logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Good for the Nonprofit Goose? Boston’s Olympic Quarrel Faces Donor Disclosure Issue

Ruth McCambridge
July 22, 2015
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

gooses-geeses

July 21, 2015; Boston Herald

If you are going to call for disclosure of donors, then you should be willing to disclose your own. Or so says Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, who has asked for disclosure from No Boston Olympics, a group opposing, you guessed it, the potential siting of the Olympics in Massachusetts. But all is not so straightforward.

After a campaign to have them open their books, Boston 2024 has disclosed its donors “all the way down to $1000 or less.” But the No Olympics group has had only six donors over $500, and it says some donors fear the wrath of higher-ups at their workplaces or in their business environments if their contributions were to be made open. And indeed, the backers of Boston 2024 read a lot like a Richie Rich’s who’s-who in the area.

“Mayor Walsh supports Boston 2024’s commitment to publicly release all salaries and contributions, regardless of the amount, on an ongoing basis and he expects any group from either side that is directly involved in the Olympics to do the same,” Walsh spokeswoman Laura Oggeri said in a statement yesterday.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Chris Dempsey, who co-founded No Boston Olympics, said, “We’ve had supporters say their bosses support Boston 2024 and they fear retribution if they oppose the games.”

“We think it’s appropriate to protect the little guy,” Dempsey said. “This is a David vs. Goliath situation.”

And the relative size of the budgets of the two organizations may support that point of view: Boston 2024 has raised $2.88 million in the first quarter of 2015 against the $14,539 raised by No Boston Olympics. Dempsey said he figures the group will have raised “slightly more” in the second quarter than the first. But lest you think that this reflects popular support, polls have consistently run against a Boston siting for the Olympics. Still, Boston 2024’s contributions have averaged $75,000 dollars in comparison to the $87.58 average at its opposition group.

“Fortunately,” he added, “Massachusetts voters are weighing the pros and cons, rather than just going with the side that has the bigger megaphone.”—Ruth McCambridge

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: donor disclosureNonprofit NewsPhilanthropyPolicy

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Arab American Philanthropy
Tamara El-Khoury
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
Sankofa Philanthropy: Hip Hop’s Sixth Element
Jason Terrell
Why Social Change Films Matter
Cyndi Suarez and Saphia Suarez
Philanthropy Must Move from Charity to Solidarity
Son Chau

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
Brown-skinned Arabic woman wearing a bowler hat and looking into the camera. She is standing in front of a bougainvillea plant.
Arab American Philanthropy
Tamara El-Khoury
The book "Nonprofit Neighborhoods" leaning against a wall
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation...
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.