newsobserver.com projects - GOP candidates praise nonprofits - Comments

Re: GOP candidates praise nonprofits

dahedgehog — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:11:11 -0400

Non-profits are great. What isn't great, however, is the way North Carolina goes about deciding which non-profits will receive state funds. There's no standardized set of criteria that non-profits must meet. Nor is there any sort of competitive bid process. Instead, non-profits generally receive funding based on their political ties. Those who play the political game to gain the support of powerful members get funding.

Furthermore, there is little-to-zero follow-up determining how well these non-profits are performing.

Until there is some sort of standardization of the funding process, and a better evaluation piece, the state should stay out of the business of funding random non-profits.

Re: GOP candidates praise nonprofits

RobSchofield — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:06:34 -0400

While it was very nice that all of the GOP candidates professed their love for nonprofits, there was a troubling undercurrent to each of their comments -- namely, the insane notion that nonprofits can and ought to somehow take the place of public institutions in the provision of core services. This view was expressed most explicitly by Fred Smith.

While it is an essential component of a healthy society, the nonprofit sector cannot do what the public sector can and should do when it comes to the provision of education, health care, mental health, criminal justice etc... Indeed, unless North Carolina maintains a robust and healthy public sector, the nonprofit sector will find itself constantly overwhelmed as it tries, in vain, to pick up the slack.

Ultimately, what each of the four GOP candidates failed to do was to provide a coherent explanation of how they would assure adequate and sustainable funding for core public services so that the nonprofit sector can be freed to do what it does best: supplement and push the public sector in an innovative way.

GOP candidates praise nonprofits

bkrueger — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:16:14 -0400

The four major Republicans running for governor are fans of nonprofits.

They expressed their gratitude today at a forum in Raleigh sponsored by the N.C. Center for Nonprofits and Generation Engage, reports David Ingram of The Charlotte Observer.

One candidate cited the 19th century French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, who toured America.

"He went and looked at the nonprofits, which were at that time the churches, and he said that’s what makes America great," said state Sen. Fred Smith.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory said nonprofits are important in economic development, citing the Charlotte area’s recruitment of Johnson & Wales University, a culinary school.

"It took cooperation between the private and public sectors, and a lot of speed to beat out our competition," McCrory said.