President Obama did not include money in his fiscal 2010 budget proposal for a program to provide grants to help small and medium-size charities get training and management help that was authorized by a new national-service bill.
But the plan to spend $25-million over five years on a Nonprofit Capacity Building Program is not dead.
Sen. Max Baucus, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, who championed the program during the debate over the national-service bill, still considers it a priority and will fight for it when Congress formally appropriates spending for 2010, one of his aides said.
The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, signed into law last month, included a last-minute amendment — proposed by Senator Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and Senator E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa — that called for spending of $5-million a year for five years on the Nonprofit Capacity Building Program, which would be housed in the Corporation for National and Community Service.
The spending, which would be matched by money from nonfederal sources, would go to nonprofit organizations that could train small and medium-size charities in areas like raising money, writing grant proposals, and complying with tax laws.
But when the White House submitted its 2010 budget plan this month, it did not propose any spending on the program.
Sandy Scott, a corporation spokesman, acknowledged that the money was missing but said the president had proposed a 29-percent increase in the corporation’s overall budget, which would bolster a range of programs that help nonprofit groups — for example, by providing more AmeriCorps members, who help charities recruit and manage volunteers.
“In essence, the entire spectrum of the corporation’s programs help to build nonprofit capacity,” he said. However, he added, the corporation was in the process of seeking further ideas from nonprofit groups on how to carry out the Serve America Act.
Tim Delaney, president of the National Council of Nonprofits, which represents state nonprofit associations, says his group will press Congress to allocate money for the “capacity-building” program when it adopts the 2010 appropriations legislation.
He said it is the only budget proposal specifically geared to help small and medium-size charities, which could use the money to strengthen their ability to contribute to the country’s economic recovery. “They don’t have access to lawyers, accountants, consultants, and others,” he says.
