Reform is Needed

The purpose of this blog is to show why reform is needed regarding Non Profit entities here in Alaska.

There has been a proliferation of non profits across the country.  Alaska is no exception.

Our State laws and regulations regarding non profits are very lax.

Many non profits receive government funds - both federal and State funds.  Some take in hundreds of millions of gov't funds each year.

And yet, non profit entities are not required to share very much information with the general public. They do not have to abide by the open meetings laws or share meeting minutes. They are not subject to public records requests.  They don't have to share very much financial information  - just the last three years of tax return which don't give much detailed information.

Non Profits are like black boxes.  They want the public's money but they don't have to explain exactly how it is used (beyond the broad categories of information on their tax returns.)

This is a recipe for disaster.  We need more transparency and oversight of non profit organizations.

How can the public evaluate whether or not to donate to a non profit if we have no true idea how funds are spent?

How can the US Gov't or State Gov't or local governments evaluate whether non profits entities are doing a good job and/or truly need more gov't money unless their books are open?

Reform is needed so that all non profits are required to make public exactly how they spend their funds.  They should be subject to FOIA requests.  Their board meetings should be open to the public. Anyone should be able to review their financial records.

Sunlight goes a long way to stop abuse, fraud, and corruption.