Nonprofits Proliferate but Not the Regulators

by Gary Snyder

Despite the growing number of nonprofits in recent years, states are doing little to hire new regulators to police charities, according to a new report’s preliminary findings.

Fifty-three percent of state charity offices have not increased staffing since 2008. Another 13 percent have thinned their ranks of lawyers, paralegals, investigators, and accountants.

Flat state regulatory staffing levels makes anti-fraud efforts more difficult as the number of charities explodes, said Cindy Lott, executive director of the Columbia Law School National State Attorneys General Program and author of the report. 

The full report, a joint project of the Columbia Law School program and the Urban Institute, will be released later this fall.

According to Karl Racine, attorney general of Washington, D.C., state charity officials need to pick up the slack from the federal regulator, the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS, he said, remains in a state of "paralysis" because of budget cuts and fallout from a political scandal in 2013 over the agency’s scrutiny of Tea Party groups that applied for nonprofit status. (Chronicle of Philanthropy)


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: Charity Navigator, Vermont Public Radio, Miami Herald, National Public Radio (NPR), Huffington Post, The Sun News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Wall Street Journal (Profile, News and Photos), “Betrayal”, (a movie), NBC (on Charity Fraud…TBD), FOX2, ABC Spotlight on the News, WWJ Radio, Marie Claire, Ethics World, Aspen Philanthropy Newsletter, Harvard Business Review, Current Affairs, Charity Navigator, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, St. Petersburg Times, Board Room Insider, USA Today Topics, Accountants News, Newsweek.com, Responsive Philanthropy Magazine, New York Times, Portfolio Magazine, The Virgin Islands Daily News, NANKAI (China) BUSINESS REVIEW, National Religious Broadcasters newsletter, The Charity Governance Blog, American Chronicle, Palm Beach Post, Detroit Free Press, Oakland Press, Nonprofit World, Socially Responsible Business Forum, PNNOnline, Ohio Nonprofit Resources, Nonprofit Good Practice Guide, Nonprofit Startup Guide, Nonprofit Blog, National Coalition of Homeless Newsletter, Finance and Administration Roundtable Newsletter, MichiganNonprofit.com, CORP! Magazine, Crain’s Michigan Nonprofit, ncrp.org, PhilanTopic, Nashville Free Press, Nonprofit Law Blog, Seniors World Chronicle, Carnegie Reporter, Assoc. of Certified Fraud Examiners Examiner, msnbc.com, Worchester (MA) Telegram and Gazette, Carnegie Corporation of America, EO Tax Journal, Wikipedia: Non-profit Organizations; Parent: Wise Austin, Accountants News, Veterans Today, Answers.com, Far-roundtable, #Nonprofit Report, nonprofithelpnews, nonprofit news; National Enquirer, Northwest Herald, The HelpWise Daily, The #Nonprofit Report, Wikipedia (Nonprofit Organization), Answers.com, Nonprofits: On the Brink (2006) Silence: The Impending Threat to the Charitable Sector (2011)