|
(Actually, Mr. Buffett’s overall tax rate was somewhere around 17 percent, according to his testimony before Congress, and thus his deduction would be less than the teacher’s. Mr. Gates has not disclosed his tax rate.)
Many of the organizations that provide the services most in demand rely heavily on government financing through community block grants, Medicaid and many other federally financed, state-administered programs.
But these days, states are taking longer to reimburse nonprofit groups for the services they provide under contract. At the same time, banks are reducing access to or withdrawing lines of credit, and donations.
Some portion of the money allocated for increased Medicaid spending and community block grants in the economic stimulus package will flow to nonprofits, but so far, Congress appears unmoved by the various suggestions nonprofit groups themselves are making.
The Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins, for instance, pulled together a list of some $10.6 billion in “shovel ready” projects at nonprofit organizations, items as varied as a youth center in San Antonio and a theater in New Hampshire.
The White House supported the Independent Sector’s concept of a nonprofit bridge-loan fund, nonprofit leaders said, but the House Appropriations Committee rejected the idea.
A spokeswoman for the committee did not return a call seeking comment.
Senators Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, introduced an amendment to the stimulus bill that would have allowed charities to reimburse their volunteers at a higher rate for mileage, and Mr. Grassley proposed requiring states to pay nonprofits what they owed them before receiving any additional money through the bill. Those provisions, however, were dropped.
Peter Goldberg, chief executive of the Alliance for Children and Families, an association for nonprofit social service providers, said a large part of the problem was that while organizations have morphed into government contractors, more akin to highway construction companies and military contractors, Congress and the public continue to think of them as charities supported by private donations and volunteers.
“The government needs to understand that, for better or worse, it has bought a substantial chunk of the nonprofit, human-services delivery system through its contracts,” Mr. Goldberg said. “It therefore has a vested interest in making sure the system functions, particularly at a time like this.”
Not everyone in the nonprofit sector, however, agrees that government needs to do more.
Pablo Eisenberg, a scholar at Georgetown University who is normally a champion of nonprofit groups, said he would not sign on to the “Forward Together” document because he believes wealthy foundations should be doing more to support those groups.
“Nonprofits need to first look to their own community to help them out before asking the government to pitch in,” Mr. Eisenberg said.
Page 1 | 2
Companies Mentioned:
 |
|
PURLs for Profit
Secrets of List Research (2nd Edition)
