Review of 2010 features Hawaii nonprofits prominently
Two of the top ten nonprofit stories of 2010, compiled by the Nonprofit Quarterly, feature the plight of Hawaii nonprofit organizations as they struggled to survive economic downturn.
The number 3 story of the year, State Budget Slides, included this: “Cutbacks in state government spending are real, if unpredictable, and carve large holes in the social safety net. For example, ... Hawaii’s education cuts leading to ‘Furlough Fridays,’ and pass-through impacts leading local governments to sharply reduce or go cold turkey on nonprofit funding.”
In the related story, the magazine noted that Hawaii’s 2010 per capita state budget deficit, $932, was tenth worst in the nation. “To help make up the budget shortfall, the state has threatened to raid the counties’ share of the transient accommodations tax, an 11 percent hotel room tax. In a state where tourism is the number-one industry, the loss in revenue could be significant. What’s more, counties have threatened to undo property-tax exemptions for nonprofits,” the magazine reported.
It continued: “In this tumultuous environment, nonprofits are reeling. The state has curtailed contracts, delayed payments, and cut back Medicaid reimbursement rates, crippling organizations serving the Medicaid eligible. A HANO informal survey of more than 170 respondents revealed that, among other effects, Healthy Start programs have been defunded statewide, a residential treatment program has closed, arts education in the public schools is nonexistent, and services to immigrants have taken a considerable hit.”
The number 7 story of the year, 2010 – The Start of a Decimation of U.S. Nonprofits?, noted: “Around late summer, NPQ began noticing a number of stories from across the country about nonprofits closing or suspending operations or going to unpaid staffing. ... Some symphonies, for instance, had a very bad few years. Honolulu Symphony, for example, faced Chapter 7 in 2010.”
The related article begins: “The Honolulu Symphony filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a year ago at 110 years old hoping to reorganize. Now, the ‘word on the street’ suggests that it may be considering a Chapter 7 bankruptcy — focused on dissolution,” which is, indeed, what happened.
According to NPQ, the top nonprofit stories of 2010 were:
- 2010 Activism Sought Distributed Forms – WikiLeaks and the Tea Party
- Apps, Online Appeals and Other 2010 Technological Stories
- The State Budget Slide
- Nonprofits as Mules for Political Campaigns
- Philanthropists Gone Wild: Verging on a Global Cabal of the Very Rich?
- Erosions of Nonprofit Tax Exemption
- 2010 – The Start of a Decimation of U.S. Nonprofits?
- Parents Told to Dump Disabled Children and Society Dumps Adults
- Social Enterprise and Social Innovation – A New Sobriety Afoot?
- [Insert Your Story Here]—an invitation for readers to contribute their nomination for the most significant nonprofit story of 2010.
Click here to read the complete list of “NPQ’s 9 Significant Nonprofit Stories of 2010 (+ Yours makes 10).”
