Non-profits and the stimulus bill

In response to the economic downturn, many nonprofit organizations on the front line of emergency relief are being stretched too thin. The Christian Science Monitor has an article in which they argue that this nonprofit sector should get part of the economic stimulus package. Money quote:

As Congress digs in this week for negotiations on President Obama's $825 billion economic stimulus bill – with funds targeted to tax cuts, infrastructure, and state aid – people in and outside the nonprofit sector say it ought to be part of that package. Not only would this preserve jobs and shore up a crucial part of the US service-delivery network, they say, but would employ it most effectively in spurring an economic recovery.

"By including this sector we can take advantage of a huge network of institutions that work hard ... to improve the welfare of communities and individuals, that will spend the money quickly, that have the capacity to spread the dollars widely, and that in the absence of such help will need to shrink and thus become another drag on the economy," says Isabel Sawhill, senior fellow in economics at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

(h/t Faith In Public Life)