Louisiana departments paid nonprofits $3.27 billion in state funds over four years, auditor finds
The Legislative Auditor's Oct. 7 report counts payments by 25 departments from fiscal 2022 through 2025 and says the TRUST Act, the 2025 law that puts them in a public database, leaves key terms undefined.
State funds Louisiana departments paid to nongovernmental entities, by fiscal year
Baton Rouge. Louisiana's state departments paid nonprofits and other nongovernmental entities about $3.27 billion in state funds over the four fiscal years that ended June 30, 2025, and the 2025 law meant to make those payments public leaves key terms undefined, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor said in a report issued Oct. 7.
Annual payments by the 25 departments reviewed rose from $723.7 million in fiscal 2022 to $942.4 million in fiscal 2025. The review, made at the Legislature's request, counts an organization as nongovernmental if it is registered as a nonprofit with the Louisiana Secretary of State or as a 501(c) organization with the IRS, received a legislative appropriation, or presents itself as a nonprofit. Federal funds are left out. It is an informational report, which the auditor says does not follow the standards of a full audit.
Where the money went
The Department of Education paid the most, about $1.93 billion. The department told the auditor that most of it was constitutionally required Minimum Foundation Program payments to charter schools, which in Louisiana are public schools run by nonprofit boards, and allocations to nonpublic schools under programs such as the Louisiana Scholarship Program. The Executive Department paid $370.7 million, led by the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and the Office of Elderly Affairs. Treasury paid $267.2 million and the Louisiana Department of Health $266.3 million.
The payments include grants, contracts and budget line items: therapy for child victims of crime, shelter and legal advocacy for victims of family violence, criminal defense for people who cannot pay and the Louisiana School and Nonprofit Security Grant, as well as janitorial services and membership dues. The report lists every payment by recipient.
What the TRUST Act leaves open
Act 467 of 2025, the Transparent Responsible Use of State Tax-dollars Act, took effect June 30, 2025. It creates a searchable database, kept by the Division of Administration, and requires agencies that pass appropriated money to nongovernmental entities to report each recipient, the amount, the contract dates, the purpose and whether the goals were met.
The law does not define a nongovernmental entity, an appropriation or which agencies must report, the auditor found, so one organization may appear under one agency and be left out by another, and it is unclear whether purchases from an agency's operating budget count. The division adopted rules in July 2026, but as of August no agency covered by them had begun reporting. The auditor suggested the Legislature settle all three points.
State Treasurer John Fleming wrote in a response printed with the report that nearly all of Treasury's payments are line items the Legislature directs, and that under the law's current wording even the three recipients his office has referred to the inspector general would be reported as compliant.
About this story
501c3.help wrote this story from the sources listed with it, not from material an organization sent. Our editors approved it on Oct. 23, 2026. Stories in The Nonprofit Herald are free, and nothing is asked in return. Editorial rules.
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