[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're joined by our good friend and colleague in the nonprofit world, Linda Czipo, who's President and Chief Executive Officer of the New Jersey Center for Nonprofits.

Linda, good to see you again.

- Thank you.

Nice to be here.

- You having fun yet in the nonprofit world?

- We are in interesting times in the nonprofit world.

- What is especially interesting, because you and your colleagues do an annual survey of nonprofits, 41,000 nonprofits in New Jersey.

What's so interesting, and frankly more relevant, challenging for nonprofits in the state, and in the nation, but New Jersey right now?

- Yeah, I mean, the biggest problem is that more people are turning to nonprofits for help.

More people are looking for nonprofits for services.

And the funding is not keeping pace with that increasing demand.

This is not new, but it's been more acute in the last couple of years.

And then you've got a policy landscape that has been very chaotic with funding interruptions, cuts to major programs, and all of that is just increasing the burden and the stressors for nonprofits and taxing their ability to meet this demand.

- You know, I was watching a news piece yesterday, we're taping on the 16th of June, In New York City, Mayor Mamdani held back, and you know this, I know you know this, held back billions of dollars of funding, New York City government funding to nonprofits, and then was pressured by the city council and the nonprofit leadership that Linda knows as well, to turn over that money to nonprofits.

So, here's the question in New Jersey.

To what degree are nonprofits in New Jersey, because New York City is huge, comparable again to New Jersey as a state, to what degree are nonprofits in New Jersey dependent upon state funding?

- It's an important part of revenue, and it's important to remember this is a partnership.

Government looks to nonprofits to provide essential services for people in communities.

So, that's why government provides grants and contracts to nonprofits.

And it is an important source of revenue.

And if that's put at risk, then the services are at risk.

- Okay, along those lines, we've had discussions with members of the state legislature around this issue, but your perspective is particularly important.

So the governor, Governor Sherrill, check out our interview with Governor Sherrill.

See the website, steveadubato.org.

Half-hour conversation.

Part of that conversation was about fiscal integrity, if you will, and the issue of so-called Christmas tree items, pet projects.

A lot of waste in certain cases.

But is it a fact, Linda, that some of those so-called Christmas tree items are items that state legislators attempt to put into the state budget supporting nonprofit organizations doing really important work?

- Yeah, absolutely.

There's no question about that.

You've got these line items which are, yeah, this is not pork.

These are essential services.

It's things like services for veterans, hospice care, services for first responders, tax prep assistance.

It's a wide spectrum of programs and services that people and communities need and use.

So, that's part of the big problem here.

You can't just dismiss this as pork or waste.

If these programs go away or the funding for the program goes away, there's real consequences in our communities and for people who need them.

- So, your advice to the governor and the governor's budget team as it relates to going through these line items, if they call it, and she doesn't use the word pork, but the term Christmas tree items does get used a lot.

What is your advice to the administration as it relates to examining each and every line item, proposed line item from a legislator, as it relates to nonprofits?

- Well, that would be the request.

And we know that this is a difficult budget season.

That's putting it mildly.

And so we do want- - Especially with federal cuts, especially with federal cuts.

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

- Everything is just piling on.

Exactly.

And we understand that.

We know that there are hard decisions to make.

And what we would urge the governor and legislature to do is not to dismiss these things out of hand, to look very carefully at every single line item, look at what it's going for, look at what might be lost if it goes away, and to make those decisions very, very carefully.

I know the governor and the administration and the legislature understand how important nonprofits are.

So, we just want them to keep that in mind.

- Linda, let's start narrowing this down a little bit.

You talk about demand.

In the survey, you picked up a lot of this information.

What are the areas that nonprofits are involved in, in terms of services that are in the most demand by citizens who, if they did not, trust me, loaded question, if they did not get the services and help from nonprofits, they would not be coming from government?

So, what is in greatest demand?

- Well, it's, you name it.

- You mentioned veterans before.

- Services for veterans, mental health services, services for people who are facing substance use issues, arts, the arts are a huge driver in mental health, and in commercial wellbeing in our communities.

You could just go across the spectrum.

Services for seniors, you can go on and on.

Services to help people afford their homes or stay in their homes or to keep jobs.

Literacy.

You can go on and on and on.

- You and I have had this conversation so many times in the past because you lead your nonprofit and the tax code is a 501(c)(3) that is in the tax code.

We are a 501(c)(3), and I spend, and I say this to you every time you join us, I don't know, 60, my colleague, Mary Gamba, who runs our operation day to day, I mean, 60 or 70% of my work connected to this organization is raising money.

Is that the case for most CEOs of nonprofits?

- It's certainly a huge amount of time.

And quite frankly, if some of the systems for fundraising were simplified, that could be a little bit less.

If the applications were not as complicated, if the reporting was not quite as complicated, if the funding streams were not quite as restrictive, more general support funds so that organizations can deploy those funds as they see fit and remain nimble to respond to changing needs, multi-year grants so that you're not going year after year after for funding.

- That would be great.

- All of those things.

But if you want to make the system more efficient, then those are some of the things that you can think about.

- Last question before I let you go.

if more and more nonprofits close, explain to folks briefly the impact.

- The problem is you always assume that nonprofits are going to be there until they're not.

And that's really the programs and services that you take for granted that are always going to be there, that we think are going to be there in the community, if they are put at risk, or fewer people can be served, that's more stress on, obviously, it's a human catastrophe, but it's also government is going to have to.

Nonprofits are a partnership with government.

And so if these services are not available, the pressure and stresses on government are going to increase, too.

- Linda Czipo is President and CEO of the New Jersey Center for Nonprofits.

Linda, thank you so much once again for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you so much.

- You've got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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