Is the Economic Mess Going to Kill 100,000 Non-Profits?

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Is the Economic Mess Going to Kill 100,000 Non-Profits?

By Eyal Press, The Nation. Posted March 13, 2009.

The intensifying economic crisis is crushing the budgets of vital non-profits across the country, and the consequences are devastating.



In the days between Christmas and New Year's Eve, Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, sat at his desk in Lower Manhattan and reached out to people who had lavished generous donations on his organization during the long, benighted tenure of George W. Bush. It was a heady moment: the era of Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales was winding to a close, and Barack Obama was about to assume office, having vowed to rescind some of his predecessor's more egregious assaults on civil liberties.

But Romero wasn't phoning his supporters to share the joy -- he was calling to plead for cash after a season (actually, several seasons) of thwarted solicitations. Throughout the spring and summer, would-be donors had explained, over and over again, that they were too busy writing checks to the Obama campaign. By the time Obama mounted the stage to deliver his acceptance speech in Chicago on election night, many had become preoccupied with something else: the implosion of the economy. As Romero worked the phone from his office on the nineteenth floor of the downtown high-rise, around the corner from the New York Stock Exchange, he could feel the aftershocks of the collapse.

"I'll come back, but I lost it all," one longtime donor told Romero.

"I love you guys, but it's gone -- all gone," said another.

The most expensive presidential campaign in history and the cataclysmic financial meltdown of the past few months combined to produce a "perfect storm," Romero told me recently. The storm blew a $19 million hole in the ACLU's budget, resulting in a hiring freeze and the cancellation of various projects, followed by the announcement, in January, that 10 percent of the national staff was being let go. Employees with decades of experience were told to clear out their offices; no department was left unscathed. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/131345/is_the_economic_mess_going_to_kill_100%2C000_non-profits/

[Double T]

1. People can't even pay for the necessities of everyday life.

There is little or NOTHING left for charities. Even $1.00 bills will help charities and non-profits if enough people give. These are difficult and sad times for most. Dig deep and still try to give.

[SheilaT]

2. Not only this, but if the charitable deduction

is reduced or eliminated, many well-off people will have less incentive to donate to non-profits.

The non-profit sector may need to totally rethink how they raise money and operate. What I'd be curious to learn is how such organizations manage in other countries.

[corruptmewithpower]

3. I'm poor myself, but I give what I can to panhandlers.

Loss of the charitable deduction will KILL the non profits.

[stillcool]

5. but if the 5%'ers actually paid..

their fair share of taxes, we wouldn't need so much charity.

[ShortnFiery]

4. No the rich are still rich. It will be the wealthy's GREED that will hurt the non-profits.

I, for one, would not wish to depend on "the kindness of a rich person's soul" for my sustenance.

[scottl]

6. Not good......

EOM