RE: ratings

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyross.com>]

On 22 Jan 2002 at 1:07, Aaron 'Bishop' Read wrote:

> Yes, since they are officially a BU department their budget is
> *handled* by BU...employees get checks from BU and BU benefits, etc.  
> But money from WBUR doesn't go to fund other BU departments and
> ventures.   I'm not sure it can, legally, as a non-profit institution. 
>  Even if it is legal then I still stand by my statement 

If WBUR is a BU department, it is not a non-profit institution, it is a 
department of a non-profit institution (BU).  As such, there's nothing 
illegal about any operating surplus belonging to BU.  If WBUR is a 
separate non-profit corporation, I still don't see why its operating 
surplus couldn't go to BU. 

Many people totally misunderstand the concept of a nonprofit 
organization.  It's a bit of a misnomer, in that a nonprofit organization 
is perfectly entitled to make a profit, in the sense of an operating 
surplus.  The difference is what happens to the profit.  A nonprofit 
organization does not have stockholders who get the profit in the form of 
dividends.  A nonprofit organization retains its profit or donates it to 
causes and organizations in accordance with its purposes.  I don't know 
the organizational structure of WBUR, but it's perfectly possible for it 
to be a nonprofit corporation, with BU or a committee of BU trustees as 
the only corporate members and its operating surplus going to BU.

I must say, I always assumed WBUR was a cash cow for BU.  Otherwise, I 
can't understand why it was changed from being a lab for the School of 
Public Communications.

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
 15 Court Square, Suite 210                 lawyer@attorneyross.com
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