Shielding funding sources main objective for many
by Don Keelan
While the ranks of plumbers, electricians, house painters, school teachers, doctors, and first responders continue to decrease in Vermont, there has been a proliferation of another profession: the non-profit organization consultants.
The April issue of Common Good Vermont, an information service organization for Vermont non-profits, included a Vermont Non-Profit Consultant Directory.
I was astonished by the size: 16 pages of listed firms, 69 firms in all. Not included were the State’s CPA and law firms, which are also involved with clients in the non-profit industry.
A review of expert services included the following: “Organizational Development. Workforce/HR, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Leadership Development.”
Another listing noted “Fundraising & Development, Communication/Marketing.” One firm offered a combination of “Workforce/HR, Communications/Marketing, Advocacy, Organizational Development, Equity & Belonging Culture.”
When one realizes the size of Vermont’s non-profit industry, there might be a need for such a force of consulting firms.
In a recent interview with the Vermont Secretary of State’s Business Services Specialist, this writer was informed that there are 19,571 listed domestic non-profits in Vermont, of which 8,597 are active. 2,201 “foreign” nonprofits are in the State with 1,052 active.
Based on these findings, approximately 9,650 nonprofits actively operate in Vermont. The range in size, measured by annual income/employees, is also dramatic. The University of Vermont Health Network in 2023 had an annual revenue of over three billion dollars and 8,800 employees. Whereas Arlington’s Martha Canfield Memorial Free Library has an annual income of $140,000 and three employees. In between are the others that makeup one of Vermont’s largest industry sectors, if not the largest. This excludes municipal, school, and state government entities.
Many Vermont non-profits are competitive, proprietary, and secretive and receive multi-million grants that allow them to cover significant internal costs.
A case in point was the State’s Department of Public Service’s grant award of $36 million to Efficiency Vermont (EVT) last summer, as reported in VTDigger on August 22, 2023.
To be accurate and according to an official from VDPS, the grant was for $ 34 million and signed by Vermont Energy Investment Corp. on August 25, 2023, the parent company of EVT.
The grant subject is, “ PSD will subgrant funds to Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC), which operates Efficiency Vermont, to be used for electrical upgrades, heat pump water heater incentives as directed by Act 185 of 2022, and flood recovery efficiency incentives.”
Nevertheless, the grant allows EVT to offset its internal costs related to the grant: $670,000 for IT, $1,700,000 for Labor, and $4,127,632 for overhead. In its filing with the PUC dated April 15, 2024, EVT stated that several hundred installations have been made for electric panels, heat pumps, clothes washers, and dryers, etc.
The above is just an example of the billions of dollars the State must distribute to Vermont’s NGOs out of its $8.5 billion budget to carry out programs in health care, education, housing, mental and social programs, and the illegal drug addiction crisis. To name a few.
What has evolved is the building of ‘silos’ by NGOs and the avoidance of collaboration within a given Vermont geographic area to deal with the problem the grant or State funds have been intended for.
This writer could not obtain the above information from EVT. Instead, it was necessary to go to the DPS, which was willing to share the grant and progress information. One would think I asked for information from the NSA or the CIA.
Governor Phil Scott is correct when he says the State has provided more than enough funding. What is required is to secure better collaboration among the various NGOs working to address the same issues, whether they be housing, drug addiction, climate matters, education, or other State-funded issues.
It might not be a bad idea if the legions of Vermont nonprofit consulting firms offered an additional service, a “collaboration support service.”
My negative side says this won’t work; there is too much at stake for the non-profit. Among many, their first and foremost objective is to protect and safeguard their funding sources. The protection of its donors, whether individuals, corporations, foundations, or the granddaddy of them all, the State, must be safeguarded at all costs. Collaboration is not a priority.
The author is a U.S. Marine (retired), CPA, and columnist living in Arlington, VT.
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