Contributions lower the firm's tax bill, while social surplus flows to local public uses. Nonprofit Corporations Nonprofit corporations can serve as vehicles for collective action for delivery of social services not provided by government. Care should be taken to assure that boards of directors represent the corporations' constituencies and function democratically. Nonprofit corporations deliver essential services, are locally controlled, and create jobs within communities. They build capital locally with positive implications for community development.
Poor communities exist because resources and income are largely absent.
They provide such services as job training, neighborhood repair, and increased access to health care. For example, a McDonald's franchise, operating as a for-profit CDC subsidiary, could provide a local service, jobs and job training, and channel any profits back into the community. Community Land Trusts Land trusts provide a mechanism to create affordable housing and reduce homelessness. Community land trusts, a form of nonprofit corporation, are designed to take land out of the speculative realm. City housing departments can provide low-cost loans to households that cannot afford a down payment.