Saturday, August 06, 2011

28,097

This is a quiz.  Multiple choice.  What does the number 28,097 represent?

a)  The number of Wilt Chamberlains "girlfriends"
b)  The number of misleading statements made daily on Fox News
c)  The number of text messages sent by Tiger Woods to his "girlfriends"
d)  The number of flunkies trying to keep Rupert Murdock out of jail
e)  The number of Charlie Sheen binges
f)  The number of non-profits in the state of Colorado

Although A through E are not out of the realm of possibility, F is the correct answer.  When I recently heard this number, I was stupefied.  All I could think was "Who is paying for all of these 501(c)(3) corporations to carry out the business of not making a profit?"  Indeed, in 2010, Colorado non-profits had revenue of  $20,737,739,579 and assets of $51,091,327,497.  The grand total for non-profits in all 50 states was $1,657,971,550,716 in revenue and $3,818,095,661,647 in assets!  Holy moley - not making any money seems to be really good business.  The breakdown for Colorado non-profits can be found here - all paid for by your taxes, insurance and charitable contributions.  I just have to figure out a way to get in on this action.

4 comments:

Bizzy Brain said...

Non-profits do make a "profit," only they can't legally be called profits. The profit in a non-profit organization is called a "surplus." Surpluses do accumulate and are converted to assets. For example, a hospital with tons of surpluses won’t lower rates, they will simply add a new wing or build a new (often underutilized) hospital in the suburbs.
The managers of a non-profit often pay themselves lavish salaries and benefits to prevent the accumulation of too much money in the surplus account, since expenditures and revenue are supposed to “even out” in a non-profit. So, Doc, latch onto a good cause* and start sending out letters for donations and grants. 28,097 in Colorado have caught on.

* Save this or that, or prevent this or that, or support this or that.

DES said...

Bizzy - this was one of my indirect points - the 'non' profits make an awful lot of 'profit'. And as you point out, the CEO's, etc., of such places often are paid obscene amounts of money. Maybe we can team up and start raising a little cash - just need a legit-sounding cause. Your right-wing-nut buddies might contribute to "Plowshares to Swords." :-)

Bizzy Brain said...

Your numbers show how revenue gets turned into assets.
Good money making idea you got there. I don't consider God one of my right-wing-nut buddies, but He does say in Joel 3:10 "Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’"
LOL!

DES said...

Indeed LOL re Joel :-) However, that seems to be trumped TWICE - Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3