Who Was Watching Out for the Charity Sector’s Best Interests?

by Gary Snyder

Rick Cohen of Nonprofit Quarterly reminds us that when there was considerable infighting regarding the charitable sector‘s tax deduction, the nonprofit sector was not attentive  to what was happening on other fronts. There were important changes in the Omnibus Spending bill. It seems that there were considerable cuts that were missed by those that are charged to represent the charities best interests.

Some that were picked up by Cohen:

§  cut in the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) by 60 percent, the lowest funding level since 1977;

§  reduction the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) from $4.7 billion in FY2011 to $3.5 billion in FY2012;

§  spending was raised the Pentagon’s budget by 1 percent, but cut the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency by 6 percent which will affect nonprofits;

§  spend will knock 100,000 students out of one or another aspect of the Pell Grant program; spending was  reduce the number of years a student can use Pell Grants from nine to six years.

Nonprofit Imperative gathers its information principally from public documents...some of which are directly quoted. Virtually all cited are in some phase of criminal proceedings; some have not been charged, however. Cites in various media: Featured in print, broadcast, and online media outlets, including: Vermont Public Radio, Miami Herald, National Public Radio, Huffington Post, The Sun News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Wall Street Journal (Profile, News and Photos), FOX2, ABC Spotlight on the News, WWJ Radio, Ethics World, Aspen Philanthropy Newsletter, Harvard Business Review, Current Affairs, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, St. Petersburg Times, B, USA Today Topics, , Newsweek.com, Responsive Philanthropy Magazine, New York Times...and many more • Nonprofits: On the Brink (iUniverse, 2006)