Building on nonprofits advice
Re: “Nonprofits are only as good as their boards — Rawlings: Fund only those groups with right structures in place,” by Mike Rawlings, Thursday Opinion.
As a recently retired CEO with over 10 years leading CNM (formerly called The Center for Nonprofit Management), I was very interested to read Rawlings’ op-ed.
I know a lot about this issue since CNM works with over 500 nonprofits of all sizes and mission spaces every year. I thought his op-ed was great and totally agreed with everything Rawlings said.
Opinion
But, I have one more suggestion, and it’s for funders. Look for evidence that supports the nonprofit’s reported structure and performance by meeting with both the board chair and executive director. Really drill down on activities such as how the financials were achieved and how program results were measured. This is where the rubber meets the road.
And, for nonprofit boards not measuring up, they need to step back and ask if they are really open to changing and truly committed and capable of doing the hard work that’s necessary to be funded and community worthy.
Tina Weinfurther, Dallas
More on arts cuts proposal
Re: “Member eyes cuts of $13M — Additional trims to budget would target DEI, arts programs, others,” Saturday news story.
Dallas City Council member Bill Roth proposes to eliminate the Office of Ethics and Compliance, which staffs the Ethics Advisory Commission and is the public’s forum to file ethics complaints against city officials.
He proposes to eliminate the Office of Community Police Oversight, an important part of the police department, at a time when the police department is tasked with adding 900 new officers. He also wants to defund Vision Zero, a police program which seeks to eliminate traffic fatalities and cut severe injuries in half by 2030.
He proposes to cut a program dealing with affordable housing. He was referring to a program funded by Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS, which is a HUD (federal) grant. Cutting this offers no benefit to taxpayers.
He wants to cut funding to maintain public art the city of Dallas already owns; the dollar amount stated in the memo is for conservation/maintenance of the city art collection. He wants to do away with the art collection manager so we would have no one to oversee the actual public art collection we already own.
The cuts take away essential rights of residents, defunds police programs, exacerbates homelessness and defunds maintenance of public assets.
Betsy Kleinman, North Dallas
Looking for independence
Re: “Cornyn narrows gap in race — Paxton still leading in Republican primary fight for incumbent’s Senate seat,” Monday news story.
American citizens need the people representing them at any political level to exercise independent thought and to cast their votes on every issue with an eye squarely focused on the right moral and ethical decisions to better the plight of the country, the state and their constituents.
Using a primary campaign tagline bragging that your record shows you have voted with a president (any president, any party) 99% of the time only confirms that a candidate fails to meet any metric of independent decision-making.
Obviously, I would expect a party’s candidate to vote in favor of their party’s positions on a majority of issues. However, voting with the leader 99% of the time clearly shows one is not only trying to ride the coattails of the party’s leader, but has scampered up the garment and tethered himself firmly to the leader’s hip.
The same applies to any politician representing me who votes against the issues of the other party at a 99% clip. Both scenarios should disappoint all of us. Neither speaks for the multitudes of us independents who are starved for any semblance of bipartisan cooperation, and neither is worthy of our support.
Gary B. Strong, Fort Worth
New leadership needed
Re: “A New Low for Miller — Ag commissioner is unmoved by staff concerns or a guilty plea by his top aide,” Aug. 29 editorial.
This editorial is right to call out the ethical failures that have plagued the Texas Department of Agriculture. Texans deserve far better than headlines about bribery, retribution and misuse of office.
For more than a decade, the office of the agriculture commissioner has been defined by controversy and distractions instead of its real mission: standing with Texas farmers and ranchers, protecting our food supply and ensuring families have access to quality food.
Instead of ethical leadership, we’ve seen a pattern of scandals: improper use of funds, soda and junk food promotion, mishandling of the screwworm outbreak and now the decision to elevate a top aide with a guilty plea for bribery.
The people of Texas deserve leadership rooted in accountability, transparency and service — not scandal. We should be talking about the impact of food on public health, the strength of our agricultural economy and the needs of farmers and ranchers who are being squeezed by rising costs and uncertainty, not about political games inside the agency.
It’s time to restore trust in the office and refocus it on the issues that matter most.
Nate Sheets, McKinney
Too much lawlessness
Re: “Wake up, GOP friends,” by Jay Leslie, Tuesday Letters.
I am writing in reference to this letter. There seems to be pushback concerning President Donald Trump sending troops to Democratic cities. When will Democrats wake up and stop the murder, rape and thieves ransacking retail stores in their cities?
If Democratic leaders would do their job, then the president wouldn’t have to. There is too much lawlessness in some cities, and I believe those leaders and the legacy media downplay the statistics.
Join the mayor of Washington, D.C., who now welcomes Trump’s efforts.
Gregory Hingle, McKinney