On August 7, 2008, the IRS published proposed regulations generally implementing changes to the substantiation and reporting rules for charitable contributions resulting from the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 and Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). Among other things, the proposed regulations implement the recordkeeping requirements imposed by...
Political Campaign Activity on the Internet
With the increased attention of an election-year, it is crucial that the nonprofit organizations attempting to push their issues to the forefront and mobilize public support remember the political activity boundaries the government has placed based on their tax-exempt status. On July 28, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)...
How the War on Terror Hurts Charities …
Grantmakers Without Borders, a philanthropic network dedicated to increasing funding for international social justice and environmental sustainability, and OMB Watch, a nonprofit government watchdog organization dedicated to promoting government accountability, citizen participation in public policy decision, and the use of fiscal regulatory policy to serve the public interest, have...
Governance in Midsize Nonprofits – Urban Institute Report
The lack of engagement by the governing boards of midsize nonprofits is being brought to the forefront through a new report based on the data compiled from Urban Institute’s first-ever National Survey of Nonprofit Governance that was published last year. Funded with money from The Evelyn and Walter Haas...
Re-embracing the Commensurate Test
According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy (May 13, 2008), the IRS, in a recent private-letter ruling, denied a tax exemption to an organization for not spending enough of its money on charitable programs. Although the recipient’s identity was not released, the organization is believed to be the National Foundation...
Raising Change: A Social Justice Fundraising Conference
On Friday and Saturday, July 25-26, 2008, Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT) attracted over 600 attendees from 37 states to its Raising Change: A Social Justice Fundraising Conference. GIFT Co-Directors Stephanie Roth and Priscilla Hung welcomed attendees by explaining: We felt compelled to put on another conference because...
TE/GE Commissioner Speaks at Georgetown Law Center
This past April, Steven Miller, Commissioner of Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TE/GE) for the Internal Revenue Service spoke at Georgetown law school regarding nonprofit governance and management. Mr. Miller first addressed governance issues, which he believes cuts across virtually everything the IRS sees and does in its work....
What is a Charity? Changing Views on Tax Exemption
In exchange for their public service, charitable organizations may be rewarded at the state and federal level through property tax exemptions and income tax exemptions respectively. However, with lower tax revenues and the increasing disproportion between donations and commercial sources that make up a charity’s earned income, charities are...
Charity-Owned Limited Liability Companies
Charitable organizations exempt under §501(c)(3) that own real property may open themselves up to liability associated with such property (particularly from environmental and tort factors). In order to shield the charity from such liability, they may form a separate entity to hold real property. A common strategy employed by...
L3C – Low-profit Limited Liability Company
The low-profit, limited liability company, or L3C, is sometimes referred to as a type of hybrid of a nonprofit and for-profit organization. More specifically, it is a new type of limited liability company (LLC) designed to attract private investments and philanthropic capital in ventures designed to provide a social...