I could NOT disagree more

Donor InSite posted a link to a story that really made me mad this morning:

According to an annual public opinion poll conducted by United Way, only 46 percent of people trust nonprofits to do what they say they’re going to do with donations, meaning that more than half have lost trust.

The obnoxious part was this conclusion from James Stewart, the author.

Today, nonprofits need to operate like a business. Budgeting funds is a must, along with executing careful and appropriate fund raising with outcome measures in place to asses its use of funds and success.

Rubbish. Total rubbish.

First of all, various studies continue to show that while nonprofits have indeed lost some public confidence since the Red Cross scandals following 9/11/2001, they still rank considerably higher than the "business" sector. For example, Paul Light at NYU's Wagner School made this conclusion in September:

According to the survey, which was conducted on behalf of the Wagner School’s Organizational Performance Initiative by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, 69 percent of Americans expressed a great deal or fair amount of confidence in the nation’s charitable organizations in July 2006, up from 64 percent the year before and 60 percent in September 2002. Although confidence has not returned to pre-September 11th levels, when 90 percent of Americans expressed a lot or some confidence in charitable organizations, the July 2006 survey suggests that confidence is on the rebound.

Nonprofits weren't the ones the forced the government to pass Sarbanes-Oxley reform, yet we now spend the time and money to do our national duty and restore trust after corporate businesses destroyed public trust.

Don't get me started... I'm in a bad mood today. Besides, didn't we hear this same load of crap back in 2000? Some people said it would be a good idea to elect a business man with an MBA to the White House? How well did that work out?

UPDATE: Be sure to read Ken Goldstein's take or the critique by Roger and Tom at the Agitator.