Americans are a most generous people. We don’t rely on our government to tell us to help one another; instead, when we hear about someone with a genuine problem we band together to give them what we can.
But apparently those who wish to continue to create a division between what they perceive as the “haves” and the “have-nots” are pressing for a change to the way charitable foundations operate. The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), a research and advocacy group, is going to release a report offering “benchmarks to assess foundation performance.” In it, they will advise that charitable foundations “provide at least 50 percent of grant dollars to benefit lower-income communities, communities of color, and other marginalized groups, broadly defined.”
This is being pushed, pressured, if you will, by an organization call The Greenlining Institute of San Franciso. An advocacy group for African American, Asian American, and Latino communities and groups, it has a noble mission of encouraging “people of color” to participate positively in their communities and businesses. They speak of helping people “determine their own destinies”, yet began criticizing charitable foundations 2 years ago and tried to force California to pass legislation “mandating that foundations report to the public the percentage of their dollars given to “minority-led” organizations and the percentage of their boards and staffs made up by racial and ethnic minorities.” I can’t help but think this rather smacks of biting the hand that feeds you.
The bottom line is that the government now apparently thinks it ought to mandate how the generosity of individual Americans will be distributed.
I don’t know about you, but I give to those causes in which I personally believe. I’m pretty sure that same focus, if you will, is why non-profits and foundations are created in the first place – in order to offer help in a specific area of personal interest. To have the government tell charities how to use their donations sounds a lot like another hard-left towards socialism. And we all know just how well the government takes care of those who need the most help.
I’m sorry, but the government just does not belong in the private sector. It does not have the right to tell charities – groups of generous individuals giving their time and after-tax dollars – how to do the work they wish to do in their communities. Sure, the government grants organizations their non-profit status, however, if an organization is playing by the tax-exempt rules (and there are plenty of them, including Sarbannes-Oxley), there should be no further discussion.
To attempt to turn American generosity into just another form of governmental handouts is wrong. Seriously wrong.