Raising Questions About Charities

To the Editor:

I find the juxtaposition of “What Is a Charity?” and “Blending Business With Charity Can Be ‘Head-Busting’ Work” (April 28) very interesting. Although I believe in diversifying the revenue streams for nonprofits, I also believe that straying too far from historic types of revenue is corrupting the nonprofit sector.

Pushing the boundaries of traditional charity work and methods is at least partly to blame for recent scandals and certainly underlies the request by Rep. William M. Thomas for a complete review of 501(c)(3) qualification standards. We should be careful what we wish for — we just might get it.

Leslie Frost
Executive Director
Families Moving Forward
Minneapolis