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September 29, 2008, 01:00 PM ET
What About a Bailout For Nonprofit Groups?
Congressional leaders spent all weekend debating the $700-billion bailout of the financial industry. Ruth McCambridge and Rick Cohen, of The Nonprofit Quarterly, are asking their readers to do the same.
Ms. McCambridge and Mr. Cohen ask readers to weigh in both on the overall merits of the bailout (“Is it the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do or something in between?”) as well as what the nonprofit world should be doing to influence the debate.
“What should the nonprofit sector do, locally, regionally, and nationally, to make sure our voices are heard on what could be not only the largest federal government intervention in the economy in modern history, but the most threatening economic climate since the Great Depression?” they ask.
Some readers said that nonprofit organizations could use a bailout, too. Wrote one commentator: “Perhaps a $700-billion bailout is in order to save the financial markets and ultimately the American economy – but who is going to bail out the not for profit community when its various funding sources dry up as a result of fewer federal and state dollars and diminished funds for donors and foundations? For some of us, everyday is a ‘financial meltdown’ as we struggle to provide the services necessary that governmental agencies simply cannot or will not provide.”
What do you think of the bailout? What more should charity leaders be doing to respond to the economic crisis and influence the actions of government leaders?
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