When did the District government assume the obligation of prime funder for nonprofit organizations? I asked myself that question while reading reports in which local officials were blamed for potential financial woes and service delivery problems of several groups, including a Virginia school.
Once upon a time, nonprofit and faith-based organizations supplemented the government’s work, acting as a second safety net. Money for their work came from commercial private-sector corporations, congregants or members of their resident communities.
Now, many nonprofit organizations feed year-round from the government trough. In some instances, the boards of directors of these groups have recklessly built their entire operational budgets on the shaky financial foundation of grants or contracts.
Thus, government suffering translates to near disaster for those organizations.
During the past week, several groups — House of Ruth, Catholic Charities, and the Community of Hope for example — have asserted that the city’s budget cutting for fiscal 2010 will make it impossible for them to serve their existing or targeted populations. Appearing at a public hearing before the D.C. Council’s human services committee, they demanded restoration of funds.
Earth to nonprofits: The country is in a recession. The District experienced a severe revenue shortfall of more than $400 million for this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. Elected officials were forced in the summer to make a second round of cuts, while eliminating grants to several organizations and raising fees and taxes.
Complaining organizations obviously would have District officials act as careless as their own boards of directors.
The last time District leaders ignored the city’s fiscal reality and mismanaged resources, Congress appointed a financial control board. The operations of the government were placed in the hands of non-elected officials. That panel can be reactivated anytime the city does not balance its budget.
In other words, the District is not California or Congress: Deficit spending is punishable by the loss of the city’s fragile independence.
But it isn’t just wild spending nonprofits want; they also want the District to stop demanding more for its bucks. Consider the actions of Elaine N. McConnell, founder of Accotink Academy. She went out and hired attorney A. Scott Bolden, after city officials said they intended to remove special education students from the Springfield, Va., institution. Questions were raised about the quality of services at the facility.
Naturally, McConnell took offense to the city’s evaluation. What may have been motivating her more, however, was the reality that without the District there wouldn’t be sufficient cash to keep her school opened. And so, in the case of the Accotink Academy, the District is funder of both first and last resort.
Every resident in the city wants to help the most vulnerable among us. But equally important is fiscal accountability and government stability. That means that nonprofits can’t expect the District to rescue them. They may want to follow the city’s lead: downsize their operations.
Jonetta Rose Barras, host of WPFW’s “D.C. Politics with Jonetta,” can be reached at [email protected].
