Nonprofits Look to New President for Improved Policies,
Study Finds
By Mimi Bilzor
Institute for Policy
Studies
With a major economic crisis pressing on America's
families and communities, the nation's
nonprofit organizations are looking to a new presidency for
help in responding. And they have some
definite ideas about what is needed, according to a new
survey by the Johns Hopkins University
Nonprofit Listening Post Project.
Heading the list of priority measures identified by a
cross section of nonprofit executives were
these four measures:
♦ Restoration and/or growth of funds for their
field in the federal budget.
♦ Reinstatement and expansion of tax
incentives for charitable giving and volunteering,
including those embodied in the estate tax.
♦ Federal grant support for nonprofit training
and capacity building.
♦ Reforming reimbursements under Medicare,
Medicaid and other federal programs to
ensure that they cover the real cost of services.
"At a time of severe economic strain, our country
needs a strong nonprofit sector more than
ever," said Lester M. Salamon, director of the Johns
Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies, which
conducted this survey as part of its Listening Post
Project. "However, nine out of 10 respondents to
our survey reported little improvement in government policy
toward their organizations over the
recent past, as well as a considerable need for support to
meet the challenges the country is now
facing."
Other policy measures identified by substantial
majorities of responding nonprofit executives
as somewhat or extremely useful include:
♦ College loan forgiveness for students who
choose jobs in nonprofit organizations (85
percent of respondents).
♦ A broad nonprofit investment tax credit to
offset the unlevel playing field nonprofits
confront in accessing capital to finance technology,
facilities and capacity building (83 percent).
♦ Expansion of AmeriCorps and other national
service programs that work with nonprofits
(74 percent).
Beyond these concrete steps to strengthen the ability
of nonprofits to help those they serve,
nonprofit executives also overwhelmingly endorsed a variety
of broader shifts in national policy,
including greater attention to issues of poverty (86
percent), universal health insurance (80 percent)
and a community service obligation for students receiving
college student aid (75 percent).
The full text of Nonprofit Policy Priorities for the
New Administration is available online at:
www.jhu.edu/listeningpost/.
GO TO OCTOBER 27,
2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
GO TO THE GAZETTE
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