Help on researching non-profits

www.guidestar.org, I believe.

Another suggestion:

Charity Navigator Rating - Center on Buget and Policy Priorities

Interesting question. One of my favorite sites for this purpose - Activist Cash - doesn't list these guys.

A quick scan through this outfit's website is instructive, and provide a clue. From this page one gets a pretty clear idea of their philosophy, and hence some of their support; here's a sample of their mission:

In addition, the Center designs improvements to make these programs more accessible to eligible populations, more effective in helping beneficiaries meet basic needs while moving toward self-sufficiency, and simpler to administer for the federal and state governments. We work on programs such as:

*

Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (for example, by encouraging efforts to expand health coverage among low-income working families);

*

food stamps (for example, by designing and promoting options that states can use to simplify and streamline food stamp procedures and thereby boost participation among working-poor families);

*

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (for example, by helping states design programs that can help TANF recipients succeed in the workplace and increase their earnings);

*

Supplemental Security Income (for example, by promoting policies that increase the fairness and accuracy of the disability determination process);

*

WIC and child nutrition (for example, by helping states contain WIC costs by negotiating advantageous contracts with infant formula manufacturers);

*

low-income housing programs (for example, by designing improvements to help families with housing assistance use it to move to areas with better job opportunities).

*

low-income tax credits (for example, by developing proposals to improve the operation of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit and by helping states create or expand state EITCs).

In other words, they do a lot to make sure that MORE people suck on the public teat.

But all you really need to know comes from here:

Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist,
in a May 28, 2003 column on his website listing
websites that are "must reading for anyone interested in government policy."

Do you mean these folks.

Ed & I have been out of the country on a family emergency, and I was just finally able to catch up on last month's email. I was really quite horrified to see Mr.Scharf's misdirected nastiness (which is something I have actually also been attacked by) and would hope that he will in future refrain from such displays of bad temper, at least when visiting a public forum such as this one!

Thanks to everyone who puts in the huge blocks of time and energy needed in the daily battle for safe & affordable housing, & especially to CBPP, for helping us to sort through these mountains of data!

Sincerely,
Heather Curtis, current PTU president

>-- Original Message --
>To: portlandtenants@yahoogroups.com
>Cc: Media@cbpp.org, michaelkane@saveourhomes.org,
> portlandtenants@yahoogroups.com, Housing@cbpp.org, sard@cbpp.org
>From: Bruce Howard Webber
>Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 19:49:43 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
>Subject: Re: [portlandtenants] Re: critique of paper from Maine source
>Reply-To: portlandtenants@yahoogroups.com
>
>
Ms. Sard,

As a member of this list and founding president of the Portland Tenants Union I would like you to know that I disagree with Mr. Scharf's assessment that you are a "shill" for the voucher program or that you
>are "dishonest" or "manipulating data" in a dishonest fashion. It seems to me that you are providing analysis within the guidelines of your mission statement, which is clearly stated on your website. I hope that you will not consider Mr. Scharf's comments (which in my opinion are attacking your integrity) to be representative of the views of the PTU or other members of this list.

I appreciate the work your group does in making information such as this available.

thanks,

Bruce Webber
Portland, Maine

SCSMedia@aol.com wrote:

Please provide me with the full data set in tab or comma delimited format.

Steven Scharf

In a message dated 8/29/2005 12:53:45 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
sard@cbpp.org writes:

We have not been dishonest and we are not hiding anything. Our overall analysis makes the national effects clear. On the local level, the state tables are clear that they are not showing "net" effects but only vouchers cut at agencies facing reductions. The reason is the one stated in my earlier e-mail that on the human and community level there is no "net" effect. Where communities would suffer more significant voucher cuts under the Senate bill than under the House bill we show the data, despite our analysis that overall the Senate policy is preferable to the funding policy in the House bill.

We also notified the people to whom we sent an announcement of the report that we would give them data on other agencies that are not shown in our state reports, and we provided a calculator that agencies can use to duplicate our analysis but with the more recent data they have available. Michael - the copies to the Portland Tenants group are not going through.

Do you have another e-mail address for them?

>-----Original Message-----

From: SCSMedia@aol.com [mailto:SCSMedia@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2005 12:27 PM
To: Barbara Sard
Cc: portlandtenants@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: critique of paper from Maine source

So you admit you are being dishonest by omitting the Portland info (probably along with many other places across the country).

Since based on your report, 631 vouchers went unused in the HAs that you listed the 144 or 23 vouchers reduced apparently was not a factor.

Don't get me wrong, I am and have been a vocal an advocate for housing and affordable housing in Portland and Maine. I just don't appreciate organizations like yours manipulating data to shill your programs.

Steven Scharf

In a message dated 8/29/2005 12:16:47 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
sard@cbpp.org writes:

Steven -

Our analysis states that both the House and Senate bills would restore most of the vouchers for which funding was cut in 2005. The fact that some agencies will receive sufficient funding to restore some or all of the vouchers cut, however, does not balance out cuts in other communities. The fact that Portland would receive funding for all its authorized vouchers under either bill, according to our estimates, does not help the 37 families we estimate would lose voucher assistance in Lewiston, nor does adequate funding for Portland help the Lewiston Housing Authority.

Barbara Sard
Director of Housing Policy
Local Phone: 617-566-1154

-----Original Message-----
From: SCSMedia@aol.com [mailto:SCSMedia@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2005 5:12 PM
To: portlandtenants@yahoogroups.com
Cc: Martha Coven
Subject: Re: [portlandtenants] FWD: CBPP: High Stakes for the Housing

Voucher Program ...

Thanks for passing on the report. Unfortunately the document has some major holes in it, highlighted by the fact that if you look at the Maine data, it is missing the Portland Housing Authority (and possibly others). It only lists HAs that are losing on staying even in number of vouchers. Add those places adding vouchers and I suspect the numbers of lost vouchers across the country would disappear.

Steven Scharf

In a message dated 8/27/2005 10:05:35 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
ed@portlandtenants.org writes:

From: "NAHT"
To:
Subject: FW: CBPP: High Stakes for the Housing Voucher Program in FY06

Sent: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 19:09:49 -0400

From: Martha Coven [mailto:coven@cbpp.org]
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 6:53 PM
Subject: CBPP: High Stakes for the Housing Voucher Program in FY06

This new report from the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities compares the House and Senate Transportation-Treasury-HUD appropriations bills and how they treat the "Section 8" Housing Choice Voucher program. The analysis, which uses new data from HUD, includes state-by-state numbers as well as some local findings.

==================================================
HIGH STAKES FOR THE HOUSING VOUCHER PROGRAM IN THE 2006 APPROPRIATIONS

BILL:
Senate Bill?s Proposed Funding Policy Would Distribute
Funding More Efficiently and Restore Program Stability
by Barbara Sard, Douglas Rice and Will Fischer

Press Release:
http://www.cbpp.org/8-24-05hous-pr.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/8-24-05hous-pr.pdf

Full Report:
http://www.cbpp.org/8-24-05hous.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/8-24-05hous.pdf, 26pp. (first 3 pp. are an
eecutive summary)

Summary Appendix:
http://www.cbpp.org/8-24-05hous-app.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/8-24-05hous-app.pdf, 2 pp.

Additional Documents:
State-by-State Fact Sheets
National Summary Table
Methodology
NLHA Sign-on Letter

Ed Democracy (207-615-3744)
Treasurer
PORTLAND TENANTS UNION
Housing of the people, by the people, and for the people!
http://www.portlandtenants.org
207-615-RENT (7368)

Steven Scharf
SCSMedia@aol.com

Dupe

Melvin, the Guidestar link above will get you to the touchstone for every 501(c)(3) charitable organization: the 990 form. It must be filed every year unless the nonprofit is below a certain (low) minimum. You will need to register with Guidestar to get to it. I have done so and have not noticed any spam or other bad result from it. The most recent forms available would be 2004. You can find things such as the salaries of the five highest paid executives; whether Board members make money; how much revenue is from government grants, etc.

Not all nonprofts are 501(c)(3) organizations so they won't have a 990. Advocacy organizations, for example, can be not for profit but non charitable; since they do lobbying work, contributions to them are not tax deductible, and they are organized under a different chapter of the IRS code.