Who watches the non-profit organizations?
Under the US tax code, various types of organizations can claim tax-exempt status. There are several different flavors depending on the type of activity the organization conducts. In general, they are categorized according to the section of the Internal Revenue Code their exemption qualifies for. Traditional non-profit organizations which do bona-fide charitable work are often referred to as being “501(c)(3)”. This means that contributions made to these organizations may be used as a deduction on the donor’s tax return. Donations to another type, “501(c)(4)”, are not deductible. This is because 501(c)(4) organizations are allowed to conduct political lobbying campaigns. Some organizations have a parent which is 501(c)(4) with one or more affiliates that are 501(c)(3).
Recently, we have heard quite a bit about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) in the press. A July 2009 congressional report — titled “Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?” lists 361 organizations affiliated with ACORN. I would list the URL for this report, however sometime within the past week it has been removed from the house.gov website. Fortunately, I saved a copy of the original document before the link disappeared.
Current allegations against ACORN involve voter fraud, the mis-allocation of millions of dollars and certain scandals involving a pimp, prostitute and a hidden video camera. However, ACORN is only one of literally tens of thousands of entities recognized as non-profit by the IRS. Who watches these people?
This morning, I decided to look into non-profits associated with my friend, The Eco-Industrial Complex. I looked up financial information pertaining to 40 non-profit organizations which serve the interest of environmental causes. While my inquiries were in no way a careful, scientific study, the results are non the less eye-opening. The source of my information is Charity Navigator.
The 40 organizations I chose where selected more or less at random. Here are some interesting numbers:
Their total annual income was $3,023,011,143
Their total annual expenses were $2,236,940,217
They collected $786,040,756 more than they spent
Their total assets were $6,963,054,523
Almost $7 Billion in assets (over $4 Billion held by The Nature Conservancy)! That’s enough money to buy 245,600 Prius automobiles! It seems to me that if these organizations really cared about the environment, rather than sitting on all that capital, they would put it to work in a way that would promote their stated goals.
The average personal automobile in the US gets about 17 miles per gallon (remember, there are a lot to SUVs and pickup trucks out there). A Prius gets about 45. Suppose that we replace 245,000 average cars and that the average person drives 10,000 miles per year. That would save 89,670,000 gallons of gas and create 851,865 fewer tons of carbon dioxide. Not that I believe any of this human-caused global warming bullshit. Obviously, the environmental charities don’t either, otherwise, they would really do something about it! Furthermore, these numbers are for only 40 eco-charities. Not counted were what is likely to be thousands more non-profits and hundreds of 501(c)(4) organizations.
P.S. For the record, I drive a smart and get about 35 miles per gallon. See my actual mileage.