Updates: See related stories and public commentary here, here and here)
Steve Skinner:
"I was just looking over a list of Pitkin County nonprofits and it struck me. In many ways these groups, hundreds of them, account for a significant, if not the biggest, part of our valley economy. For me personally, I have found meaningful work in community radio at KDNK. This was a real relief because the commercial sector was outsourcing, maximizing profits and abandoning creativity.
That kind of thing is what spurs nonprofits to rise and grow in the first place. People are eventually repulsed by outsourcing, maximizing profits and abandoned creativity. Better yet, despite all the distractions, people want more than just stuff, and that’s where the nonprofits often come in. From human health services to Pica protection, thankfully, there is someone on it.
Nonprofits mostly do their special work in the background: protecting kids from abuse, suicide prevention, hospice, solar energy training, after-school programs, veteran’s programs, disabled services, pet shelters, clay, art, justice, environmental protection, writing, music, poetry, theater, volunteer groups, senior support, language assistance and on and on...." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
11 comments:
There are many good non-profits in the area, Nat. Even though there is no oversight of either 501C3's or 501C6's anywhere in the country. People don't know that. There is nobody making sure the rules are played by.
The huge problem is in the 501c6 corporations. Called "business league" classification and in that falls chambers of commerce. They can make a little bit of profit on their bottom line but it's still strictly limited and very few of them pay any attention to that because no one is watching the oversight. By law they have one purpose only as a 501c6 and that is to promote common economic of all members/commercial enterprises in a trade or community. Think about that. It has to be equally disbursed with equal treatment. The second locked in stone rule for a 501c6 is that within that purpose to promote common interests they are forbidden to engage in a regular business effort of any kind that is ordinarily carried on for profit.
In other words, becoming a media advertising agency and taking that business away from standard for profit business is against federal law. They also are held as a 501c6 to higher trust and ethics standards many of which fall into the same category as a 501c3.
Do a little research and look hard at what many tourist based regions have had to do in getting their chamber associations separated from their tourism associations. The problems of having millions of dollars of public funds flow through chamber associations that are registered as non-profit 501c6 corporations includes reaping all the benefit of that kind of commerce and cash flow pouring through their hands. All the benefits of stability enhanced through credit and funding plus asset buildup because they've had the benefit of public funds at their use and cash flow has been the topic of uproar in so many resort based communities they've had to sever and establish a Tourism Assoc. status in addition to a chamber resort/commerce status. Closest to home that's going through that pain right now is Craig and Moffat County. Steamboat inkling in behind. Glenwood Springs is the best example anywhere of power and corruption gone bad. Barbara Lucks said it best not too long ago. Chambers of Commerce can be good things but most of them aren't. Please don't do a feel good fluff piece on local non-profits when every community in the valley needs to immediately yank public funds into safekeeping and make sure the rules are being played by. No way should the power of the Aspen Chamber and the Glenwood Chamber especially be allowed to co-mingle with tourism promotion. Talk about a conflict of interest.
People need to understand that there are two primary classifications of non-profits.
501c3 and 501c6.
Yes non-profits are mostly very high ethic, high performing and high caliber entities. They also have nobody watching the hen house. The United States has no oversight in place except the IRS and private watchdogs when it comes to non-profits. I have to laugh at the righteous indignation under the banner of "global warming" that Aspenites are so up in arms toward the US Chamber over when the biggest scam in the country was originated by the US Chamber of Commerce. Tourism marketing with public tax money.
It was the US and State Chambers of Commerce that started the push years ago for the new banner of Chamber Resort Associations. Just so they could get their hands on public promotion dollars. In one fell swoop they managed to become one of the most powerful lobbying entities in the nation PLUS within the communities they promote. Billions of dollars a year of public tax money flow through 501c6 entities hands under the guise of tourism promotion. When the law clearly states that they are rigidly bound to never engage in any economic activity that is ordinarily carried on for profit.
It didn't take long for smart business owners to stand up in so many resort communities all over the country and shout foul over interest conflicts and power abuses. Except of course, Aspen, Glenwood Springs and a few other strangleholds on all that cash flow.
Many have been made to branch off into tourism associations that run in the same community as chamber associations.
Don't be lumping our really worthwhile local non-profits into the same category as the chamber associations that are held in power broker hands for nothing but bottom line gain. A little more research and a reality check next time, please.
Break it down. I'll do Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Assoc. because we know it inside and out at this point. I have no idea how Aspen Chamber runs except that the problems with certain power players holding all the cards up there is exactly the same as it is in Glenwood Springs. Aspen just has more money to work with. If they operate under a contract to the city and county then chances are similar problems exist minus the problem of alleged in-house corruption Glenwood Springs has.
All non-profits are supposed to be a higher ethics standard and in a posture of trust as a non-profit. Both C3 and C6 are held to that factor. That's the primary thing to remember.
But a 501-C6 can engage in a little profit making as a business league classification. Where it tightens hard again in the eyes of the IRS is that they can never engage in any economic endeavor that is ordinarily carried on for profit. They cannot be a travel booking agency or a graphic design and advertising agency. They are strictly held to the purpose of promoting common interests of all members. The chimney cleaning service member is treated the same as the Skico. Those are the rules but the real problem is that it was the US Chamber and the State Chambers who got the notion to become all powerful and absorb tax dollars through accommodations taxes, etc. They knew they were not being watched and the power they held as Chambers of Commerce was untouchable. The smart factor was in getting the municipal governments of the resort communities to carry all the liability for the public funds themselves simply by hiring themselves out under contract to said governments.
Anyone who breaks down (at least Glenwood Springs) the contracts would see this:
They have cumulative millions of public dollars running through their hands that is paid in lump sums with their own bookkeeping handling the flow.
They are free to bank that and rely on it for financial stability during the life of the contract.
They are paid (GSCRA is 20% of the contract) for all their overhead including leasing back of equipment, website and graphics domains, etc.that are dedicated tourism and set up for tourism only. Not to mention that have been paid for many times over through "leasing" (what happened to rent to own??) Set aside the facts that where can any other small business in the area get a deal like that on a hard bid negotiation (all rent, utilities for all enterprises under the one roof)...the equipment, websites, graphics and intellectual property was all created while under contract for tourism promotion...(the government already owns it all but every year "leases it back" and doesn't have ownership rights!)...
There's a private board of directors overseeing the contract that is funded by public dollars. When there arises controversy the least powerful are the politicians and the most powerful are the private board of directors. Take a look around at the voices that are front and center in our local chamber associations. See any conflicts of interest or self-serving interests? Remember, those are public tax dollars and they belong to all of us.
The focus for the chamber association becomes the tourism promotion not the cumulative economic interests of all its membership. That is not an equally divided pie and nowhere is that more obvious than in Glenwood Springs, Aspen, Basalt and Carbondale.
We sure have a number of pockets of power in this valley that need to wake up and smell the coffee, don't we?
I'll agree that we have wonderful and incredible in fact, non-profits in our valley. Too bad they can't break away in legal classification.
gotta love Aspenites. pretty anti-climatic to burn the barn down at the US Chamber over global warming when all the while they've got so much loose dough running around in tourism, HOA's and chamber associations. especially when all these nonprofit boards have been recently upping their insurance coverages for individual board members because they're afraid of major tort liability suits. only in this valley. gotta love it.
You're all walking a bit of a thin line.
I went ahead and posted you up but you have a caution flag out.
Stay within the lines, please.
That abuse of their power started backfiring on the US Chamber about six yrs. ago. There were so many conflicts of interest, powerful monopoly entities that grew out of chamber resort associations; taxpayers went up in arms and knocked it down in lots of resort communities. They started to see a lot more use and production out of their taxes as a result. The money is governed by the township or city and the bills are paid by municipal accounting not a private nonprofit. Too many times the question came up that they really didn't know where every dime went and they had no control. Chambers of Commerce need to be just chambers of commerce. Put tourism into the hands of a delegated specialty association that hires out the work to be done. Steve has a good column but it's lost without him doing the homework first to show that there are two very, very, very different types of nonprofit classifications.
There's the myth again. The local chambers tie to the state chambers and the state chambers tie to the US chamber. There's international chamber as well. Until all these pundits with vested interest actually have to go and climb through the ranks to get a problem solved, they won't believe that there is a tie.
The US chamber is an equal opportunity "we are interested in your money only" organization. It just so happens that they show Republican most of the time because there are far more major wealth conservative owned corporations that actively pursue creating more wealth (to do that they create jobs for the little guys) than there are liberal owned. Wonder why that is?
To not get sidetracked here that doesn't mean that liberals aren't reaping massive amounts of money from their relationships with state and local chamber resort associations and commerce. That is where they cultivate the liberal relationship with chambers is on the local fronts.
The entire chamber of commerce system from local to national is the problem. And that problem ties right back to the problems that the IRS has with nonprofit classifications and nobody watching the fox in the hen house.
I'm getting a kick out of jbend's comment because it really is way too funny that Skico and most of Aspen is ranting over global warming as their pet cause against the US chamber when without ACRA they would really be up a creek on holding that local monopoly, wouldn't they? Local and state chambers could no more remove themselves from ties to the US chamber than fly. It's all a bunch of rhetoric.
The difference between true nonprofits and 501-C6 corporations is the fox in the hen house.
I had no idea there were any differences. Amazing what just some hands-on insight can lend to perspective.
Of course they can negotiate great contracts that pay for all overhead and labor. That is a deal no other small business is afforded when they go out to bid.
When you are going from nothing but right to left pocket in the crony club, of course you can.
I apologize to Steve Skinner. I read the byline wrong and thought it was Nat Hentoff for some reason. Go figure.
I thought it was Nat too. The Daily had something strange going on over period of a couple days earlier in the week with their online pages not showing up, I think it was confusing.
That's right, it is a myth that they do not tie together in all sorts of ways. Even tourism and convention boards and associations tie in but not in the one most damning to the cause way of nonprofit classification.
If our community leaders (the up and up ones that can think for themselves without being influenced) would sit back and really look over how much harm is done to their business and economic factions by a chamber of commerce 501C6 being allowed to be a tourism association 501C6, they would likely feel a stroke coming on. Especially when that chamber has used its time and the peoples cash flow stability to beef up their own personal business strengths along the way.
No, 501C6 corporations shouldn't be tucked neatly away in the do good nonprofit category because they really are very far from it.
The best thing that could happen to both Aspen and Glenwood Springs is for the tourism marketing to be pulled into its own association and the chambers to revert back to what they are classified legally to do. The result would be a consolidation of strengths and all economic factions would thrive.
Of course that's if the entrenched power mongers and abusers that got that way from largely the benefit of accommodations funds were taken under control at the same time.
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