The proposed regulations issued by the IRS on September 9, 2005, clarify (1) that a tax-exempt organization under IRC section 501(c)(3) must serve a public rather than a private interest, and (2) that that the imposition of intermediate sanctions for excess benefit transactions under IRC section 4958 does not...
2005 Joint Fall CLE Meeting, ABA Exempt Organizations Committee – September 16, 2005
I attended the ABA Exempt Organizations (EO) Committee Meeting in San Francisco on Friday, September 16, and a mixer the evening before the meeting organized by the New and Young Members Sub-Committee. It was a nice opportunity for me to meet many attorneys from across the country whose practices...
Hurricane Katrina – IRS Expedites Charity Applications, Urges Use of Existing Charities
The IRS will provide an expedited review and approval process for new organizations seeking tax-exempt status in order to provide relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Click here for the details. Click here for Publ. 3833, Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance Through Charitable Organizations. Click here for the IRS website...
Stanford Project on the Evolution of Nonprofits
The Stanford Project on the Evolution of Nonprofits (SPEN) presented a conference entitled “Managing Through Challenges: A Profile of Bay Area Nonprofits” on August 26, 2005. The corresponding report asserts that there are 9,856 nonprofits (defined narrowly to include only operating charities, supporting organizations and private foundations) in the...
Independent Sector Publishes “Checklist for Accountability”
On August 17, 2005, Independent Sector released a list of steps that charitable nonprofit organizations can take to help improve and demonstrate their accountability. The checklist, which incorporates recommendations made in the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector’s Final Report to Senators Charles Grassley and Max Baucus, Chair and Ranking...
Charitable Lead Trusts
Charitable Lead Trusts – A Brief Primer A charitable lead trust (CLT) is a split-interest trust in which the income interest is to be paid over to one or more charitable organizations and the remainder interest is to be paid over to one or more noncharitable beneficiaries. The CLT...
International Giving
A donor is not entitled to an income tax deduction for a charitable contribution to a foreign charity. See IRC Sec. 170(c)(2)(A). However, a donor may get an income tax deduction for a charitable contribution to a domestic charity even though all, or some portion, of the donated funds...
Disaster Relief
IRS. Publication 3833, Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance Through Charitable Organizations is the place to start for those interested in disaster relief efforts. One issue that often arises is whether the "charitable class" to be benefited by the charitable organization engaging in disaster relief efforts is large and/or indefinite enough...
Office of Tax Policy and IRS 2005-2006 Priority Guidance Plan
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service released their 2005-2006 Priority Guidance Plan on August 8, 2005. The following is from the short section on Exempt Organizations: EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS 1. Guidance on donee reporting for car donations.2. Guidance on downpayment assistance organizations.3. Regulations under sections 501(c)(3) and 4958 on...
San Francisco Business Times Corporate Philanthropy Summit & Awards – July 21, 2005
Mary Huss, Publisher of the San Francisco Business Times, announced the top 60 corporate giving programs ranked by cash contributions to Bay Area nonprofits. The top twenty: 1. Wells Fargo & Co. 2. Intel Corp. 3. Bank of America Corp. 4. Chevron Corp. 5. ...