nonprofits

[Bob Fitzke]

Amen, brother. Anyone who runs a non-profit as if it were non-profit would
soon be a persona non-grata. I started, among other organizations, Delta
Dental Plan of Michigan in the early 60s. It now does about $750,000,000
annually in premium. The only signigicant distinction between a profit corp.
and a non-profit corp is that the latter is prohibiyted from distributing
income as dividends. That bar doesn'r prhibit paying substantial salaries.
And any mony left over after expenses are met is usually called something
like unearned surplus or just surplus. It is NOT called a "profit". It's an
arena where form triumphs over substance. :-)

Bob

GSCole wrote:

> Then there is the oxymoronic sounding nonprofit accounting, as in
> nonprofit accounting practices.
>
> In the business classroom, it is often necessary to remind students that
> a given nonprofit organization may be generating higher revenues than is
> its nonprofit neighbor.  As Bob Fitzke noted, the profit/nonprofit
> designation is a legal designation.
>
> George S. Cole    gscole at ark.ship.edu
> Shippensburg University