I have worked with nonprofits my entire adult life, and there are plenty of problems, especially with nonprofits that receive public funds. Many are not true charities, and many operate to benefit overpaid executive directors or work as auxiliaries to crony special interests. Others are merely an extension of government without the normal channels of transparency and oversight.
If I can accomplish anything in the legislature, my first desire would be to pass a comprehensive Nonprofit Integrity Act with the following reforms:
Public donor disclosure of all aggregate donors over $1000 for nonprofits with budgets over $1M similar to Orestar for campaign finance with contact information redacted.
Disclosure of true source of donor advised funds in the public CT-12
Ban on public agency auxiliary nonprofits (Portland Community College Foundation, Oregon Zoo Foundation) from donating to PACs in support of bond measures, which disguises political contributions as nondisclosed charitable contributions.
Open meeting laws and public records laws for auxiliary organizations, including University of Oregon foundation and Oregon Health Plan Coordinated Care Organizations
Ban on Coordinated Care Organizations making grants.
Ability of the Attorney General to revoke the charter of Pharma-funded "patient advocacy" nonprofits such as "Caring Ambassadors," which are little more than lobbying and marketing entities.
Ban on ex-officio board members such as Executive Directors also sitting on the board.
Especially bad are nonprofits that claim to represent disadvantaged or marginalized groups but are funded by the the very government that is supposedly marginalizing them as a means to rubber-stamp harmful government policies. When I worked for the corrupt Oregon Health Authority, the state spent millions of CARES Act funds essentially buying off criticism of covid policies by funding such nonprofits. A particularly bad offender is the Cascade AIDS Project which weaponizes gay rights as a means to astro-turf lobby for a Big Pharma agenda that harms the very community Cascade AIDS claims to serve.
Here is an example of a kickback method I have personally witnessed: A nonprofit invests in real estate which it occupies, but the real estate is co-owned with a private investor and title is held by an LLC. The Nonprofit pays inflated rent to the LLC, which is unaudited and has a tax return not subject to public disclosure, The LLC then pays political kickbacks in exchange for political favors to make public grants to the nonprofit which are vaguely disclosed on the unaudited K1 used to record the change in value of the nonprofit's real estate investment.
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