Rose Martin's Struggles

Donations fall despite nonprofit status

by Eve Silberman

posted 9/25/2011

A year ago, Rose Martin, the charismatic former director of Peace Neighborhood Center, incorporated Rose's Good Company. She says her five-year-old, one-woman charity helps adults who "fall between the cracks"--her clients, many of them former prisoners, turn to her for everything from getting a cell phone to finding a job. But, to her disappointment, incorporation and nonprofit status have actually hurt donations--"we're getting less because people think, 'They're a 501(c)(3)--they have no problem staying afloat!'" says Martin.

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