"But what about those of us in the nonprofit world? Where's our bailout?"

Matt Welch | December 1, 2008

Nope, not The Onion. Here's the sales pitch:

My child-care agency, supported largely by government contracts -- federal and state dollars partially matched by county funds -- went nine years without an increase in the rate of funding it receives. During those years, the cost of a child-care worker rose from $23,000 a year to $29,000 a year. Multiply that figure by our 100 child-care workers, and we are facing a $600,000 shortfall in just one job category. No industry in the public or private sector could have survived nine years of flat funding.

How will we make up that shortfall? Fundraising? Unlikely, in this economy. And investment losses have had a profoundly negative effect on endowed organizations. We need a bailout.

reason's sock puppet and assorted goodies here.

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Comments

|12.1.08 @ 11:50AM|#

Reasons why the onion is not very funny anymore; reality has caught up with it. There is nothing funny about that article. It could have been written in any newspaper as is and been passed off as real news. That is not funny. That is just depressing.

|12.1.08 @ 11:52AM|#

My wife runs a non-profit that has also suffered from flat grant funding for several years. Rather than whining about how hard it is to do fundraising in this economy, she is (a) ramping up volunteer/intern/student "clinical" support, (b) reworking the fundraising plan, and (c) changing the mission to bring in more grants.

One thing she's not doing is whinging on about how they need a bailout.

Gilbert Martin|12.1.08 @ 11:55AM|#

"My child-care agency, supported largely by government contracts ..."

Which means you've already been getting a bailout as long as your organization has been in existence.

You aren't entitled to another "special" one.

|12.1.08 @ 11:57AM|#

During those [nine] years, the cost of a child-care worker rose from $23,000 a year to $29,000 a year. Multiply that figure by our 100 child-care workers, and we are facing a $600,000 shortfall in just one job category.

Are child care workers twenty five per cent more productive than they were in 1999?

|12.1.08 @ 11:59AM|#

Uh, John, it is a real article. It is not from The Onion.

The Angry Optimist|12.1.08 @ 12:00PM|#

Which means you've already been getting a bailout as long as your organization has been in existence.

Not exactly. The provision of child-care for those who are taken from neglectful or abusive households, it could be argued, is a legitimate government function.

Fitzroy|12.1.08 @ 12:06PM|#

"Are child care workers twenty five per cent more productive than they were in 1999?"

If we count with a steady 2% per year inflation counts for $4500 of that $6000.

If you earn the same amount now as nine years ago, you're getting screwed.

|12.1.08 @ 12:12PM|#

If we count with a steady 2% per year inflation counts for $4500 of that $6000.

Good point; I was too lazy to hunt for a present value chart.

short, fat bastard|12.1.08 @ 12:20PM|#

let them eat cake

SIV|12.1.08 @ 12:40PM|#

I'll gloat on this thread too:

Recession since Q4 2007

fuck all of y'all bitches

Looks like I win

Naga Sadow|12.1.08 @ 1:12PM|#

Er . . . ok SIV.

SIV|12.1.08 @ 1:22PM|#

Naga,

That is for all the "2 consecutive quarters of negative economic growth" parrots who have maintained we "weren't in a recession" at any time in 2008.I've called us in one since at least the Spring and dated the beginning as around Dec 2007 as early as July on H&R comments.
Personally, I'm doing just fine :)

Invisible Finger|12.1.08 @ 1:34PM|#

I was too lazy to hunt for a present value chart.

With the present deflation included, the present value is roughly the same as the nine-year ago value.

The Angry Optimist|12.1.08 @ 1:37PM|#

Personally, I'm doing just fine :)

Are you finished now?

Naga Sadow|12.1.08 @ 1:37PM|#

Ah . . . well then what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be celebrating in the streets? Running in your underwear and a scarf on with sparklers yelling your praises would obviously be the correct way to react to this news.

SIV|12.1.08 @ 1:42PM|#

I'm celebrating the " a recession is defined as 2 neg Qs of economic growth" crowd will now STFU.You only have to suffer my gloating today.

Naga Sadow|12.1.08 @ 1:43PM|#

No bottlerockets? How uncouth!

Fitzroy|12.1.08 @ 4:20PM|#

With the present deflation included, the present value is roughly the same as the nine-year ago value.

I doubt that, it would take a enormous deflation to erase 9 years inflation. And it haven't been three months since the shit came down. Just in August I read inflation was at a alarming 5,6%.

Now, not that I'm particularly fond of government spending and the word "bailout" she does have a point that your income better go up at least at the same rate as the inflation.

|12.1.08 @ 7:00PM|#

Episiarch | December 1, 2008, 11:59am | #

Uh, John, it is a real article. It is not from The Onion

That kind of makes his point though doesn't it?

|12.1.08 @ 9:13PM|#

With the present deflation included, the present value is roughly the same as the nine-year ago value.

There's been like a month of deflation at about 0.1%. It doesn't even cancel out October's inflation.