Flame — HabitableZone

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re: Manacles
TB — (archived)

Do you think your organization would be improved by replacing donors with a pipeline to tax money?

You would find that suddenly your budget would develop all kinds on new "needs." Volunteers would be replaced by paid consultants, and those would increase like cockroaches.

Oddly, the actual purpose of your organization would start to drop in importance, and the organization itself would become the end, not the means. Pournelle calls this the "Iron Law of Bureaucracy." I haven't worked with non-profit foundations personally, but I sure as hell have seen this happen to other kinds of companies and organizations.

That's the practical aspect. It's like drinking seawater when you're very thirsty. It really works. For a while. Then you start drinking more and more...

A few random thoughts--

Do you think more people would donate if they hadn't been trained to believe that it was the government's role to solve all our problems?

We have a library foundation here too. Most of the money comes from donors who have a lot of surplus wealth. You know--the evil rich. Yes, I am well-aware that such a foundation in Silicon Valley would probably have a far easier time raising money than such an organization where you are.

Would it really preferable to simply confiscate their wealth, launder it through the Treasury, and tap it for the foundation's needs?

A couple of sidebars:

Current statistics on charity

Entrepreneurs and charity

BTW, I'd donate to your group myself (via Robert or something), but I find myself currently "between contracts," with nothing promising coming down the pike. Ironically, taxes aren't going to be that much of a problem for me next year.

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