy change because employees have been told during training that the organization is Catholic in more than name.

“Catholic Charities, one of the region's largest nonprofit organizations, has been trying to develop a way to continue its multimillion-dollar social service partnerships with the District while not recognizing the city's same-sex marriage law, which the D.C. Council approved in December. Employees were told this month that the agency was changing its health-care coverage to avoid offering benefits to its workers' same-sex partners.

“Salmi said the addition of the clause to the hiring letter was not a result of the new law but rather reflected a longer-term concern that employees adhere to the organization's Catholic philosophy.

“Salmi said the new language "is more of an expectation than a condition. It's letting people know this is the culture." Asked if that meant employees could speak or act against the church without being fired, Salmi said: "We can't speculate on the hypothetical. It's handled on a case-by-case basis."

“A former vice president of the organization's human resources department, however, said the new language appeared to be a change.

"Putting it in a letter and requiring a signature, that's a condition of employment. There's no way to dance around that," said Wayne Swann, who served 3 1/2 years on Catholic Charities' board of directors and an additional four years as its vice president.

“Shortly after imposing limits on spousal health benefits for employees, Catholic Charities of Washington has begun requiring new employees to promise they will not "violate the principles or tenets" of the church.

“That language was added March 3 to a hiring letter that new employees are required to sign, according to spokesman Erik Salmi. He said the move did not reflect a policy change because employees have been told during training that the organization is Catholic in more than name.

“Catholic Charities, one of the region's largest nonprofit organizations, has been trying to develop a way to continue its multimillion-dollar social service partnerships with the District while not recognizing the city's same-sex marriage law, which the D.C. Council approved in December. Employees were told this month that the agency was changing its health-care coverage to avoid offering benefits to its workers' same-sex partners.

“Salmi said the addition of the clause to the hiring letter was not a result of the new law but rather reflected a longer-term concern that employees adhere to the organization's Catholic philosophy.

“Salmi said the new language "is more of an expectation than a condition. It's letting people know this is the culture." Asked if that meant employees could speak or act against the church without being fired, Salmi said: "We can't speculate on the hypothetical. It's handled on a case-by-case basis."

“A former vice president of the organization's human resources department, however, said the new language appeared to be a change.

"Putting it in a letter and requiring a signature, that's a condition of employment. There's no way to dance around that," said Wayne Swann, who served 3 1/2 years on Catholic Charities' board of directors and an additional four years as its vice president.”

Nonprofit Salaries

It is appropriate that nonprofit organizations with exceptional leadership who bring sustainable and expansive funding to an organization, vastly increasing its ability to fulfill its mission, should be paid at whatever level the board of directors feels adequate, in some proportion to related salaries, given particular circumstances.

That being said, this example reported by the Washington Post, might not be appropriate, but until all of the circumstances are reported it can’t be determined.

An excerpt.

“Several Republican senators are questioning expenses at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, a national nonprofit organization that receives millions of dollars in federal funding.

“Sens. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.) and John Cornyn (Tex.) asked in a letter to the group, released Friday, whether money is being spent on executive pay, travel and lobbying rather than on programs for needy children.

“The umbrella organization, which receives nearly 40 percent of its revenue from the federal government, stands to gain hundreds of millions of dollars more from a bill pending in the Senate. The organization posted a loss of more than $13 million, according to its 2008 tax return, the most recent one available.

"We find it hard to reconcile this loss given the amount spent on executive salaries, perks and lobbying expenses," the letter said. "We are especially concerned because it is our understanding that some independent clubs have closed or are on the cusp of closing because of a lack of funding."

“Roxanne Spillett, president and chief executive of the tax-exempt organization, based in Atlanta, earned nearly $1 million in compensation in 2008. That includes a base salary of nearly $361,000, a $150,000 incentive and nearly $478,000 in benefits, expenses and contributions to a deferred retirement plan, a spokesman for the organization said in a written statement Friday.

“Leaders of large nonprofits should earn competitive salaries, said Ken Berger, president and chief executive of Charity Navigator, a watchdog group.

“The average compensation for executives at groups with more than $100 million dollars in annual revenue is $460,000, including deferred compensation, according to Charity Navigator.”

Why Give?

A marvelous book I’ve been reading, Giving Well, Doing Good: Readings for Thoughtful Philanthropists, has many excellent thoughts to ponder, and one comes in the discussion of the different levels within the reasons for giving; and the third level relates to the best reason.

An excerpt.

“The third level—which might be described as the most mature form of giving—is a way of participating in the life of others, or an expression of gratitude. Here the key element is the other, the recipient; not the self, the giver. The giver wishes to be, and becomes a genuine participant who shares in an achievement by facilitating it. This giving also has the reward of a beneficent return, although the benefits are primarily for others than oneself.” (p. 129)

Immigrants & Nonprofits

This is a wonderful story, from the Stanford Social Innovation Review, about one person's vision--it all so often starts with just one person--and her nonprofit's work to help immigrants to America become productive.

An excerpt.

“In 2000, while working for a national refugee resettlement organization in New York City, Jane Leu decided that the federally funded system of matching immigrants to careers was a failure.

“We didn’t have an incentive to focus on [the] quality” of the placements, she remembers of her six years of putting highly educated, English-speaking foreigners in low-skill jobs. “It was just about quantity.”

“So with no funding, a borrowed laptop computer, and her kitchen table as a makeshift office, Leu started the nonprofit Upwardly Global, whose goal is to help highly skilled immigrants reclaim their careers in the United States.

“The beginning was rocky. With no funds and no employees, Leu was limited to one-on-one sessions with job seekers, reaching out to foundations for grants, and making employers aware of a hidden talent pool: 1.3 million bilingual workers with degrees and professional experience in every possible white-collar profession.

“Successes trickled in. By 2002, the organization received its first grant and hired its first paid employee. In 2003, Leu’s work was recognized by the Draper Richards Foundation when she became its first fellow, earning a $300,000 grant.

“Today, Upwardly Global employs 29 people to serve some 600 job seekers a year. With offices in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago, the organization also relies on its wide network of volunteers. Since 2006, it has helped place 400 people with 300 employers such as Google, Genentech, Wells Fargo, the Gap, Safeway, and the Fresh Air Fund. Although Upwardly Global remains a small nonprofit with an annual operating budget of less than $2 million, it is widely credited for highlighting decades of “brain waste,” says Jeanne Batalova, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. It is also the first organization that reintegrates professional immigrants into the American workforce.”

The Arts, Nonprofits, & Local Economies

Most people are not aware of the large role that art—and the nonprofit cultural organizations that support them—play in the local economy, as they have in Midtown and North Sacramento.

A recent study in Boston, reported by the Boston Globe, reveals just how productive that role can be.

An excerpt.

“Each year, 30,000 people visit the Danforth Museum of Art. Hundreds of youths participate in its free school programs, thousands of all ages enroll in art classes, and still more view exhibitions.

“With this kind of score card, the Danforth finds it easy to convince the community of its value as a cultural asset.

“But an economic engine?

“A newly released study suggests that the Danforth and five other Framingham cultural institutions generate nearly double their budgets in local spending annually, creating scores of jobs along the way.

“For people who believe in the arts, they get it when we tell them art is good because we know it’s good,’’ said Danforth’s executive director, Katherine French. “But that’s preaching to the converted. When we go to funders or business leaders or town officials, we need to be able to point to an argument that isn’t a matter of opinion.’’

“So, the Danforth and five other Framingham cultural organizations — Amazing Things Arts Center, Framingham History Center, Framingham Public Library, Garden in the Woods, and Performing Arts Center of MetroWest — united for an economic impact study paid for by the Sudbury Foundation. It was no academic exercise.

“All six organizations are in the midst of, or are gearing up for, fund-raising campaigns to improve their facilities and ultimately make Framingham a tourist destination. They say proof of the jobs and business they create cinches their argument for financial support — especially during tough economic times.”

Nonprofits & Politics

The nonprofit world has long played an essential part in the nation’s politics. One of its earliest chroniclers, Count Alexis De Tocqueville, who came to America in the early 1800’s and met with many of the founders, wrote one of the most perceptive books ever written about America. Here is but a small part of what he said about voluntary associations—nonprofits.

“Americans of all ages, all conditions, all minds constantly unite. Not only do they have commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but they also have a thousand other kinds: religious, moral, grave, futile, very general and very particular, immense and very small; Americans use associations to give fetes, to found seminaries, to build inns, to raise churches, to distribute books, to send missionaries to the antipodes; in this manner they create hospitals, prisons, schools. Finally, if it is a question of bringing to light a truth or developing a sentiment with the support of a great example, they associate. Everywhere that, at the head of a new undertaking, you see the government in France and a great lord in England, count on it that you will perceive an association in the United States.

“I have since traveled through England, from which the Americans took some of their laws and many of their usages, and it appeared to me that there they were very far from making as constant and as skilled a use of association.

“It often happens that the English execute very great things in isolation, whereas there is scarcely an undertaking so small that Americans do not unite for it. It is evident that the former consider association as a powerful means of action; but the latter seem to see in it the sole means they have of acting.

“Thus the most democratic country on earth is found to be, above all, the one where men in our day have most perfected the art of pursuing the object of their common desires in common and have applied this new science to the most objects. Does this result from an accident or could it be that there in fact exists a necessary relation between associations and equality?”

(Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 2000 translation by H. C. Mansfield and D. Winthrop. pp. 489-490)

Today, the work nonprofits do in the political world continues, as this report from OMB Watch notes.

An excerpt.

“Redistricting reform efforts have emerged as a key issue that could significantly impact our democracy in 2010 and beyond. While it does not appear that there will be nationwide redistricting reform, efforts are moving forward in several states. Nonprofits have taken a lead role in advocating for a process that is independent, nonpartisan, and fair while also ensuring that their constituencies' interests are represented.

“Americans for Redistricting Reform (ARR) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that bills itself as "committed to raising public awareness of redistricting abuses and promoting solutions that benefit voters and strengthen our democracy." Its website allows visitors to learn about redistricting reform efforts in jurisdictions across the country. The site also contains fact sheets, court cases, research studies, and state and federal legislation on redistricting reform efforts.

“ARR was launched by the Campaign Legal Center and includes major nonprofit organizations as advisory committee members, including the Brennan Center for Justice, the Campaign Legal Center, the Committee for Economic Development, Common Cause, Fair Vote, the League of Women Voters, the Reform Institute, the Republican Main Street Partnership, and U.S. PIRG.”

Program Accountability

It has many names, evaluation-outcomes-mission fulfillment, but whatever label is used, the point is that programs that ask for the public’s money—whether directly from the public in donations or indirectly from the public through government grants—to do something worthwhile, should be held accountable to have actually accomplished what it is they claim to have done.

VPP News has an excellent piece on this.

An excerpt.

“In my last column, “‘Social Outcomes’: Missing the Forest for the Trees?,” I wrote about my deep, nagging fear that many efforts to assess outcomes are woefully off track. I pointed to several wonderful beams of shining light in the field, from Youth Villages to the Cleveland Clinic. But my dominant message was that many efforts in our sector are causing more harm than good. That column hit a nerve, triggering a volume and intensity of responses far greater than I had expected.

“After struggling though literally 20 drafts, I wasn’t sure whether the piece was even coherent. Yet, it seemingly made some sense to a good number of thought leaders and practitioners I greatly respect—along with many others I don’t know who apparently care deeply about this issue as well.

“Of course, not everyone agreed with my analysis. In fact, I got hard pushback on some points, and a few commentators wondered why it had taken me so long to own up to my own limitations in my approach over the years to the topic of outcomes.

“The majority, however, agreed with the thesis that we’ve lost sight of the ends we’re trying to advance. In the wise words of David Hunter, Managing Partner of Hunter Consulting and former Director of Assessment for the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation: “It seems to me that the mess you describe indeed is enormous and very destructive—because few people involved in this work have thought deeply about managing towards outcomes and [they] have put the cart before the horse—focusing…on HOW to measure rather than on WHY measure…and WHAT to measure.”

“Sins of Commission, Sins of Omission
The feedback confirmed for me that nonprofit executives, staff, and boards; donors; and assessment experts are deeply frustrated with our sector’s work around outcomes.
• I heard a lot of anger at funders who don’t walk (or fund) their talk.
• I heard exasperation with nonprofits that are unwilling to embrace even basic methods of determining whether they’re doing what they say they do.
• I heard disappointment that outcomes assessment has become an exercise focused on cold numbers—the equivalent of Robert McNamara’s simplistic and terribly misleading Vietnam body counts—rather than an effort to help nonprofit leaders achieve lasting impact for those they serve.

“We must be intentional about surfacing these roiling frustrations that are rarely getting voiced. If we don’t, we’re going to continue to perpetrate sins of commission and omission that prevent us from making even the slightest dent in the failing status quo that defines education, healthcare, and social services in America.”

Catholic Schools

One of the truly great examples of nonprofit work in education is the story of Catholic schools in America and as they enter a trying period in their illuminating history, having help charting the waters is appreciated.

The Philanthropy Roundtable—itself a remarkable story of American philanthropy—has produced a marvelous resource, the 146 page publication Saving America’s Urban Catholic Schools: A Guide for Donors, which they have made available as a free pdf download.

Nonprofits Managing Parks

One of the great nonprofit stories in the country is that of the Central Park Conservancy in New York City, which has been profiled many times, and again in this new story from City Journal.

It is a story with particular relevance to your blogger as I'm the founder and senior policy director of the American River Parkway Preservation Society, which has long promoted the Central Park Conservancy as a model that could be brought to the Parkway.

An excerpt from the City Journal article.

“It’s a beautiful day in New York’s Central Park, and Isabella Rossellini is whispering in my ear. “Beneath the leafy canopy, you are surrounded by miracles of nature,” she says of the scene that confronts me: the hilly, arboreal midsection of the park known as the Ramble. “Countless creatures call the Ramble home.” Rossellini’s is just one of about 30 famous voices that I can summon to describe the park by punching two digits on my phone. This cellular companionship is provided by the Central Park Conservancy, the innovative organization that, since 1980, has spearheaded the park’s spectacular rejuvenation.

“I remember a very different Central Park when I was a college student in Manhattan in the 1970s. I even recall passing through the Ramble. Countless creatures called it home then, too—most of whom you wouldn’t want to run into, day or night. The park’s lawns were dust bowls; its trees’ limbs were broken, their roots exposed; graffiti and inoperative lights marred the once-manicured landscape designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. “It was so awful,” recalls Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, an urban planner from Texas who became the park’s administrator in 1979. “Central Park was under a unionized, civil-service workforce. They were demoralized. It would take three men to prune a tree because of the job titles.”

“The change began when Rogers formed an alliance with Parks Commissioner Gordon Davis. Davis started cutting deadwood in his department, a traditional dumping ground for patronage jobs. He also decentralized his department’s operations—first down to the borough level, then to the park level. And Rogers championed the idea that private money and workers would play a key role in the park’s restoration. The Central Park Conservancy was born in 1980—what current park administrator Douglas Blonsky calls a “revolutionary public/private partnership that would bring private monies and expertise, in partnership with the City of New York, to manage and restore Central Park.”

“In this partnership, the Conservancy manages Central Park under a contract with the city. It also raises money for the park. Over its 30-year existence, the Conservancy has overseen $500 million of investment, nearly 80 percent of it from private sources. But the Conservancy owes its success less to its knack for holding soirées for wealthy donors than to its ability to tap into New Yorkers’ love for Central Park. Today, nearly 300 volunteers donate some 30,000 hours of labor each year. A generation ago, public employees ran the park; today, more than three-quarters of the workforce is private, either volunteers or Conservancy employees.”

Doing Good Can Be Bad

Unless you are really aware of what it is you are about to engage in--studying the terrain prior to engaging--is as eternally smart as is the age of the adage, “Look before you leap.”

This article from the Wall Street Journal looks at that wisdom in the philanthropic world.

An excerpt.

“When Kent M. Keith was a Cub Scout in the 1950s, he had a great urge to do good deeds and pile up merit badges. Was it altruism? Ambition? A chance to feel better about himself? Was he really making a difference?

“One day, his father set him straight. "Kent," he said, "don't help the old lady cross the street unless she wants to go."

“Kent Keith, now 61, is CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, a nonprofit organization based in Westfield, Ind., that advises groups and individuals on practical and ethical ways of helping others.

“Most of us want to be effective, he says, "to make the world better. But before you help people, you have to ask them, 'What do you need? What do you want?' "

“Every day, we see reminders of the limitations, and even the dangers, of good intentions. In Haiti, U.S. missionaries who said they only wanted to save orphaned children ended up arrested on child-trafficking charges. In Asian countries hit by the 2004 tsunami, residents still shake their heads over the warehouses filled with unusable donations, including winter coats and stiletto shoes. And earthquake-ravaged Chile is sure to receive its share of "useless aid" in the days ahead.

“Closer to home, good intentions are often greeted cynically, or with indifference. In Hollywood, celebrities recently gathered to again sing "We Are the World," and much of the world yawned in response.

“In Chicago's City Hall, waterless urinals in a men's room were touted for saving 50,000 gallons of water a year per urinal. But without enough water per flush, the copper pipes corroded and urine collected in the restroom wall. The smell of urine spread through City Council chambers. Last month, amid snickering, the well-meaning conservation effort was abandoned, and regular urinals were reinstalled.

“The steady procession of such stories would have us believing the old axiom that "no good deed goes unpunished." How can we better calibrate good intentions in our own lives?

“The answer, from activists and academics who study the human impulse, is blunt. Throw out any ideas of winning praise for your work—be honest, most of us want to be stroked—and build up some armor to take hits. A growing field of organizations has sprung up to advise people looking to donate, time or money, to help potential donors achieve these steps.

"Throw away your assumptions about what people need," advises Tori Hogan, a 27-year-old activist who has traveled the world studying the effectiveness of aid programs. Beyond Good Intentions, the Cambridge, Mass.-based charity-watchdog organization she founded, posts videos on its Web site that evaluate aid projects.”

Spirituality, Ethics, Social Concerns & the Workplace

In the continuing movement to bring a stronger sense of spiritual maturity to the for profit sector—which is already evident within the nonprofit sector—business schools are reworking their curriculum, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

An excerpt.

“For years, companies have suggested changes to bread-and-butter business school courses.

“But recently, firms have begun to try to make their mark on another subject: social responsibility and sustainability.

“Some companies are taking a hands-on approach to help train potential employees, using real projects in an effort to help students move beyond case studies that are quickly becoming outdated.

“Students "really need to go and dig into the behind-the-scenes operations. If we don't give [them] that opportunity, they come out handicapped," says Dave Stangis, vice president of corporate social responsibility and sustainability at Campbell Soup Co.

“This new push is part of a larger effort among corporations to integrate social concerns beyond donations and once-a-year volunteering. The effort is being met with both gratitude and skepticism from business schools, which say that despite the emphasis on integrating these hot-button topics into the curriculum, it's business as usual at recruiting time. Few hiring managers, they say, ask students about corporate-responsibility training or indicate it's a priority.

“Still, for their part, companies say that working with business schools is important to ensure a new generation of workers sees corporate responsibility as a bottom-line booster, not just something to feel good about.

"My whole goal in this [role] is to mature the curricula," says Mr. Stangis, who finds that many M.B.A.s—even those studying the subject—need to better understand how to implement CSR-related initiatives so they can have a real impact and business tie-in. "I don't think we are turning out the kind of students that we need to in this field."

Hedge Fund Philanthropy

Many of the wealthy have become great philanthropists, especially since the seminal The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie, was published in 1889.

This story from the Wall Street Journal reports on the philanthropy of some of the current wealthy.

An excerpt.

“The founder of U.K. hedge-fund manager CQS, Michael Hintze, nods towards the view out of his window, over the gardens of Buckingham Palace and towards central London.

"If we just look out there, we see churches, halls and hospitals that were all built by private individuals through private subscriptions," he says. "It all came from private philanthropy."

“Mr. Hintze belongs to a group of hedge-fund managers, which includes the likes of Chris Hohn of TCI and Ian Wace of Marshall Wace, who are as well known—perhaps, even better known—for their charity work as for their day jobs.

“Running a hedge fund is by necessity a secretive activity, while philanthropy thrives on publicity. It is a tension that the intensely private Mr. Hintze admits to wrestling with. It is perhaps one of the reasons that he uses the view out of his window to put in context the $35 million he has donated to a variety of causes within a long tradition of philanthropy.

“He was reluctantly persuaded to abandon his policy of anonymity by the University of Sydney, his alma mater, when he donated funding for a professorial chair in international security. The university wanted to name the chair after him because it thought it would inspire other people to make similar bequests.

“It was a step he says he took with great trepidation: "I trusted them, so I did it. [But] it's like beating your chest. I cannot pretend to be modest for one second, but that was a big step."

“Mr. Hintze has since become one of the public faces of philanthropy in the U.K. So many letters requesting donations pour into CQS's office that he has hired a person to deal with them. "Somebody has to read those letters, and treat those people with respect," says Mr. Hintze. "They are not asking just because they want something for nothing. You need to consider their requests, you need to think about them and you need to reply."

“The Hintze Family Charitable Foundation has supported around 150 charities in the last five years. These range from the Wandsworth Museum, in an unfashionable borough of London, to the Victoria & Albert Museum, the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design.

“A simple principle guides which charities Mr. Hintze supports: He wants to give something back to people and institutions with which he has a personal connection. "Wandsworth, for example, as a community has given a lot to me and my family," he says. Mr. Hintze lives with his wife and their four state-educated children in the South London neighborhood. He says the V&A has given him enormous pleasure and aided his intellectual growth. He backs the Conservative Party because "it is pretty clear to me that my success has happened in the U.K. because of the context that the Conservative Party provided."

IRS Announcement, Sacramento Tax Workshops

“IRS Exempt Organizations is offering a one-day workshop for small and mid-sized section 501(c)(3) exempt organizations. Each workshop, presented by experienced Exempt Organizations specialists, will explain what 501(c)(3) organizations must do to keep their tax-exempt status and comply with tax obligations. This introductory workshop is designed for administrators or volunteers who are responsible for an organization's tax compliance.”

Workshops will be in Sacramento March 16, 17, & 18 & you can pre-register [required] at this IRS link.

Small Nonprofit Theater Groups

They are some of the most innovative and inspiring artists working in theater and dare to go places few established groups will, as this story about a Memphis Improv described by The Commercial Appeal.

An excerpt.

“A few minutes before a special performance to help a local nonprofit celebrate its 15th anniversary, a group of actors stood offstage wondering if they were in too deep.

“The actors were with Playback Memphis, an improvisational theater troupe that turns personal stories from audience members into live theater.

“Their audience, Victims to Victory, was a support group for families who have lost loved ones to homicide.

“Tough stories.

"We often go to deep places in playback," said actor and real-life therapist Bill Baker as the cast prepared to face the crowd. "But I suspect this is going to be a hard one."

“The troupe reenacts the experiences of others in what they call a playback, blending literal details of the story with theatrical flourishes that include music and dance.

“When it was time to go on, the actors joined hands in a circle. Virginia Murphy, the troupe's leader, offered more of a prayer than a motivational speech. "Let's invite something larger than ourselves into this performance," she said. "Give us what we need to be of service. ..."

“In theater, tragedies run two acts plus intermission. In life, they run for years.”

Government Nonprofits

Creating a public/private partnership to promote public interest is becoming a more valuable strategy during the tough economic times the United States is now undergoing, and this story from the Los Angeles Times notes the value a government agency can realize by creating a nonprofit to fulfill part of its mission.

An excerpt.

“Aiming to reverse a steep drop in international visitors since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress last week passed legislation creating a nonprofit corporation to promote the United States as a travel destination.

“A $10 fee on many foreign visitors would help finance the new corporation and could raise as much as $200 million a year.

“Among the legislation's goals is to better explain the stricter U.S. entry requirements for foreign visitors since the attacks.

“Those policies are cited as the main reason foreign travel to the U.S. is down 9% since 2000 although it is up 39% worldwide in the same period, according to the U.S. Travel Assn., an industry trade group…..

“The new initiative would generate $650 million in tourist spending and create 6,500 jobs annually in California, according to the Oxford Economics study.

“The legislation would impose a $10 fee on visitors from 35 European and Asian countries who do not need visas to enter the United States. It would not apply to visitors from Mexico or Canada.

“The fee, which would cover a traveler for two years, would produce as much as $100 million a year to match money and in-kind contributions, such as advertising, raised by the travel industry. California and some other states also use a public-private model for tourism promotion.

“After a start-up period, the fee would generate as much as $200 million a year to be spent by the corporation, which would be overseen by a board of 11 people appointed by the Commerce secretary. If the industry reaches that level, it would give the U.S. the largest tourism promotional budget of any country, Dow said.

“But imposing a fee on foreign travelers, particularly when the world is recovering from a major recession, could be counterproductive, warned Steve Lott, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Assn., which represents carriers in the U.S. and abroad.

"We question the logic of the U.S. going out to travelers around the world and saying, 'Please come visit the United States, but we're going to charge you more at the door,' " he said.”

Nonprofits to be taxed?

Tough public budgets stimulate drastic responses and the idea to tax nonprofits—as reported by the New York Times—is certainly that.

An excerpt.

“Faced with steep declines in tax revenue, an increasing number of states and localities are considering eliminating various tax exemptions for nonprofit groups.

“A bill before the Hawaii Legislature, for instance, would require charities to pay a 1 percent tax, and Kansas is considering making them subject to sales taxes.

“Revoking the nonprofit organizations’ exemptions from property taxes is also under scrutiny in several counties in Kansas, as well as in Pennsylvania.

“And last fall, Minneapolis made charities subject to the fees it charges businesses and residents for streetlights in hope of gaining an additional $155,000, an exercise Jon Pratt, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, describes as “looking under the sofa cushions.”

“In most cases, churches would be exempt from the tax measures, but all other nonprofit groups, including private schools and colleges, would be affected.

“City and state officials say they have no choice.

“We’re having to look at the public services nonprofits use and how we can adequately cover those costs,” said Matt Greller, executive director of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns. “We can’t give them away for free any longer.”

“Nonprofit groups say the moves to wring revenue out of them are shortsighted and will produce cutbacks in critical services that governments rely on them to provide, like mental health and emergency foster care services.

“Nonprofits are really hurting in this economy,” said Tim Delaney, chief executive of the National Council of Nonprofits, a trade association. “Their revenues are down, too, and demand for the services they provide, services that government expects them to provide, is way up.”