House Does Not Thwart Veto of Estate-Tax Repeal
The House of Representatives has failed to override President Clinton’s veto of a Republican-backed bill to repeal the federal estate tax and its deduction for charitable bequests. The vote was 274-157. An override would have required a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress. In a…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Congress Takes Up IRA Charity Provision
Congress is considering legislation that has a far-reaching provision long sought by non-profit organizations: Allowing people age 70½ and older to make tax-free withdrawals from individual retirement accounts for donations made directly to charities or through such planned gifts as charitable…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
‘U.S. News’: Students Volunteer for Credit
More and more college students are getting class credit for doing community work, reports U.S. News & World Report (September 11). In 1998, 30 percent of undergraduates took a “service-learning” course that required them to volunteer, according to researchers at the University of California at Los…
By Vikki Kratz
Contributor
‘Trusts & Estates’: Era of Transparency
With new federal disclosure laws and the Internet making it easier than ever for donors, journalists, and others to obtain access to an organization’s tax returns, charities need to become more aware of their public images, says Trusts & Estates magazine (September). “An organization that fails to…
By Vikki Kratz
Contributor
‘Worth’: Americans’ Convenient Volunteerism
Americans may be volunteering in large numbers, but “the kind of volunteering most people prefer to do is, quite understandably, the convenient kind,” writes contributing editor Eric Alterman in Worth magazine (October). “A day at a soup kitchen here, an afternoon at the community center there.” So…
By Vikki Kratz
Contributor
‘Forbes’: Charity Adviser Helps the Stars Give Back
When stars want help giving away their fortunes, they turn to Marc Pollick, head of the Giving Back Fund in Boston, says Forbes magazine (September 18). The Giving Back Fund works like a community foundation, allowing celebrities to set up accounts administered by the fund that can then be used to…
By Vikki Kratz
Contributor
Merger of 2 Watchdog Groups Raises Concern Among Observers
Supporters of the planned merger of two of the biggest organizations that monitor charities believe the move was a natural one. They note that the two groups -- the National Charities Information Bureau and the Philanthropic Advisory Service of the Council of Better Business Bureaus -- have long…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Bits: Data Standards and a Survey on Non-Profit Issues
By NICOLE WALLACE The Open Philanthropy Exchange Forum, a group of technology companies that provide products and services for charities, will meet in Chicago on September 21 to discuss the non-profit data-exchange protocol it introduced this summer (The Chronicle, August 10). The protocol is a set…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
N.Y. Activist Finances Online Lobbying Campaign
By NICOLE WALLACEAn activist in New York has invested $43,000 of her own money -- and countless hours of her time -- in an online lobbying campaign to persuade Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. Irene Weiser, a mediator at a dispute-resolution center, also heads the board of a…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Microsoft Gift to Lift Technology Efforts
By NICOLE WALLACEThe Microsoft Corporation will contribute $10-million in cash and $15-million in software over five years to develop technology-assistance programs for charities nationwide. The gift is part of a partnership between Microsoft and NPower that will allow the Seattle charity, which…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor