This is the perfect opportunity to look into the "administrative" cost of charity.

From the full time fund raisers, professional fund raisers, to advertising companies that exploit this small pool of money, very often, we know that those in need are seldom getting what had been donated to them.

Obama should let the big fat bankers and big over-weighted auto industry people swim or sink by themselves. He should turn his attention to those who are truly poor and in need. He can make sure these people are not being ripped off. He can make sure those who donate will feel fair and that their donations are effective.

It's all about sharing of the wealth. Should we give the money to the charity fund raisers or should we give it to those that are hungry and cold?

Elkhart residents should be competely disbursed into other communities and the whole town should be shut down. Just because this absolutely boooorrrrrring series would end. Is this thing a permanent project? Give it a rest, the place has less than .00001 percent of the U.S. population.

Well duh? The unemployed continue to grow. Our screwed up tax policies have sent manufacturing packing. EVERY citizen knows come tax time next year it's going to be brutal. 401ks ruined. Gas on it's way to $3.00+ for good. The stimulus package that'll put our chidren's children into eternal debt; most of the "shovel-ready" jobs will be gone in 6 months....complete ineptitude of our so-called leaders that makes the common man wonder..."who's steering this ship?".

Yes, when common, hard-working folk are faced with harsh realities like; can we may next month's mortgage? What are the cheapest groceries we can afford?..Charities and good-intentioned organizations become secondary.

Why is this not surprising? We have more people who need  help due to a "sociliastic" approach to governing, and a President whose "socilalistic" philosophy is being implemented at every turn. We need "statesmen" who will stand on the principles of our Founder's, on true Capitalism where worker and boss alike work together for the good of the republic, not just for their own selfish ends. May God give us wisdom to do so.

Non-profits have historically become maintenance programs. The old administrative practices and service delivery approaches are obsolete. The search for an immediate solution is characteristic and is based on a crisis mentality. The need is to understand that today's population in need is extremely diverse from the past poverty populaions. The failure of some non-profits to exercise strict performance evaluations are partly to blame for the current position of all non-profits. The apathetic use of non-profits by executive directors as a salary generator instead of a fount of community change only ensures that they will request more funding the following year, instead of less funding because a problem is truly being addressed. What is required is the engineering of a long term solution where non-profits operate under the adage of "our goal is to put ourselves out of a job" and not to act simply as crutches for the government funded poverty programs. REC can offer offer solutions. The face of poverty and its victims has changed. Non-profits cannot continue to be maintenance programs. (, 559-302-7732)

It's a "perfect storm" for non-profits providing human services. Need is up, due to the national recession, and donations are down and any endowment fund earnings are zero this year for that same reason. And when United Ways also experience reduced fund raising totals and reduce allocations, the non-profit providers are squeezed from all directions.

Clients may come and go as their intervention gets them back towards self-sufficiency, but the need for job training programs and family counseling programs will ever be with us. And when times get bad and persons are laid off with no job prospects ahead, we see increases in domestic violence, alcohol abuse, child abuse, and other symptoms of wage earner frustration. 

For better or worse, government has relied more and more over the past forty yearson the non-profit provider system to be the direct service providers of state agency services. Collaboration? State government has virtually merged with the private sector, yet the partnership is being destroyed by state government's stagnant revenues during the national economic crisis and therefore government's inability to pay for existing or needed expanded services during the recession.

Talk to your friends and neighbors on non-profit boards. Most staff have reduced or frozen their salaries, and program cuts are still expected to happen. There may still be some high salaries at the national level for some non-profit agency staff, but these are also their lead lobbyists to the federal government and the cost of living in Washington is a lot higher than in Elkhart. 

My advice locally:  be as generous as you can be to your local non-profits, and take a non-profit staffer out to lunch.

I've given plenty to charity and volunteered, but when you need help, where are they? Not there for the middle class having a rough time. No one offered to help me with my utility bills, couldn't even tell you where a food bank is, probably in a neighborhood I'm not willing to get out of the car in. I'm sticking to helping the animals, donating food to them, at least they appreciate it and you know where to find a good dog or cat if you need one at your local pound.

At last the chickens have come home to roost; high administrative costs have been allowed to go unnoticed, including high salaries for those with the right last name, who do virtually none of the work. Maybe those executives will come to know what it's like to be on the other side of the not-for-profit world. Maybe the boards of the organizations will learn that those people were not needed; the real producers were the ones that were down-sized.

if the current administration would reward charitable donations - with increased tax deductions - all those very bad people who make way too much money might donate more instead of less. the administration continues to villify anyone (household) making a six figure income and is doing all sorts of things to "spread the wealth"....in doing so, the alienation of those who "have" will continue to be felt by those who rely on their generosity....but then again, the people spoke with their votes for change.

I, too, am sympathetic to causes like the Elkhart Project. I work for a software company in Austin, Texas and was recently moved when one of my customers from the area contacted me for relief from the annual maintenance payment required to retain support for their software. After hearing the story of the troubling times I went to the Elkhart Project site. After reading a few of the heart-wrenching stories, I conceded a percentage of the annual payment due. I hope this small gesture helps their business concentrate on supporting those in need in the area.

Because of this chance meeting, I am happy to introduce my effort for relief, CaBaSi. CaBaSi stands for "Cause-based social internetnetworking". We are an online community where members create multiple fundraisers for their charities to help with donations. Donors will use the site to stay in touch with friends and collaborate on ways to help their favorite charities. We intend to not only support the Elkhart Project but also the many other areas in the country that are hurting for funds right now.

Please contact us and ask how you can help.

I have been a high school coach and a board member of a non-profit childrens organization for the past 13 years. I understand Elkharts dillema and I wish them success. I have been busting my butt for the kid's for the past 13 years and haven't yet lost sight of my goals. The main thing that any organization needs to do whether it be a high school team, corporation, or a non-profit organization is to set both individual and "team" goals. Once you have set your sights on these self made goals failure is not an option. You just don't quit!

You can do it Elkhart!!!!!!!!