I run a small non-profit that provides a unique se...

2007-07-12T10:11:22.744-04:00

I run a small non-profit that provides a unique service to the 13 county area we serve in North Georgia – for that matter I have been told we are the only agency of its kind in the state. However, I am not surprised that you had problems finding agencies to address your questions or provide answers. Most small and mid-size agencies have been left out of the debate and are not considered factors in the game. Unfortunately this is one of the many myths that you ought to address.

I appreciate your efforts to acknowledge our existences as a group but until the sector acknowledges our numbers and our collective impact, we the small and mid-size organizations will be treated as step children to the major organizations – many of whom are really powerful because they are the sum of their chapters many of which are themselves small.

Because we are discounted, rarely our there efforts to bring us to the table or to reach out and educate us about changes in local, state or federal regulations. Most nonprofit symposiums ignore these issues or provide limited coverage of them. Therefore, little of the information you wanted to discuss lands on the desk of the executive who besides wearing the hat of the CEO is frequently doing the work that larger organizations have whole departments addressing and reporting to the CEO. Few of my colleagues have time to keep current on the changing landscape of nonprofit regulation and oversight made worse by the fact that many of the regulations are buried inside laws that on the surface would never indicate nonprofit regulatory issues.

Maybe in recognizing that we do exist you will now target some of your material and education/information pieces to that very segment that had problems answering your questions.

(As a side note - I found the Roundtable discussion very interesting.)

John C. McGee
Family Relations Program, Inc.
Gainesville, GA 30501

I actually don't support small charities unless th...

2007-07-02T14:20:29.645-04:00

I actually don't support small charities unless they are doing something that I think will actually make a difference.

Larger charities have more money, more influence and can do more on a larger scale.

If there was a way to get exposure to smaller charities, that would be great, but until that happens it is just a risk to send money to organizations that you cannot verify as legit or where the money actually goes.

Comments on Trent Stamp's Take: Are Small Charities Small for a Reason?

I run a small non-profit that provides a unique se...

I actually don't support small charities unless th...