William Sercombe
Introductory Blog Post
The purpose of this blog is to provide an analytical forum for what the relevance non-profits have on contemporary society. In doing so I will look at the history of the non-profit sector, its value to society, and what it can bring to the future world. The PPPM 280 class will hopefully give some insight about this issue. If at all possible my blog will commit to how non-profits can help bring to the table environmental issues that would not normally be tackled by the public or private sector. Environmental NGOs have helped bring environmental treaties to the international arena and can be seminal in drafting an equitable climate change treaty for the future. I hope to provide a forum for the future development of environmental non-profits and how they interact with the private and public sector.
My name is William Sercombe, I am from Portland, Oregon, and I have absolutely no experience with how non-profits function. This is definitely the main reason why I took this class. I am a PPPM and Political Science major but I am really more interested with how those two fields can serve the environment. PPPM and Political Science have given me some optimism about how cities and local governments can plan sustainably by taking this class I want to find out what the non-profit sector can do also. However, aside from the environment there are many other important functions of the non-profit sector that I hope this class will help me with.
The class question on Thursday was whether tax write-offs for those who donate to non-profits is a generally good idea. At first question seemed to come easy – of course it is a good idea. However, once one parses the question there are several fundamental issues at stake. One must answers two questions when trying to answer this question. First, are non-profits “good?” that is, do they benefit society so as to warrant a tax write off for those who donate? Second, are donations to non-profits of a specific economic nature that would forbid it from being taxed? When one asks if non-profits are “good” it is certainly a value based question. One must admit that non-profits have the potential for benefiting society that the private sector generally does not provide. Non-profits, particularly in America, have been vital to providing a “civil society” and extending a separate sphere that is neither public nor private (O’Neill). Many non-profits have also served traditional government functions more effectively than the public sphere. It must be conceded that non-profits have the potential to serve the general welfare but does that mean that all of them do? How inclusive should tax write-offs be by the government in terms of donations to non-profits? Should non-profits that are very limited in scope and serve only a particular segment of society be included in this? These are questions that are important to parsing this issue. The second part of the question deals with the economic character of non-profits. In order to be non-profit a company must “not distribute net profits to individuals who control the organization” (O’Neill). Therefore, non-profits are by definition of a different economic character than a business who would distribute profit. This certainly is nothing new; after all they are called non-profits. It can therefore be assumed that non-profits don’t actually have an economic character that commonly is associated with taxable goods. They are for a purpose that is not in conjunction with the private sphere. Generally the sole motivation for private businesses is to make a profit, non-profits have no such motivation. Taxation occurs with the changing of hands of economic capital commonly for the purpose of making profit. To tax a non-profit or the donation of non-profits from ones income would be to assume that it is of the same economic character as a private economic transaction, which, clearly it is not. Therefore, tax write-offs for charitable donations to non-profits are important because a) non-profits have at least potential of bettering society and b) are not of the same economic character as a taxable good.
You mentioned that you are interested in applying what you learn through your majors to the environment, and I definitely have a similar goal. I am also taking this class to learn about the potential of nonprofits to contribute to sustainable development because in June I will be going to Brazil for six months and the focus of the program is social justice and sustainable development.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to tax write offs, you brought up some really good questions, especially concerning what constitutes a "good" nonprofit and whether or not donations to all nonprofits should be included in tax write offs. Due to the large volume of nonprofits, I assume that the government just pushed such questions aside, finding it easier to deal with all 501(c)(3)s in virtually the same manner. Creating more distinction and further regulations on the sector could become overwhelming. I also thought your discussion of nonprofits as economically different from businesses and taxable goods very interesting, for I had never thought of it from that perspective. Approaching it from such an angle makes tax exemption and tax write offs seem to be a very obvious and necessary procedure.
You mention the role of non-profits in helping create environmental policy. It is interesting to see how NGO's can involve the public and foster support for certain issues. It is interesting to see how private organizations are able to fill the gap left by the government. While the EPA may have political constraints for example, a private organization can create immediate change. And on international level, many countries are unwilling to sign resolutions, and non-profits can help remedy the situations in the short run. I agree that the tax exempt status of non-profits helps provide incentive to a sector which can better society.
ReplyDeleteYour commentary on what defines a "good" nonprofit as oppose to a lesser, or "bad" nonprofit can be related to just about everything else involving government oversite. Who is to say what qualities and/or quantative data distinguishes one good nonprofit from another "good" nonprofit? Is the Red Cross better than MAPLE (a UO microfinance group) because its services extend out to more people? Interesting...
ReplyDeleteWill, you got great vocabulary in your post. Its cool that your focus is in environmental nonprofits. Its cool that we have the same study area and focus in local government. I agree with you on tax write offs, I mean who doesn't like lower taxes. I like the questions you brought up about the value of nonprofits and the economics behind it. Nonprofits do provide civil society and I agree how they help out more then the government. I think business should have more motivation than to just make profit but to also contribute to society. I feel that business provide a economy benefit to any state but if they also provide services to the civil society, this country would be better in terms of equality, social services, and community.
ReplyDeleteThe question you pose on the subject of tax-exclusion is a good point, and one that people typically just pish-posh. I feel the necessity for any incentive on any level to help increase the productivity of our nonprofit sector, and the tax-exemption aspect of the system is a major influence for a lot of individuals to give back. Still, there are those non-profits backed by greedy people, like the Road to Responsibility Inc. who are under investigation for taking over $600,000 out of the company in 2006. Having a non-profit company could give you the perfect opportunity to do some real good, or to be greedy once again. This is why it is hard to truly decide what kind of regulations, like tax cuts, to give non-classic companies such as non-profits.
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