Hospitals' charity work hard to assess - California

Many non profits lack software to allow analysis and projections to assess community benefits, let alone just the simple facts on the number of people in the community that projects have reached...budgets impact these items as non profits simply sometimes do not have the available funds that for profits have available...but something definitely worth looking into for the non profits though and there is open source software than can help with business  intelligence..especially when there is a risk of potentially losing a tax exempt status when an audit takes place.  BD 

For-profit hospitals in California provide free care to indigent patients at rates equal to nonprofit hospitals that receive income and property tax exemptions, according to a report released Thursday by the state auditor's office.
But, according to the report, nonprofits provide other community benefits such as medical research, physician training and wellness promotion valued at $656 million, nearly three times the $242 million they would have paid in corporate income and property taxes in 2005.  That is, if the numbers can be believed.

"There is no real way of knowing what nonprofit community benefits are," said Doug Cordiner, chief deputy to State Auditor Elaine M. Howle. "If there's a desire on the Legislature's part to better understand the benefits provided, then we recommend that a more standardized way for reporting benefits be required."

Hospitals' charity work hard to assess - Los Angeles Times