"We're a Nonprofit Organization"

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Hands in Different Cookie Jars
-Walter Williams


Philadelphia Scandal Underscores Pitiful State of Public Housing Oversight," read Jonathan Berr's Aug. 28 report in Daily Finance. It was a story about Carl Greene, the embattled director  of the Philadelphia Housing Authority. He was put on paid leave while the board investigates charges that he settled four sexual harassment claims against him without notifying the PHA, doled out work to politically connected law firms and pressured employees to donate to his favorite nonprofit. Greene is also being investigated by the U.S. Attorney General Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and HUD's Office of Inspector General. They have yet to bring criminal charges against him.

People always act surprised by revelations of political corruption, but corruption is highly probable in nonprofit entities such as government.

Because of ignorance and demagoguery, being profit-motivated has become suspicious and possibly a dirty word. Nonprofit is seen as more righteous.

Often, people pompously stand before us and declare, "We're a nonprofit organization."

They expect for us to believe that since they're not in it for money, they are somehow above self-interest and have the public interest as their motivation. There's little further from the truth.

People are always self-interested. It's just when they manage a nonprofit organization such as the PHA, government entities in general, universities and charitable organizations, they face a different set of constraints on their behavior. The fundamental difference between nonprofit organizations and their profit-making counterparts is that nonprofits tend to take a greater portion of their compensation from easier working conditions, more time off, favors and under-the-table payments. Profit-making organizations take a greater portion of their compensation in cash, except those that are highly regulated.

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