The environmental nonprofit game plan

If you are a nonprofit group of money-hungry lawyers and administrators, how do you grow your organizations so that your compensation can grow exponentially?

1: Find a cause that has the backing (financially) of as many people and organizations as possible who have the means to make sizable contributions annually.

2: Focus in on projects proposed by governments, agencies and businesses that have millions to spend, as well as a real need for timely completion of the project.

3: Find some fairly rare animal, bird, fish, reptile, or plant that just might be affected by the project’s construction, use or both.

4: Propose a meeting with the governments, agency or businesses to discuss your concerns.

5: Mention the possibility of holding up the project for years in court if you don’t feel your concerns are met, no matter how ridiculous.

6: Allude to similar projects that have proceeded without involving the judicial system.

7: Mention several projects that agreed to donate millions of dollars for the purchase of land to mitigate the land used by the project.

8: Take the money, place it in an account and leave it in the account for years accumulating interest.

9: Use the accrued money to convince your board of directors to increase your salary since you are doing such a good job and have more responsibility administering a larger/wealthier organization.

If this scenario sounds a bit far-fetched you have not been watching what the Coastal Conservation League and the South Carolina Environmental Law Project have been doing in South Carolina over the past decade. Every time they target an improvement for the people of this state, it costs taxpayers and businesses money.

If you contribute to either organization, you are only aiding them in their efforts to hold our communities hostage for their benefit.

Please consider this and take a look at their financial statements and tax forms for the past four years (available on their websites). Assets have grown from a few thousand dollars to many millions.

The writer lives near Conway in a community a mile north on S.C. 90 from the proposed entrance to International Drive.

This story was originally published November 23, 2015 at 8:12 AM with the headline "The environmental nonprofit game plan."