## Notes from 27 March 2026 [[2026-03-26|← Previous note]] ┃ [[2026-03-26|Next note →]] **[[IFP Statecraft|Statecraft]] Interview: [Greg Berman on the Nonprofit Crisis](https://www.statecraft.pub/p/whats-wrong-with-nonprofits)**. Read this characteristically sharp Statecraft interview from early February 2026 with Greg Berman, who ran the [[Center for Justice Innovation (CJI)]] for nearly two decades (2002-2020) and just published _The Nonprofit Crisis: Leadership Through the Culture Wars_.Berman argues nonprofits face erosion of public trust from both left and right while becoming structurally more important to American governance, particularly in service delivery. **Key takeaways:** - Government dependency deepening. In NYC and San Francisco you can't discuss education, childcare, housing, economic development without nonprofits; they've backfilled service delivery since '60s-'70s government failures; Nationally in the US, one-third of nonprofit funding comes from government; CJI got 75-80% from city/state/federal sources, 20% private - Multiple accountability lines. Nonprofits accountable to service recipients, staff, boards, donors, and government simultaneously; when aligned this works, when misaligned creates impossible tensions; "some of the most accountable institutions we have" - Structural advantages over government. Less bureaucratic (not bound by civil service rules), cheaper labor (20% less in NYC), more mission-driven staff; but advantages eroding as nonprofits unionize and build HR bureaucracies - Pressure from concentrated philanthropy. Shift from funding service delivery (200 people/year in mental health court with measurable outcomes) toward advocacy and "transformational change"; foundations want "big bets" they can claim credit for, not incremental impact; restricted funding for pet projects rather than general operating support - Pressure from staff base. Younger employees more doctrinaire, pulling left through social media democratization and tight labor market leverage; viewing organizations as platforms for personal positioning rather than molds shaping them; expecting to reshape organizational mission rather than execute it - Critiques from left. Racial disparities in leadership, substandard wages, concern nonprofits erode proper government service delivery role, creating "unelected permanent government". - Critiques from right. Lack of [[Cognitive Diversity|viewpoint diversity]], narrow progressive orthodoxy, "nonprofit industrial complex" driven by out-of-touch elites, organizations as drivers of polarization and _wokeness_ in American life - Horseshoe critiques. Both sides attack opacity in funding, question whether nonprofits incentivized to perpetuate rather than solve problems, see mission creep into political controversies beyond organizational scope - The talent pipeline problem. Elite positions increasingly draw from narrow educational/professional backgrounds; people entering nonprofit criminal justice work tend to have similar politics, making ideological diversification structurally difficult - Transparency paradox. Nonprofits fairly transparent (tax forms public, revenue sources disclosed) but individual donor names not public; more transparent than private businesses but still criticized