Collective societies are practically defined in legislation as being legalised cartels. The only legitimate purpose for these legalised cartels is to collect money from specific uses of copyrighted works in the extreme situations where they apply, and distribute to relevant copyright holders. While a tiny cut can be justified for administrative purposes, these legalised cartels should not be lobbying the government, nor should they be administering or creating what are effectively government programs.
An article last month in Quill & Quire details a new Access Copyright Cultural Fund (see PDF of July newsletter from Access Copyright) that seems far more like a government program than something legitimately involving a collective society. "It is being launched with a one-time contribution of $3 million from Access Copyright, and will be augmented in the future by an annual contribution of 1.5% of copyright licensing revenues (about $600,000)."
If authors individually wish to donate their personal money to a non-profit association, then that is their choice. It should clearly not be legal for collective societies to abuse their legalized cartel status this way.
