Abstract
In normal times, public and private funders and nonprofits engage in a kind of benign symbiotic dance. (Symbiosis: "close and often long-term interactions between individuals of two [or more] different species.") The species somehow work out differences, funds are transferred to support the nonprofits, and the nonprofits in turn meet their obligations, from serving youth to reporting news to refining program models. These are not normal or good times. Consider the [Barack Obama] administration's urgent actions to save the credit markets, banking sector, auto industry and more. The ante was raised in large, scary, audacious and creative ways from those sectors' normal patterns of longterm symbiosis. Business is not as usual. * Volunteer mileage: Increase the amount volunteers can deduct for use of their personal automobiles to deliver services to people in need; it is set by law at 14 cents per mile, compared with 55 cents per mile for private use of a vehicle for a business. This proposal might seem cosmetic, but really it's a tip of the hat to the tens of thousands of volunteers in the United States. Helping them a little more with their volunteering-related expenses provides an incentive for them to keep doing what they're doing, or even to do more.