CAlifornia
Fiscal Health Checkup
Budget Deficit per Capita, FY ’10 . . . . . . . . . . . . $922
Unemployment rate, Dec. ’09 . . . . . . . . . 12.4%
ARRA per Capita . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $504
As the Nonprofit Quarterly has watched the impact of the downturn on nonprofits, we have noted several determiningfactors that make the economic environment more dangerous for some nonprofits than for others.Two of these drivers are a state’s budget deficit and its level of unemployment. This year, however, the stimulus money—which was distributed unevenly to the states—is also part of the states’ financial equation and has temporarily relieved some pain but may have unwelcome longer-term effects. See California’s fiscal health checkup here and read the full story below.
Nonprofit news from around the country and the world. Today, Clinton Foundation draws eclectic donor list, Krugman warns recession not over, schools look for ways to cover costs and more.
School tests and poor teachers and exhausted parents – the way the world operates – teach us that there’s one “right” answer to just about every question. Questioning gets short shrift the older we get. Too often, questioning is seen as threatening or disloyal. My advice to you: Ask why. Ask it more and more.
A few years ago, Kim Klein, the guru of grassroots fundraising began to beat a drum calling nonprofit leaders to a tax agenda. As they always do with Kim, people listened intently, but I wonder if many of those whose heads were nodding in the audiences she addressed really became involved in examining and trying to reform the tax structures in their states. 
