Giving Tuesday

Opinion: Giving Tuesday (following Thanksgiving, black Friday, small business Saturday and cyber Monday) might have been a good idea when it began, but it has become annoying. I think I deleted about 35 messages yesterday and threw out some snail mail. Some were from organizations I've already given to, and even though I know these are mass mailings, it irritates me to see begging and manipulating after I've already been generous. I'm of the opinion that, unlike true growth or the expanding economic pie, charitable dollars are probably fixed. We donate about 10 or 12% of our income and have for about 50 years. Our income and interests change (higher when we were employed) but our values haven't. Our cat died in 2017 so we don't contribute now to Cat Welfare. When Project Veritas dumped the founder, it lost our donation. When Pinecrest was taken over by Allure I no longer send a memorial to honor my parents. The money was shifted to Lutheran Bible Translators or Pregnancy Decision Health Center, saving babies from abortion.

Whether you give $5 a year or $5,000, getting an e-mail may move more for this orphanage or that little league team, but it may not change your overall percentage. There are only so many charitable dollars to go around. Does Giving Tuesday make people more charitable?

A few facts:  Now, AFTER I wrote the above paragraph, I actually checked my opinion against the AI fact checkers. I was told that 2012 was the first year with 2500 non-profits and over $12 million given/pledged. Now (2022) it's up to $3.1 billion, an increase of 15% over 2021. So what self-respecting manager of a non-profit wouldn't sign on for what appears to be an increase in gratitude and charity?

So, I ask you, are people more charitable than they were in 2012 or is it a shell game and the money just moves around, with the bigger and better advertisers getting the bigger share using a good gimmick, Giving Tuesday.

Churches and the Paycheck Protection Plan of 2020 (PPP)

Very few churches turned down the PPP money, but they sure shut their doors and service obligations when the state said tattoo parlors and bars were essential but churches weren't. Not taking the name of the Lord in vain has got to be bigger than not cussing and swearing.

https://youtu.be/6NhKH91nvJg Dave Ramsey's view--he feared the rules would be changed

Church, Ministry, and the PPP: Should Churches Take Government Handouts? – Dispensational Publishing

For some churches, paying back PPP loans is better than forgiveness (religionnews.com) Some churches didn't use the loans or gave them back.

Ministries and Churches Receiving More than $1-M in Paycheck Protection Program Funds – MinistryWatch Evangelical churches that received a million or more in PPP

Gender and sexuality alliance clubs in our schools

"The main national organization behind this campaign, the GSA Network, is a professionally staffed nonprofit with a multimillion-dollar annual budget. GSA Network serves as an umbrella organization for more than 4,000 “gender and sexuality alliances” across 40 states. Once called the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, the group rebranded in 2016, reflecting a new focus on “the limits of a binary gender system.” The individual chapters, which operate in elementary, middle, and high schools, often use the language of “LGBTQ inclusion” and “anti-bullying” in their public relations, but behind the scenes, the central organization is driven by pure left-wing radicalism that extends far beyond sexuality."

GSA isn't subtle about it's goals. It's not just to sexualize your children--comes complete with the usual anti-capitalist pro-Marxist drivel. I wonder who is funding these clubs?

"In a manifesto, the organization calls for the “abolition of the police,” the “abolition of borders and ICE,” the payment of “reparations” to minorities, the “decolonization” of native lands, the end of “global white supremacy,” and the overthrow of the “cisgender heterosexual patriarchy.” The organization is also explicitly anti-capitalist: its literature is littered with references to “anti-capitalism” and, during one board meeting, its leaders fantasized about what life would be like “after capitalism falls.”

GSA Clubs Smuggle Gender Ideology into K-12 Education (city-journal.org)

All conservatives (and liberals too who are figuring out this scam) need to understand the basics--these expanding victim groups which supposedly are about equality, diversity, fairness, tolerance, etc. are at their roots, Marxist. It won't end. Don't look for common sense, American values, decency, fairness, tolerance and certainly your kids won't get a good education. The point of all this is manipulation--to destroy, divide and conquer. Gay or straight, black, white or brown, immigrant or native, all children will be hurt, but they (and you) are being used to destroy the family and society through the schools.

It worked in the 20th century--they murdered 100 million of their own people in various countries using class warfare--citizen against citizen. In our era, instead of division in classes and workers, they are using sex, gender and race. Same book, different cover.

Decolonizing gender--what does that mean

 A consortium of publicly subsidized nonprofits wants to “decolonize gender” and normalize male genitalia as a form of authentic womanhood.

Pay attention.  They are telling you they plan to destroy your country, and the Biden administration and the deep state of out of control non-profits are setting the stage.

Transgender Activists in Their Own Words | City Journal (city-journal.org)

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) look up data

 You can check data for PPP by state, ZIP, type of organization.

Under open government transparency guidelines, information on recipients of the $595B in forgivable government loans issued through the 2020 Paycheck Protection Program by the US Small Business Administration (SBA) are a matter of public record. FederalPay.org has created a powerful search tool that allows public access to the PPP loan database.  Therefore, you'll see ads on this site.

This is the link for information about churches and non-profits, national: SBA Paycheck Protection Program - Religious Organizations - FederalPay

There are a total of 96,557 businesses in the Religious Organizations industry across the country that received PPP loans. They received an average of $80,452 per loan. Some are $10,000,000 like Diocese of Covington, KY, and Lutheran Social Services of Tampa, FL.

My church, UALC, received $667,000 for 107 employees.

Intentions don't bring results

"Conservatives have been saying for years that our inner cities are laboratories where the far-left experiments with policies based on feelings rather than facts. These big-government experiments have ended in failure, harming the very people the far left says it wants to help." Kay Coles James

And I might add, the leftists have been so successful at getting government funding and donations for their "think tanks" and 501-c3 and c4s, they are working their same magic in our upper income suburbs, vacation spots, and churches. Except they don't use the ploy of wanting to help us--but we must help others (as they pass the hat). They fund the marches, the protests and the blocking by Big Tech. Conservatives are doing what they've always done--they go to work, mind their own business, sing in the choir--and then shazam--their town, church and clubs have been taken over by the virtue signalers who say black lives matter and we believe in science (code for climate change).

What is the role of non-profits?

The Special Olympics is in the news right now.  Betsy DeVos suggested budget cuts, and since it isn’t a government agency, she recommended cutting the $15 million it gets from the federal government.  I didn’t know they got any—but I should have.  It’s a worthy organization, doing a lot of good, and we contribute. For the last 50 years, the federal government has been “bullying” the non-profits, while also providing a large part of their funding.

"Until recently, our understanding of the development of the welfare state in advanced industrial coun­tries assumed that the hallmark of a progressive welfare state was a large public sector that regulated the private sector to a small residual role. In this view, the United States with its smaller public sector and larger private nonprofit sector com­pared unfavorably. The government contracting with nonprofit agen­cies calls the prevailing view into question. In the recent period, government has used nonprofit agencies to expand the boundaries of the welfare state in the United States in a host of service categories - from child abuse to domestic violence to homelessness. The result is a welfare state that is more expansive than would be the case if policy makers relied solely on the public sector." Political Science Quarterly, vol 104, no.4 1989-90.

This article is 30 years old, but the points still hold true--except for that part that non-profits don't have the bloated salaries of government workers. It wouldn't surprise me if the non-profit heads aren't making more than comparable level of government employees.

There is a revolving door in DC for one party's pooh-bahs to move to a non-profit when out of power, then be called back when they regain power. This really ballooned under GHW Bush--"Thousand points of Light."

Non-profits, politics, and Trump Foundation

Nonprofit Organizations: There are 1,571,056 tax-exempt organizations, including:

1,097,689 public charities
105,030 private foundations
368,337 other types of nonprofit organizations, including chambers of commerce, fraternal organizations and civic leagues. (Source: NCCS Business Master File 4/2016)

How many of these non-profits, particularly the foundations which must choose which non-profits to fund, could survive the scrutiny that has been lavished on the Trump Foundation by people who hate the President?

People employed in the non-profit world wouldn't agree with me, but I believe we have too many, that they are too political, and too rich with too many getting their money from government grants, where you "dance with the one who brung you." Non-profits account for 9.2% of all wages and salaries paid in the United States and their share of GDP was 5.3% in 2014.

https://nccs.urban.org/data-statistics/quick-facts-about-nonprofits?

Giving Tuesday is out of control—at least in my e-mail

It’s about 1:00 p.m.  (updated at 4:30) on Tuesday and so far I’ve received e-mail requests to donate for “Giving Tuesday” from these entities/organizations. At some point during the year, I probably get a news notice or information from most of them, but to hear from all in one day is a bit overwhelming. There are maybe 3 or 4 I’ve never heard of so there must be a “sucker” list going around.

This one from Stop Predatory Gambling was interesting.

"Americans are expected to lose $118 billion of their personal wealth to commercialized gambling in 2018. Many of these citizens, some of whom are your family, neighbors and co-workers, suffered life-changing financial losses.

When you look at the bigger picture, the American people are on a collision course to lose more than $1 trillion of wealth to government-sanctioned gambling over the next eight years.

This is happening at the same time that around 50 percent of the US population has zero or negative net wealth, meaning their debts equal or exceed their assets."

I think Ohioans voted down casinos many times, but we have them anyway. Was supposed to help the schools. Ha!

So far, I’ve had about 50 appeals, counting the double and triple appeals:

McConnel Arts Center

National Police Foundation

CBN (twice)

Wycliffe Bible Translators

The Catholic Thing

Greater Columbus Right to Life

Word on Fire

Wounded Warrior

Hillsdale College

Center for Education Reform (3 times)

Stand with Us (twice)

Prager University

University of Illinois

PDHC—Pregnancy Decision Health Center

Presidential Prayer Team

Lakeside (4 notices)

Black Swamp Bird Observatory

Media Research Center

Human Coalition Center (twice)

Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Ohio Right to Life

First Things

Ohio History Connection

Columbus Museum of Art

My Jewish Learning

Genetic Literacy Project (twice)

Hymn Society

Judicial Watch

Pope Paul VI Institute (twice)

Patriot Post

EWTN

Mercy Ships

Charity Navigator (4 requests)

Lifetime [Fitness] Foundation

Washington Post—ProLiteracy

Stop Predatory Gambling

American Spectator

Living Water International

Worldwatch Institute

Ohio History Connection

Sister Accord Foundation

From a non-profit employee who walked away

“I was raised in a Republican, conservative home and usually voted the way my parents voted but all that changed when I began working in the non-profit, human service sector. Our funding, (my paycheck), relied on tax dollars and grants and it was much easier to get and receive both from Democrat controlled administrations. Whenever an election rolled around, the talk around the office was always the same - "Better vote Democrat or there goes our funding", or "If Republicans get in, our program may be eliminated and we'll all be out of a job."

Few words of concern were spoken about the people we were supposed to be helping and what would happen to them. It was always about us -directors, administration and support staff. Then, one day, I realized why. Our programs weren't really helping anyone, in fact, the opposite was true. Our programs of "assistance" and "aid" weren't helping anyone actually CHANGE their lives for the better. All we did was help them stay in the lives they were in. When people did manage to pull themselves out of poverty and no longer needed our services, did we celebrate? On the surface we did. We acted happy for them, but privately, quite the contrary. We panicked because our numbers were falling. And if our numbers kept falling, our funding could be decreased or the program could be eliminated entirely. We needed poor people! We needed a lot of them and we needed them to stay poor or else WE'D be poor, and that wasn't an option. After realizing the cycle of poverty and dependence we were covertly perpetuating and encouraging, I no longer wanted to be part of it.

When Democrats control state and federal governments, the number of people living at the poverty level increases because their system is set up that way. They wrap themselves up in the American flag and say they care about the "people", the downtrodden and the poor, when in reality, they want to control them by fear. Fear of losing their welfare check, food stamps, housing assistance, heating assistance, childcare assistance, SSI payments, Medicaid, and all those nice support organizations they have come to DEPEND on. It's a smokescreen, it's bogus and I wanted no part of it. I quit the human service sector and found employment elsewhere.

That was my ah-ha moment - when I saw the Democrats’ dirty little secret when it involved "The People". Over the next decade, I found myself splitting my ticket, voting for both Republicans and Democrats, because I was still rewiring my thinking process. But when Donald Trump ran, I knew I had truly come home, back to the Republican way of thinking. It felt good, it felt right, and I will never consider myself a Democrat again.”

Sue Stauffer Johnson at Walk-away

Sustainable--a growing industry for non-profits

 

 

 I wonder if this sustainable fiber and textile advocacy group knows they have a racist photo of cotton on their website July 2017 report. A customer in Hobby Lobby recently took to social media to be outraged about cotton stalks in the store, and a college president apologized to black students for having them in decorative floral arrangements in his home.

 

 I think this is an organization to fight "fast fashion" which provides much of the market for cotton. The word "sustainable" has become a political buzz word; always be careful when you see it.

"This paper argues that U.S. foundations currently have a key moment of opportunity to invest in the sustainable fiber and textile sector in ways that will mobilize consumer awareness and accelerate improvements in many stages of the textile production  chain. Such improvements would in many cases tie into and further strengthen the sustainable agriculture movement in the U.S. and abroad. Sustainability in textiles also involves many aspects of toxics reduction and labor issues, thus highlighting the close connections between environmental and human health impacts and presenting opportunities  for foundations already involved in environmental  health and justice work. http://www.safsf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/SAFSF_CommThrd_D7_FINAL.pdf 

End of year contributions

Our tithe goes to our local congregation, Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, but there are other groups we like to support through the year and especially in December.  By December, they all come calling.  Increasingly, I get appeals by e-mail--in fact on Dec. 30-31, I must have received at least 10 last minute appeals.  We usually stay with organizations we know, although this year there were some new ones.

A presidential candidate (no comment)
National Parks
Coming Home Network
Lutheran Bible Translators
Black Swamp Bird Observatory
Pregnancy Decision Health Center
Lower Lights
St. Gabriel Radio, Columbus
Mercury One Nazarene Fund (for Syrian Christian refugees)
168 Film Project
Lakeside
COCINA (Haiti school)
EWTN
Pinecrest (in memory of my parents)

What a shocker—Obamacare co-ops are failing and we’re on the hook

“The insolvent Iowa-based health insurance cooperative, CoOportunity Health, had to be taken over in December by Iowa insurance regulators. Iowa and Nebraska's Guarantee Associations - and state and federal taxpayers - are now on the hook for millions in claims the insurer could not pay.

CoOportunity Health wasn't a traditional health insurer. Rather, it was a taxpayer-funded, non-profit health insurance cooperative (co-op) established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The co-op program is plagued by numerous flaws. When co-ops were established, they had no customers and no historical actuarial data to assist in setting plan premiums. Startup funds and cash reserves were mostly borrowed from taxpayers. According to industry data only one of the 23 co-ops was profitable last year (a 24^th co-op located in Vermont failed before it even got off the ground). While some of the remaining co-ops are losing money because of small size, others appear to have the strategy of losing money to gain market-share at taxpayers' expense.”

Read more here.

According to a survey, the top 10 Astroturfers

TOP 10 ASTROTURFERS by Sharyl Attkisson

Astroturfers often disguise themselves and publish blogs, write letters to the editor, produce ads, start non-profits, establish Facebook and Twitter accounts, edit Wikipedia pages or simply post comments online to try to fool you into thinking an independent or grassroots movement is speaking. They use their partners in blogs and in the news media in an attempt to lend an air of legitimacy or impartiality to their efforts. They call truth a myth, then “de-bunk it;’ they build straw men then chop them down; and I think they make about 20% of their stories about LBGT, even though that’s 2% of the population. (My opinion, not Sharyl’s.)

1. Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Everytown

2. Media Matters for America

3. University of California Hastings Professor Dorit Rubenstein Reiss and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Dr. Paul Offit

4. “Science” Blogs such as: Skeptic.com, Skepchick.org, Scienceblogs.com (Respectful Insolence), Popsci.com and SkepticalRaptors.com

5. Mother Jones

6. Salon.com and Vox.com

7. White House press briefings and press secretary Josh Earnest [I’d add Marie Harf]

8. Daily Kos and The Huffington Post

9. CNN, NBC, New York Times, Politico and Talking Points Memo (TPM)

10. MSNBC, Slate.com, Los Angeles Times and Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC and Jon Stewart.

http://sharylattkisson.com/top-10-astroturfers/

You can be sure my blog has no sponsors, no ads, it’s 100% Norma’s research, opinion, and experience. When I’m wrong and when I’m right, I’m standing on real grass, not Astroturf.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU

More on non-profit annual reports—Planned Parenthood

Yesterday I wrote about frustration with slick annual reports. Talk about a glitzy annual report--you should see the Planned Parenthood 2013-14. Lots of smiling young women. 327,653 abortions--94% of its "health" services, about 38% of which are for black women. (CDC reports 72% in Mississippi for blacks, 42% in Ohio, and 67% for black teens in New York), $528.4 million from government grants and reimbursements, which equaled 41 percent of its revenue. The rest comes from donations and foundation grants. And the CEO received nearly half a million in salary and benefits. PP has $1.4 billion in net assets.

Abortion is a very lucrative business. "Black lives matter," except in the womb.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/6714/1996/2641/2013-2014_Annual_Report_FINAL_WEB_VERSION.pdf

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/01/01/planned-parenthood-annual-report-all-about-abortions-and-profits/

http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/09/planned-parenthoods-annual-report-shows-abortion-pays/

Annual reports for non-profits

I don't like glitzy annual reports for non-profits. If you want to find out how they are using your money and helping society for all their federal tax benefits and huge salaries for CEOs you have to wade through page after page of posed photos and graphs that tell you nothing. Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio was the latest I was trying to read--but the most recent report is 2012, and for the section for homeless (Faith Mission) it is 2011. I began my search trying ...to find out what had become of the Interfaith Hospitality Network begun by churches in 1988 (became a building run by the YW around 2005), and in the process found the new offices of the LSSCO. Fancy digs in Worthington, far, far away from hunger and homelessness. As they say in DC, bad optics. Also while waiting for pages to load, I discovered there is an app for locating homeless shelters. For the Obamaphone?

I stopped supporting LSS several years ago when I found out their health insurance covered abortion.  This was before the Obamacare push.

Dirty deals on the IRS scandals

Neither the Democrats who fear their growing power, nor the Republicans who fear the same thing are going to take any action about the IRS criminal behavior against the Tea Party.

“President Obama and Democrats have been at great pains to insist they knew nothing about IRS targeting of conservative 501(c)(4) nonprofits before the 2012 election. They've been at even greater pains this week to ensure that the same conservative groups are silenced in the 2014 midterms.

That's the big, dirty secret of the omnibus negotiations. As one of the only bills destined to pass this year, the omnibus was—behind the scenes—a flurry of horse trading. One of the biggest fights was over GOP efforts to include language to stop the IRS from instituting a new round of 501(c)(4) targeting. The White House is so counting on the tax agency to muzzle its political opponents that it willingly sacrificed any manner of its own priorities to keep the muzzle in place.”

Kimberley Strassel at the Wall Street Journal—much more to read

Christian non-profits

“CARM is a 501(c)3, non-profit, Christian ministry dedicated to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the promotion and defense of the Christian Gospel, doctrine, and theology.”

If the government gives, it can take away.  This is a bad idea from several angles.  Eventually, Christian non-profits will have to do something contrary to their beliefs if they want this tax status—maybe recognize same sex marriage, or provide insurance for abortion, or accept non-Christians on their board.  It’s also wrong, I believe, to ask non-Christians to support our religion—because that’s what we’re asking for in not paying  taxes on the income that pays the staff or the office supplies or the real estate costs.  Also, now that we know the government is using the IRS to punish and control, why should be put our people in harm’s way.  Why should board members and staff have their private accounts audited because the organization is under scrutiny.  Let’s get the churches and para-church organizations out from under the government’s thumb so we can be free to speak truth to evil, and the good news to the masses.

Checking on the non-profits

Probably someone should look into charitable non-profits.  But maybe not waste IRS resources on the mom and pop tea party groups the IRS was harassing.  How about the largest public charity in the country, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan.  The CEO George Halvorson makes about $8 million a year (2009). Kaiser paid its six top executives a combined $16.6 million (2009) and provided them with executive perks like first class air travel, forgivable home loans, and multiple pension and bonus plans. Of the top 10 public charities, 8 were health systems.  I'm guessing they are all on board for Obamacare. Non-profits are very profitable and have a revolving door with the government.

http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412228-nonprofit-government-contracting.pdf

http://nccs.urban.org/statistics/quickfacts.cfm

Pillow talk

The wife of Doug Shulman, commissioner of the IRS during these major scandals when he visited the White House 157 times, is Susan L. Anderson. She is the "senior program advisor for the Washington-based nonprofit organization Public Campaign, which claims that it “is laying the foundation for reform by working with a broad range of organizations, including local community groups, around the country that are fighting for change and national organizations whose members are not fairly represented under the current campaign finance system.” "

Even though "fighting for change" and "reform" are in the description, her group probably hasn't had their board and staff audited, threatened by OSHA or investigated by ATF. Wonder why.

Apparently, Shulman didn’t like being questioned by Congress about his politics and contributions.  Appointed by Bush, his money and ethics leans heavily Democratic.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/31/former-irs-commissioner-shulmans-wife-works-for-liberal-group-fighting-open-campaign-spending/

http://www.americanclarion.com/20633/2013/05/23/irs-commissioner-upset-by-political-questions/