New at Reason

David Weigel | October 26, 2006

Aaron Steinberg pries himself away from his search engine long enough to make the case for private charity.

Comments

|10.26.06 @ 1:55PM|#

Profit doesn't belong in charity, and Uncle Sam doesn't plan to use tax breaks to support that sort of thing.

Apparently he feels the same way about profits and primary education. Just look at how efficient and successful public schools are. How could the private sector hope to compete with that kind of success?

|10.26.06 @ 2:13PM|#

My fiancé has a yen to start a small school or daycare. I did a little research on the concept and ran across an article that said that getting regulatory blessings or any funding was mucho difficult if you were a for-profit versus a not-for-profit. I don't know that what I read was 100% true, but it's disturbing if it is.

To me, the key to doing good is the doing good, not the clothes you are wearing. Or the way you pay your taxes.

Dan T.|10.26.06 @ 2:26PM|#

Hey, I like this idea...people give me money so they can take a tax deduction, I take whatever cut I want, and then pass the rest off to someone else.

What's not to like?

|10.26.06 @ 3:08PM|#

Dan T.--

I don't get it. Are you slamming the current system by saying non-profits are mostly a load of BS? Or did you just simply miss the part about not getting a tax deduction for donating to a for-profit charity?


mjs

Dan T.|10.26.06 @ 3:19PM|#

mjs, isn't the point here that people should get tax deductions for donating to for-profit charities? Otherwise, who is going to donate?

|10.26.06 @ 3:42PM|#

Dan T. - I don't donate to MAPS or to CATO because I get a tax break, it's because they're organisations that I think are doing some good.

Oh wait, that'll shatter the worldview of people who think libertarians are completely selfish assholes.

Dan T.|10.26.06 @ 4:35PM|#

Dan T. - I don't donate to MAPS or to CATO because I get a tax break, it's because they're organisations that I think are doing some good.

I'm sure that's the case with most people who donate to charity, although the tax deduction certainly must factor into it (if nothing else, it allows you to donate more).

There are charities that I donate to as well, but if they started keeping a percentage of my donation as a "profit" I'd donate elsewhere.

|10.26.06 @ 4:41PM|#

Dan T.,
Do you believe it's possible for a charity to do more good if they're For-Profit? Certainly there's something to be said for the efficiency of for-profits versus not-for-profits.

|10.26.06 @ 4:42PM|#

Dan T. - huh, I suppose it depends on the organisation.

For instance, I sometimes buy beer or water or whatever at a small, mom and pop shop because I'd rather an entrepeneur get my money, even though it may cost a little more, rather than a big company like Circle K. You could almost consider that a donation, although there's no way I could report it as such.

D.A. Ridgely|10.26.06 @ 4:44PM|#

...(if you agree that the government should be subsidizing charity at all)...

Well, that's where I stopped reading.