How will the stimulus bill impact nonprofits?

Rick Cohen, the Nonprofit Quarterly’s national correspondent has been blogging about how the proposed stimulus bill(s) will impact nonprofit organizations.  I particularly liked his editorial comments…

The economic stimulus scorecard will change again as the competing bills head into conference and compromise.  While it is important for nonprofits to monitor which elements of the stimulus package might end up in their program budgets, they should be concerned not simply with advocating for more money, but advocating for appropriations that will really do something about the nation’s downward economic spiral.

Extra federal capital infusions in 501(c)(3) budgets that don’t affect the nation’s burgeoning joblessness will simply fall further and further behind the needs of Americans for services, support, and jobs (note: nearly 13 percent of the nation’s workforce is now jobless, employed part-time because they can’t get desired full-time employment, or has stopped looking for work entirely).  Nonprofits are supposed to be intermediaries connecting federal (and state) programs with people in need; it’s what nonprofits do and deliver that really counts right now.

From Stimulus: The Nonprofit Scorecard in the Senate and House Stimulus Bills (Feb. 7)

and here was his earlier take on the bill: What Can Nonprofits Look Forward to in the Economic Stimulus Bill (Jan. 29)