"In the video from Brooklyn, there wasn't a whole lot of training going on there," Clolery said. "But there are going to be bad apples and bad actors. The nonprofit sector is almost 2 million strong; it's just like any other industry."
Dan Russell, a Springfield (Mass.) College political scientist who has written extensively on ACORN and teaches a class in the management of nonprofit organizations, said he doesn't believe most nonprofit groups would be as vulnerable as ACORN.
"The average nonprofit with a level of professional management probably does as much as it can to be sure that their activities and day-to-day operations don't create scandals," Russell said. "They certainly have to take those precautions. It's essential to any sort of management that they do. Unless they're sort of politically exposed as ACORN is and has been for a long time, I don't think this is anything they need to take extra precautions about."
Sabonis, who calls himself a "big fan" of ACORN, said the videotape shows a clear lack of training on the part of the group's employees. "It's poor hiring, it's poor organizational oversight. It just sounds to me that they were clearly unprepared."
Singer said that he learned early on that the most important employees were his front-desk staff.
"They are not your doctors or psychologists, they don't make the most money, but they are your public face," Singer said. "It's really important to have frontline people who are well-trained, but it's hard to do. There's staff turnover and there are always budget issues for nonprofits."
Singer said that taking the proper safeguards is not strictly to ensure retaining federal funds, a lifeblood for most nonprofit organizations.
"It's not just the pressure of losing federal funds, that's very important, but just as important is that we have a mission to help homeless folks solve their health-related problems and get off the street for good and return to the mainstream," Singer said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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House, Senate vote to deny ACORN funding. Pg 15
