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January 2003
Although New Year’s resolutions are of course personal
matters, I want to put forward a resolution I’m hoping
that many individual donors and foundations will consider
making along with me and VPP. The resolution is to do a better
job of acknowledging the role that we all can and should play
in advocating for the vital interests of community-based organizations
at a time of fiscal crisis.
Nonprofit organizations across the country are taking it on
the chin right now. Every day we see new evidence of the rise
in community needs—from emergency food and shelter to
healthcare and job services. Simultaneously, on top of tight
budgets at the federal level we are now in the midst of the
worst fiscal crisis at the state and local level since World
War II.
The squeeze on several of our own grantees is acute. Deep
cuts in DC’s allocation to the Children and Youth Investment
Trust Corporation mean a loss of $120,000 for Heads Up this
year and a deficit of nearly $200,000 in funds for after-school
and summer programs at Calvary Bilingual Multicultural Learning
Center. Restrictions to the city’s child care reimbursement
program will also affect these two nonprofits significantly.
The situation is not likely to improve any time soon. According
to the highly respected Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
states are now facing deficits in their general-fund budgets
of 13 to 18 percent—more than twice the size of the
gaps they confronted in the recession of the early 1990s.
To understand the implications of these numbers for nonprofit
organizations and the children and families they serve, you
must keep in mind a few important facts:
- Almost all community-based organizations are dependent
upon government funding streams.
- Unlike the federal government, most states—including
Virginia and Maryland (and DC, for that matter)—must
balance their budgets and therefore cannot run deficits
from one year to the next.
- Even if they wanted to, governors and state legislators
do not have the power to distribute the pain of budget cuts
evenly. Most of the programs that fund the work of community-based
organizations are included in “discretionary”
budgets and are far easier for legislators to cut than,
say, Medicaid or other “entitlement” programs.
- Despite the threat of major service cuts, citizens in
many states showed in the midterm elections that they have
little appetite for tax increases.
We at VPP believe this is the kind of moment when groups
of like-minded citizens, including those in the philanthropic
community with clout and influence, need to discuss actions
that go beyond correspondence and op-eds. We and others need
to decide how far we should go in pressing what we believe
are crucial civic interests. We know that as a tax-exempt
organization we are forbidden to do direct lobbying. But we
have to keep in mind that this lobbying restriction prevents
us only from pushing lawmakers to vote a particular way on
a particular piece of legislation. It leaves a wide swath
of other options open to us—all of which we need to
consider in the year ahead.
For example, we here in the National Capital Region need to
consider how business and philanthropic leaders can use appropriate
influence to help community-based organizations amplify their
voices in the District, Annapolis, Richmond, and even with
the Bush Administration and on Capitol Hill. We need to gain
a better understanding of the pressure points for tipping
important fiscal policy decisions at the state, city, and
county level. We need to consider ways we can create more
stable funding streams for meeting key social needs, as California
voters recently did by approving increased state funding of
before- and after-school care through a citizen ballot initiative.
Locally, we should gather and analyze comprehensive data
to track the spread of poverty within the National Capital
Region and gain a better understanding of which organizations
are serving children in our region and how they are supported.
With this data, we could make reasonable predictions about
budget cuts and policy options across the region and better
target our philanthropic and civic efforts.
The founding concept of VPP was bringing together people who
wanted to do more than write a check. With that in mind, we
believe that 2003 is the year for VPP to begin to think about
our strategy more expansively to incorporate greater support
for our investment partners in the area of advocacy—and
to be prepared to join them in public venues to support their
efforts. As important as private money is, our investment
partners have little chance to fulfill their ambitious aspirations
for the children and families they serve without strong support
from the public sector. We hope that a wide range of organizations
and individuals who care about children will join us in becoming
squeakier wheels in this new year.
—Mario Morino
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