Government Funded Nonprofits

During good times these groups do very well, but during times like we are now living under, not so good, as reported by the Nonprofit Quarterly.

An excerpt.

“In Pennsylvania, the prospect of a prolonged state budget battle isn’t new. Last year, the legislature passed a budget three months after the state’s constitutionally mandated June 30th deadline. Nonprofits are girding themselves for another prolonged state budget battle. There’s no penalty on the state for missing the deadline, but there is a cost to nonprofits if they have to wait indefinitely for state funding contingent on passage of a permanent budget.

“Pennsylvania’s budget impasse was headline stuff in 2009, but other states seem ready to compete for blowing budget deadlines this year. California’s budget deadline was June 15, but the legislature is going to miss that deadline again, unable to agree on how to resolve a $19 billion projected deficit. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed ending the state’s welfare programs as one way of reducing the budget gap.

“In Illinois, the projected cuts to close that state’s $13 billion deficit will whack numerous nonprofit services, including eliminating all non-Medicaid funding for community-based mental health providers. One way Illinois appears to handle its budget is by not paying its vendors: the state is already overdue on $5.5 billion in payments to contractors.

“In New York State, the government operates by virtue of temporary budget extender bills, but that doesn’t mean timely payments to nonprofit service providers. Mental health groups in New York State waiting for payments that will not be made in July are facing a “crisis of immense proportion,” according to advocates.”