September 29, 2008
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?
Comments
Commenting is closed for this article.
Previous: Paul Newman's Gifts to Philanthropy
Next: For-Profit Microfinance Efforts Under Scrutiny
The nonprofit community already has a publicly financed bailout and has had it ongoing for years. It’s called the tax deduction for charitable gifts.
— The Untied Way Sep 29, 02:22 PM #
I wonder how the dollar amounts of corporate tax breaks and subsidies for for-profit sectors such as agri-business, compare to the tax deduction total amount. Anyone have any insight into that comparison?
— Deborah Donovan Rice Sep 29, 02:43 PM #
I appreciate your comment United Way, but individual donations are not guaranteed, even if they receive tax deductions. What direct support is the sector going to gain from the government to support them through these hard times? Or, should the government just promote charitable gifts as their answer?
— Jenna Schaefer Sep 29, 07:54 PM #
Non-profit leaders can seize the high moral ground and suggest to lawmakers, examine the historical record, e.g. Cornell University’s Andrew Dickson White authored FIAT MONEY INFLATION IN FRANCE an account of huge social harm produced by successive monetary bail-outs. Few U.S. legislators would know monetarism historically yields massive poverty. Respond to crisis they will, without knowing history’s lessons, thus, the blind lead the blind, the outcome the direct reverse of their intention. Not to be left to public policy organizations alone to so inform legislators, we all are stakeholders who can study and provide sound history-based counsel to those who represent us, an act good community leadership.
— Richard Dilworth Sep 29, 09:32 PM #
I think it would be great if as a nation we took poverty, healthcare, and adoption as seriously as we take wall street. Can you imagine the kind of change that could take place?
Jason Dick
www.ASmallChange.net
— Jason Dick Sep 30, 11:24 PM #