Charities Better Look Over Their Shoulder

by Gary Snyder


Since there is no self-regulation by charitable sector leadership, law enforcement agencies are having to step in and take charge. New York is the latest to initiate it.


Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman is the latest politician to offer an overhaul plan aimed at nonprofit groups. But the report he unveiled on is as much an aid package for nonprofit groups as an attempt to hold the line on runaway compensation and other abuses. Mr. Schneiderman does propose some steps to bolster self-policing by nonprofit groups, including the use of independent directors to monitor compensation and other issues — though it’s not clear from the report or a legislative summary provided by Mr. Scheiderman’s office how an “independent director” would be defined. 


But the effectiveness of Mr. Schneiderman’s plan most likely hinges on his proposal to tweak state law to give the attorney general greater authority to challenge excessive compensation in court. “We must maintain the public’s trust by ensuring that nonprofits are governed effectively, and with meaningful oversight. ”The governor created a panel to review nonprofit compensation last year, after a report was published in The New York Times about compensation abuses at one of the state’s largest nonprofits serving the developmentally disabled. 
(New York Times) (crainsnewyork)



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)