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February 26, 2009

Report Focuses on Federal Dollars Received by Nonprofit Organizations

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has released a report that describes the ways federal funds are provided to tax-exempt organizations and attempts to quantify the amounts nonprofit organizations receive through various programs.

“Our analysis of data presently collected suggests that significant federal funds reached nonprofit organizations in 2006,” said the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress.

But the GAO cautioned: “Due to limitations and reliability concerns with tracking systems’ data, the data presently collected provide an incomplete, unreliable picture of the federal government’s funds reaching the nonprofit sector through various mechanisms.”

With that caution in mind, the GAO said the approximate federal dollars flowing to charities and other tax-exempt organizations in 2006 through reviewed federal programs were:

• $135-billion in fee-for-service payments through Medicare;

• $10-billion in other types of fee-for-service payments;

• $25-billion in grants paid directly to nonprofit organizations;

• $10-billion paid directly to nonprofit groups through contracts;

• $55-billion paid to tax-exempt groups by states from two grant programs, including Medicaid.

In addition, the GAO said, approximately $2.5-billion in loan guarantees and $450-million in loans were issued to nonprofit organizations.

The GAO said until better data is developed, “accurately determining the extent of federal funds reaching the sector is not possible, leaving policy makers without a clear understanding of the extent of funding to, and importance of, key [nonprofit] partners in delivering federal programs and services.”

— Grant Williams

Thursday February 26, 2009 | Permalink

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