The Electioneering Prohibition: A Closer Look

With the election year in full swing, many nonprofits have questions regarding the scope of permissible election-related and lobbying or advocacy activities organizations recognized as exempt under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) can engage in.  This post will be the first in a series discussing these issues. *** As most 501(c)(3) organizations are well aware, […]

Lobbying & Grants to Non-501(c)(3) Entities: Know The Rules

Although many people think otherwise, 501(c)(3) public charities are in fact permitted to engage to lobbying activities, provided such activities are an insubstantial amount of their overall activities. They are also generally permitted to fund any work of other entities, including non-public charities, that they could engage in themselves, including lobbying activities.  However, when a […]

California Governor Signs Administrative Dissolution Bill Into Law

  On September 30, 2015, Governor Brown signed into law Assembly Bill No. 557, making amendments to the laws governing dissolution of California nonprofits. The amendments, which will become effective on January 1, 2016, essentially create two new sets of dissolution procedures for California nonprofits: an automatic dissolution process and a streamlined dissolution process. Automatic […]

Women Leaders Still Make Less Than Their Male Counterparts…Even in the Nonprofit Sector

  GuideStar recently released its 2015 Nonprofit Compensation Report, an annual report compiled using data reported by exempt organizations to the IRS for 2013.  Unfortunately, the Report’s findings regarding women leaders in the sector are not at all encouraging.  According to a list compiled by the author of the Report, the Report resulted in the […]

Where Nonprofit Boards Fall Short

A few months ago, Harvard Business Review published a great piece by Dominic Barton and Mark Wiseman titled Where Boards Fall Short.  In the piece, the authors examined the ways in which boards of directors are failing their organizations and discussed areas in which we should begin to make changes regarding how we approach board […]

Private Foundations & Self-Dealing  

We recently added a post to the blog about private foundations and the rules that they are subject to.  Of the private foundation rules, those regarding self-dealing are some of the most complex and have some of the most serious potential ramifications for a private foundation if violated.  In this post, we’ll take a closer […]

Top 10 Events in 2014

2014 was another year full of events affecting the nonprofit sector in the United States.  Nonprofits were at the forefront of movements issuing demands for reform and played a critical role in achieving successes in areas such as marriage equality and immigration.  They also helped to increase awareness of inequalities and injustices that still exist […]

Pearson Charitable Foundation to Dissolve

A few weeks ago, the Board of Directors of Pearson Charitable Foundation, the Section 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with the educational publishing company Pearson PLC, announced that it will be closing the Foundation at the end of the year after a decade of operations.  According to the Foundation’s website, the decision to close the Foundation comes […]