Keep the Regulators Away from Charities

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:

Pablo Eisenberg makes a good point about perks for trustees (“Strong Measures Are Needed to Prevent Nonprofit Abuses,” June 9). But he goes too far in his demand for tighter control on “the duty to report to the public on their spending practices and accomplishments.”

What a nightmare he is proposing for small nonprofits. The overhead necessary to comply with such sweeping regulations would either put us out of business or cut back drastically on our services to the children and families of Philadelphia. And the cost of enforcing the kind of oversight he is proposing would be astronomical. All for the purpose of “serving society and paying it back for the hefty subsidies donors and organizations receive from the government.”

Earth to Eisenberg: It’s not the government’s money. That money goes from donors to those in our society who need our programs the most. Sure, clean up the abuses, but keep the regulators away from us so we can do our job. Because if we don’t do it, nobody will. Is that what he wants?

Tad Mahan
Director of Development
Urban Family Council
Philadelphia