The government, courtesy of the taxpayers, funds nearly one-third of the budgets of nonprofit organizations in the U.S., according to a study by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society.

It found that only 13 percent of nonprofits' income came from private sources, 57 percent from fees and 31 percent from taxpayers.

One lucrative source of government funds is the Environmental Protection Agency.

• From 1990 to 1995, the American Lung Association and its state affiliates reaped about $5 million in grants from the EPA.

• In 1995, the agency showered at least $1 million on the Natural Resources Defense Council in grants and paid another $150,000 against its legal bills.

• Over the past six years, the EPA shelled out $14.4 million in grants to nonprofit environmental groups, according to a study by James Sheehan of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Sheehan also found millions in grants that went abroad through international agencies, destined for projects friendly to the Clinton administration's global warming agenda. The World Wildlife Fund in Germany received $4.5 million of taxpayers' money for work in Romania.

Source: Editorial, "Nonprofit Fellow Travelers," Investor's Business Daily, December 9, 1998.