When the N.C. House of Representatives passed a budget this year that included a proposed salary cap for state-funded nonprofits, Joni Alberg understood the rationale - but that didn't stop her from losing sleep.
Motivated by occasional news stories about nonprofit executives paying themselves excessive salaries, lawmakers were determined to protect taxpayer dollars invested in nonprofits. Their solution: a provision that would have limited the amount of state funding nonprofits can apply toward salaries to no more than $100,000 for all positions combined.
"That would have put us out of business," said Alberg, executive director of BEGINNINGS For Parents of Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.
With offices in Raleigh and Charlotte, the nonprofit provides free services across the state each year to about 750 families with children suffering from hearing loss, with a special focus on infants. The work is specialized, requiring speech pathologists and other seasoned professionals who need to be paid competitively. BEGINNINGS receives nearly $1 million dollars annually in state funds. It spends the vast majority of it on salaries and modest benefits for its staff of 13 - and would have been unable to meet its payroll had the House provision gone into effect.
"To put a general cap on everyone would have created havoc," Alberg said.
The provision was ultimately removed from House Bill 200, in large part because of efforts by the N.C. Center for Nonprofits. Founded in 1990, the Center represents more than 1,500 nonprofits in all of the state's 100 counties, with annual dues ranging from $70 to $1,200 depending on organizational size. Advocating for public policy that makes nonprofits more effective is one of its top priorities.
During the past year, the Center for Nonprofits monitored 50 bills with the potential to impact nonprofits significantly. When necessary, it stepped in to challenge them.
Among the Center's public policy contributions in recent times: organizing a coalition of 150 nonprofits against a proposal that would have tied state grants to restrictive administrative expense ratio requirements; working with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to reduce multiple, unnecessary audits of state-funded nonprofits; and teaming with the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management to fix technological glitches that created needless paperwork.
The results align with the Center's succinct goal for the nonprofits it serves: "Save time. Save money. Achieve your mission."
The Center's work extends beyond advocacy. It organizes training opportunities, runs a help line that has aided more than 100,000 nonprofit board and staff members, and tracks the economic impact of the state's nonprofit sector, which totals about $33 billion annually. For the Center's staff, however, there's nothing quite as galvanizing as getting into the legislative trenches. For the members it represents, there's nothing quite so valuable.
Caught up in the day-to-day demands of running their organizations, "the vast majority of nonprofit professionals don't have a clue what's going on in the legislature," Alberg said. And yet, at any moment, the most obscure provision buried somewhere in a bill has the potential to alter their operations drastically. Most nonprofits, not surprisingly, are far more concerned with living out their mission than playing politics. But the reality is that even the most innovative ideas for serving the social sector can realize their full potential only when public policy is on their side, too.
To that end, the Center coordinates an annual North Carolina Nonprofits Day, where nonprofit leaders meet in Raleigh with lawmakers to discuss strategies for bolstering the sector. The most recent visit in May drew 200 nonprofit leaders from around the state. Now they - and the legions of volunteers that support their organizations - have a chance to make their case on the national stage.
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee, which includes Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, held hearings this month on the future of charitable deductions, which are being reviewed as the federal government searches for new sources of revenue. The Center mobilized its members, who advised Burr that reducing or eliminating the charitable giving incentive could jeopardize the future and effectiveness of nonprofits everywhere. As the U.S. Congress considers major tax and appropriation changes this fall, the Center plans to be in the thick of the fray. And it is urging everyone associated with nonprofits to get involved. Trisha Lester, the Center's vice president, sums it up this way: "If the nonprofit sector isn't at the table, we might be on the table."
Christopher Gergen is founding executive director of Bull City Forward, on the faculty of the Hart Leadership Program at Duke University, and co-author of Life Entrepreneurs. Stephen Martin, a former business and education journalist, is a speechwriter at the nonprofit Center for Creative Leadership.
