Hello Blogging World! The purpose of this blog is to write about the various components of the nonprofit sector and reflect upon them. The non-profit sector plays a number of important roles, it bridges the gap between the public and private sector, and it has a number of areas including advocacy, social services, research funding, and religious organizations; these to name just a few examples. I hope to further my knowledge of non-profits through writing this blog and build upon the content discussed in PPPM 240. Specifically, I am interested in the legal aspects surrounding the non-profit sector, organizational structure of nonprofits, funding aspects, and the different tax classifications surrounding this sector.
My name is Carson Quam and I am double majoring in Political Science and Public Planning, Policy, and Management (PPPM). I am a current volunteer with Partners of the Americas, a student exchange program, it allows for high school students from Costa Rica and Oregon to travel for a two month stay in the other country. Partners of the Americas has 120 different chapters in the United States. Within this program I help provide information on the Oregon to Costa Rica exchange, helping inform students and parents about travel, and preparing prospective students for travel. Additionally, I am part of a selection committee, and I evaluate candidates for travel through a series of interviews.
I am taking this course as it is critical to understand the non-profit sector, it is likely that my future jobs will involve working with non-profits, this as they are intertwined with a number of other aspects. According to nonprofit nation, 1.8 million registered non-profit organizations are formally recognized in the United States alone. It accounts for 2 trillion dollars worth of funds and 5-10% of the United States economy. Understanding the history of non-profits was interesting for me, it showed how they first emerged, as wealthy individuals began foundations to give back to those who helped them build their fortunes. I found the lecture interesting when hearing about endowments and how schools like Harvard had vast amounts of funds from wealthy alumni donating over the years. Expanding on the historical aspects, the growth of non-profits in the United States seemed to occur with the post WWII economic boom as the industrial sector was left unharmed. Next, the social activism of the 60's and 70's largely contributed to growth of the non-profit sector. Today, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are encouraging other billionaires to donate their fortunes, and they have began a worldwide "giving pledge". This should create lasting change and allow for large influxes of cash that individual governments would be unwilling to provide.
Concluding thoughts, discussed during the lecture, we spoke about whether it was fair or not to have tax exempt status for non-profits. Nonprofits are given little regulation, and 2/3rds are organized under 501 (c) tax status, this lumping them together as one. Taking religious organizations for example, perhaps their social services role could have 501 (c) tax exempt status, but when advocating for an ideology, it could be taxed similar to campaign donations. One example, Planned Parenthood accepts donations for both health care, and for political advocacy for the right to choose. The health care is tax exempt, but the advocacy for the right to choose is not. Perhaps religious organizations among others should be subject to the same rules.
It seems that in allowing tax exempt status, it involves the government, and when practices by these organizations become discriminatory they should forfeit tax exemption and lose funding such as through grants. For example, if a religious school expels a homosexual student, they have every right to do so as a private organization. The problem arises is when the government is supporting this discrimination by allowing tax exemption and giving grants. It seems to come in conflict with issues of equal access protected under the 14th amendment if a religious organization were to receive these types of funding.
My name is Carson Quam and I am double majoring in Political Science and Public Planning, Policy, and Management (PPPM). I am a current volunteer with Partners of the Americas, a student exchange program, it allows for high school students from Costa Rica and Oregon to travel for a two month stay in the other country. Partners of the Americas has 120 different chapters in the United States. Within this program I help provide information on the Oregon to Costa Rica exchange, helping inform students and parents about travel, and preparing prospective students for travel. Additionally, I am part of a selection committee, and I evaluate candidates for travel through a series of interviews.
I am taking this course as it is critical to understand the non-profit sector, it is likely that my future jobs will involve working with non-profits, this as they are intertwined with a number of other aspects. According to nonprofit nation, 1.8 million registered non-profit organizations are formally recognized in the United States alone. It accounts for 2 trillion dollars worth of funds and 5-10% of the United States economy. Understanding the history of non-profits was interesting for me, it showed how they first emerged, as wealthy individuals began foundations to give back to those who helped them build their fortunes. I found the lecture interesting when hearing about endowments and how schools like Harvard had vast amounts of funds from wealthy alumni donating over the years. Expanding on the historical aspects, the growth of non-profits in the United States seemed to occur with the post WWII economic boom as the industrial sector was left unharmed. Next, the social activism of the 60's and 70's largely contributed to growth of the non-profit sector. Today, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are encouraging other billionaires to donate their fortunes, and they have began a worldwide "giving pledge". This should create lasting change and allow for large influxes of cash that individual governments would be unwilling to provide.
Concluding thoughts, discussed during the lecture, we spoke about whether it was fair or not to have tax exempt status for non-profits. Nonprofits are given little regulation, and 2/3rds are organized under 501 (c) tax status, this lumping them together as one. Taking religious organizations for example, perhaps their social services role could have 501 (c) tax exempt status, but when advocating for an ideology, it could be taxed similar to campaign donations. One example, Planned Parenthood accepts donations for both health care, and for political advocacy for the right to choose. The health care is tax exempt, but the advocacy for the right to choose is not. Perhaps religious organizations among others should be subject to the same rules.
It seems that in allowing tax exempt status, it involves the government, and when practices by these organizations become discriminatory they should forfeit tax exemption and lose funding such as through grants. For example, if a religious school expels a homosexual student, they have every right to do so as a private organization. The problem arises is when the government is supporting this discrimination by allowing tax exemption and giving grants. It seems to come in conflict with issues of equal access protected under the 14th amendment if a religious organization were to receive these types of funding.
The separation of church and state in regards to the nonprofit sector and tax exemptions seems extremely complicated. There are definitely some people out there who feel very passionately about the subject. I did some research and actually found a group called Americans United for Separation of Church and State that deals specifically with the issue of churches being able to address political issues, (whereas other nonprofits are not ), but still receive a tax exempt status. So if you want to check it out their website is pretty interesting and they actually have a blog. Ironically, Americans United for Separation of Church and State is, in fact, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. I'm not really sure how that works or makes any sense because they work within governmental organizations, so it seems like they are guilty of the same crime they are condemning...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.au.org/about/
Your second-to-last comment on religious non-profits and their partnership with the government brings up a very interesting point that we touched on in class: how much wiggle room should the government be given in the private sector? Your comment, "The problem arises is when the government is supporting this discrimination by allowing tax excemption and giving grants," insuates that the government is esentially being the nice guy; in that he (the government) allows religious organizations to operate without contributing as much as the average American in income, sales, and property taxes. This also reminds me of how nice it was when manor lords would not increase years of servitude by 10 years, but instead leave it at 65...
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to your next blog Carson! I think we'll learn a lot about our political ideologies and a lot more about the non-profit sector.
Carson, I feel the same way about the separation of church and state argument, it is a pretty interesting subject.
ReplyDeleteYour last paragraph was particularly provocative, I'm not sure exactly if private schools are allowed to deny 14th amendment rights while at the same time receive government grants/tax exemption. That would be a very interesting legal issue if it came down to it. Should tax exempt status or grants qualify as being a judiciable matter? Very interesting.
I like how you are interested specifically in the legal aspects of the nonprofit sector. It's great that you are involved with Partners of the Americas. It sounds like a good program for exchange students. I also found the history of nonprofit interesting. It is interesting how you mention that religious organizations should separate social services and ideology for tax exempt status. This could create some controversy and I think though a good idea, it would be hard to regulate and how people would decide which is what. I disagree with your religious school example because the government isn't really support the discrimination directly through tax exception. Tax exemptions are economic policies, not moral issues. Yes, some schools discriminate but the tax exemption are because they provide some service to the community that help people.
ReplyDeleteYour touch on the discussion question that we talked about in class was of particular interest to me that class lesson. Your concept of a sliding scale of tax exemption I believe would make the trust and process of the nonprofit sector much more trustworthy, but the logistical implementation of such a government regulation would be difficult in reality I'm sure. I see the greatest aspect of nonprofits in comparison to government run welfare programs is the use of the community support that helps such programs have a meaningful direction to their particular audience that improves the efficiency of the program.
ReplyDelete