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• The Business Behind Westchester’s Nonprofits The biggest industry in Westchester doesn't pay out profits—in fact, it’s not supposed to.  New Ways to Find Dollars (by Dave Donelson, Westchester Magazine 2014
• Many nonprofits are looking at alternative funding sources. While the economy has largely recovered, government spending on the sector hasn’t. Individual philanthropy has rebounded somewhat, but corporate donations are subject to more restrictions than ever before. When you add the squeeze on payment for services in the healthcare sector, where many nonprofits operate, the need for non-traditional funding becomes apparent.
  
  Nonprofit Income & Expenses
  
  
  
  These new financing sources include for-profit operations like the Greyston Bakery in Yonkers, which uses revenue from its delectable products to not only hire and train the hard-to-employ but to provide housing, child care, education programs, and counseling for 2,200 community members annually. In 2012, Greyston registered as New York’s first benefit corporation, or “B Corp,” which officially makes it a for-profit entity obligated to deliver specific public benefits—and report on them. Unlike a traditional non-profit, a benefit corporation is not tax exempt, but it can provide a financial return to its shareholders, which opens up the potential for new capital. 
  
  Richard Swierat, executive director of Arc of Westchester, a nonprofit devoted to helping individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, reports a similar move toward alternative funding sources. “Over the years, 98 percent of our funding has come through Medicaid, New York Special Education Department, and other kinds of government organizations,” he points out. “We have discovered that the challenges we now face require us to rethink how we accomplish our mission and where we find the resources to do it.” 
  
  
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 Passage of a Local Development Corporation (LDC) in Westchester Gets Thumbs Up from Business, Labor, and Nonprofit Sectors

$128 million in LDC financing was approved on day one.



Marissa Brett, executive director of The Blueprint for Westchester the Westchester County Association’s economic development initiative, commended the Westchester County Board of Legislators for their vote last night to... 

create a Local Development Corporation (LDC). The WCA had joined forces with business, labor, and the non-profit to push for the LDC over recent weeks.

The result, she said, will be to give nonprofit organizations access to low interest, tax-exempt financing for major capital projects that the business sector often accesses through IDAs. Since 2008, the Industrial Development Association for Westchester County has not had the legal authority to serve the nonprofit community.

“An LDC in this county will open doors for the nonprofit community – healthcare, education, cultural and similar organizations – to have access to the same low-interest financing opportunities that for-profit organizations enjoy,” Brett said. “Most important, the existence of an LDC will help advance economic development in the county and create jobs in this difficult economic climate.”

She said the Westchester County Association, Building Contractors Association/Construction Industry Council, and Nonprofit Westchester had issued a joint statement in support of the LDC and sent it to the BOL last month.

“We urged the BOL to Vote for Progress,” she said. Pressure for the creation of a Westchester LDC grew after a provision of state law that permitted IDAs to issue tax-free bonds to nonprofit organizations expired in 2008.

According to Brett, local labor will get a seat on the Westchester LDC, which also will encourage use of Project Labor Agreements by applicants. Ross Pepe, president of the Building Contractors Association/Construction Industry Council, noted enthusiastically that, “the LDC will create hundreds of millions in new building construction activity and nonprofit growth throughout Westchester County.”

Joanna Straub, executive director of Nonprofit Westchester, pointed out that with an LDC there is no financial risk to Westchester County, “as the county is not obtaining bonds based on its credit. Rather, a nonprofit organization will obtain the low-interest bonds based on its own credentials, and get to benefit from Westchester’s Triple A credit rating.”

The BCA/CIC and NPW joined with the Westchester County Association in pushing for the creation of the LDC because all believe that the LDC will accelerate large capital projects and capital investment in the county that had been languishing for lack of incentives and funding, and hampered by a sluggish economy.

“This is the tool that Westchester needs,” notes Brett. “This is a win-win for Westchester.”-

APRIL 16, 2013 | COUNTY GOV'T, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Westchester County Association, Building Contractors Assn., Construction Industry Council and Nonprofit Westchester Had Jointly Pushed for the LDC

•  CFO Magazine -May, 2009 - World Turned Upside Down, By Vincent Ryan, 

In the "insolvency zone," creditors exert a strong pull that often throws CFOs off balance. The economy has weakened most companies, but it has strengthened the hand of one group: creditors. Marginalized somewhat the past few years, banks are once again imposing stiff covenants and pricing risk profitably. Bondholders, determined not to bear the brunt of restructurings, are beating back offers to exchange their notes at a discount. Commercial lenders are extracting highly prized collateral from companies needing working capital.  It's not the CFO's role to declare that a company is in the zone of insolvency, but rather to report that financial risks are elevated. "The board members have to be advised," Lindenmuth says. "But you're not a legal person. You present the financial statements, the obligations, the cash flow; you point out the substantial risk of busting covenants on loan agreements and delaying payments to vendors. You present the side of the story that is worst-case.".........

• Press Release - October, 2008 - NY LIQUIDATION BUREAU ISSUES FIRST COMPLETE INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL AUDIT IN ITS 99-YEAR HISTORY. 

Bureau Receives Unqualified “Clean” Opinion from Auditor on its 2006 Financial Data. The New York Liquidation Bureau (NYLB), which manages impaired or insolvent insurance companies in New York, today issued the first-ever audited financial statements in its 99-year history, New York State Insurance Superintendent ................