Press Releases

(San Juan-PR) – Several laws in Puerto Rico prohibit the disbursement of public funds to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) that have not complied with their responsibilities and are not in compliance (Good Standing) with the Departments of State and Treasury.

“The disbursement of public funds to these organizations is not appropriate, whether the funds are for their own use or for them to serve as an intermediary in the disbursement to a third party. If they receive and disburse the funds without being in compliance, the NPO is subject to the recovery of these by the State,” expressed the Comptroller, Yesmín M. Valdivieso.

In the same way, no public or elected official may allocate funds to an entity that is not up to date in its responsibilities. Legislators assume an executive function through the administrative determination of the specific use of the funds. On this, see the provisions of Article IV, Section 4 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the ruling of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico in the case Noriega v. Hernández Colón, 135 D.P.R. 406, 458 and 466 (1994).

Therefore, prior to the allocation of public funds, an evaluation must be carried out on whether or not the NPO is capable of carrying out the work or the service for which these funds are allocated.

We urge all NPOs to get up to date with all the required governmental entities, and public or elected officials not to allocate funds to NPOs until they ensure that they are in compliance. The Office of the Comptroller published the informational booklet Nonprofit Organizations, Use of Public Property and Funds. They can access it to get oriented on our page www.ocpr.gov.pr. (Booklets and Publications).

“Any person who does not comply with these provisions will be required and obligated to reimburse the public funds illegally disbursed,” indicated Valdivieso.

CONTACT: Lisandra Rivera Rivera, Director
Office of Press and Communications
lriverar@ocpr.gov.pr
(787) 250-3322