Nonprofits Sustain Us All

A gathering of nonprofit executives began meeting at a local coffee shop in Flagstaff late in 2008. They convened to support one another, an informal morning pep rally once a month to help them cope with the din of bad news and uncertainty of our times. They decided that they needed to help the community understand how important nonprofits are during the recession. With the support of the Arizona Daily Sun, the local newspaper, and donated design services, they created the illustration above, which was a full page ad in the Sun in January. The Daily Sun has agreed to run a full page ad for the group once each quarter.

The illustration features on the branches of the tree the mission statements of dozens of nonprofits in northern Arizona. Considering that Flagstaff is in the heart of the largest stand of Ponderosa pine on the planet, it is fitting that the image representing these nonprofits is a tree. This is a beautiful way of articulating the integral quality of nonprofit work in our communities.

Thank you to the leaders of northern Arizona nonprofits for inspiring us with your vision, your creativity, and your positive spirit of support for one another. Let this inspire many more "mission" diagrams - a forest of nonprofits - across Arizona and the nation.

Illustration designed by Julie Sullivan

Support Arizona Nonprofits: Advocacy 2009

The Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits is addressing the following issues in 2009. Find out how you can support our nonprofit community and stay up to date by joining the Alliance.

Responding to the Economic Crisis

The economy is front and center in the minds of every citizen and nonprofit in Arizona. The Alliance supports efforts to assure that the needs of nonprofits are included in federal initiatives to support states and communities. Working in concert with the National Council of Nonprofits (of which every Alliance nonprofit member is also a member), the Alliance provided input into a memorandum prepared for the Obama Transition Team in January. This memo called for support for:

a new GIVE Act
the Serve America Act
nonprofit provisions of the Obama Plan (articulated during the fall 2008 campaign and appearing on the White House website)

Our top federal legislative priority is passage of the National Capacity Building Initiative (NCBI), which would provide federal funding for critical management training and assistance to small and medium budget nonprofits.

Since January, the Obama Administration has moved forward the Economic Recovery & Reinvestment Act (stimulus), which includes funding opportunities for nonprofits, and the Serve America Act, which significantly expands our country's dedication to service in communities. The Serve America Act also includes the National Capacity Building Act. Read the latest news about stimulus funding for nonprofits and progress on the Serve America Act.

Promoting Community Partnerships to Meet Vital Needs

As Arizona communities struggle with the ability to meet common needs while the economy is reeling, the Alliance supports efforts to form partnerships between government, business, community institutions and nonprofits. We are concerned about termination of government services with an expectation that nonprofits will fill the gap. We support efforts of nonprofit advocates, such as Protecting Arizona’s Family Coalition (PAFCO) and Children’s Action Alliance to assure an adequate social safety net for vulnerable Arizonans. Overall, we encourage communities to find new and creative partnerships across institutions to assure our communities remain healthy and vital during these difficult times.

Reducing Health Care Costs for Nonprofit Employers

Comprising one of the largest sectors in the Arizona economy, our nonprofits are challenged by rising costs of health insurance for employees, just as all employers are. These costs are particularly difficult for most nonprofits to bear because 1) most nonprofits have small staffs, which means their ability to secure affordable group plans is limited, and 2) the ability of nonprofits to sustain cost increases is strained by restrictions on their funding (e.g. contracts from government that limit administrative overhead), a situation not faced by most for-profit employers. These extraordinary employee costs are becoming even more burdensome during the current recession. The Alliance supports health care reform that 1) increases flexibility for small employers to pool resources for cost reduction, and 2) addresses the unique circumstances of nonprofit employers.

Fairly Reimbursing Volunteers for Vehicle Use

In October 2008, the National Council of Nonprofits led a national coalition to raise the amount that nonprofit volunteers can deduct from their income for use of their vehicles in performing nonprofit work. (Arizona nonprofits produced nearly one out of every 5 letters to Congress supporting this effort.) Currently, volunteers can only deduct their mileage at 14 cents per mile. However, the federal rate for businesses is currently at 58.5 cents (adjusted periodically to reflect rising and falling costs of vehicle use). The Alliance supports efforts to raise the volunteer deduction rate, ideally matching the business rate, and making it adjustable to reflect changing costs. This measure did not pass in 2008, so we urge passage in 2009.

2008 Issues

ALLIANCE HELPS DEFEAT PROPOSITION 105 on 2008 BALLOT
“Majority Rule” Measure Would Have Crushed Nonprofit AdvocacyArizona voters defeated Proposition 105, the so-called "majority rule" measure. The Alliance Board of Trustees had voted to oppose Proposition 105 and joined a coalition in opposition.

“The initiative process is a critical advocacy tool for nonprofits,” said Patrick McWhortor, President & CEO of the Alliance. “By making it virtually impossible to secure passage of initiatives by voters, Proposition 105 crushes the ability of nonprofits to speak out for their communities and use their democratic rights of self-governance.”

Proposition 105, the so-called “Majority Rules” initiative, propsed to amend the Arizona State Constitution to require that nearly every initiative placed on the ballot by citizens must receive the support of a majority of all registered voters, not just those casting a vote for that measure.

The Alliance Trustees voted to oppose the ballot proposition because:

It would have had a chilling effect on citizen participation in government, reinforcing the notion that a citizen’s vote doesn’t count.
It affected all nonprofits: the chilling effect on nonprofits and citizen engagement affects any organized effort to make policy change in Arizona through direct democracy, whether it is the citizen group hoping to control illegal immigration, an environmental group hoping to ensure protection of endangered habitat, the arts community planning to secure more state funding for the arts, or a social service alliance supporting more state funds for indigent health care.
The initiative process written in the Arizona Constitution was designed to preserve the rights of citizens and organized groups of citizens (nonprofits) to directly address public concerns when the mechanisms of representative government fail to do so.

“We are pleased the voters recognized that Proposition 105 not hurt only some citizen groups,” explained McWhortor. “It would have significantly hampered nonprofit advocacy of all stripes – left, right and middle. This is not a Republican or Democrat measure; it is an undemocratic proposal that equally harms Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, independents or members of any party.”

Opponents to Proposition 105 pointed out that the measure would have“forced” non-voters to go on record as “no” votes, whether they truly oppose the initiative or not. The result of the proposal would be to require any successful initiative to pass with an overwhelming majority in high turnout elections. Proposals on ballots in low turnout elections could be impossible to pass, because a majority of the registered voters might not cast a ballot, but be counted as “no” votes, thus defeating the measure by default. This result is the reason that Proposition 105 would have such a chilling effect on nonprofits engaging in advocacy through the initiative process.

FAQ's about Prop 105...