New bookkeeping standards intended to stop charities from understating fund-raising expenses are drawing sharp criticism In an effort to stop non-profit groups from overstating the percentage of their budgets that they spend on good works, an influential accounting organization has revised the…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Episcopalians Sue Group Over Name
Two bishops of the Episcopal Church have filed a lawsuit on behalf of their New Jersey dioceses, charging a conservative splinter group of the denomination with trademark infringement, unfair competition, and misrepresentation. The suit asks a federal court to prohibit the conservative group from…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Men’s Group Lays Off Entire Staff
Promise Keepers, the Christian men’s evangelical group best known for holding religious rallies in sports stadiums around the country, is rallying around a new goal: raising enough money to stay in business. To keep out of the red, the organization announced last month that it was laying off its…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Despite Gains in Assets, Many Funds Stick to the Legal Minimum for Giving
The value of foundation endowments has soared in recent years, but that has prompted few grant makers to increase the share of their assets that go to charity. In a Chronicle survey of the nation’s wealthiest funds, 57 out of 88 foundations said that they aimed to spend no more than the amount…
By Debra E. Blum
Contributor
Foundations’ Endowment Explosion
Assets of large funds rise 22%, which means more for grants The endowments of America’s wealthiest private foundations grew by a total of more than 22 per cent last year, thanks to a record-breaking stock market. A new Chronicle survey has found that the endowments of 121 big private foundations…
By Debra E. Blum and MARINA DUNDJERSKI
IRS Reverses Position, Recognizes Kemp Group
The I.R.S. has changed its mind and given tax-exempt status to Empower America, an advocacy group headed by Jack Kemp, the former Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, and other prominent Republicans. In a ruling last year, the I.R.S. decided that the policy group did not qualify for a tax…
Scientology Agreement With IRS Comes to Light
Newly disclosed details of a 1993 settlement in which the Internal Revenue Service granted tax-exempt status to the Church of Scientology show that the church paid the federal government $12.5-million. The payment extinguished all liability for estate, income, and payroll taxes that the church may…
Organizations Fight IRS on Mailing-List Income
Common Cause and Planned Parenthood Federation of America have taken the I.R.S. to U.S. Tax Court. The organizations are fighting the government’s determination that they must pay income tax on proceeds generated by renting donor mailing lists. Both cases will be heard in court at the same time:…
IRS to Continue to Focus on Health-Care Groups
The Internal Revenue Service’s Exempt Organizations Division has announced its priorities for the year. At the top of the list: It will continue its series of special, intensive audits of hospitals, colleges and universities, and other tax-exempt organizations that have complex subsidiaries or…
Paula Jones’s Backers Decry ‘Witch Hunt’
A non-profit group helping Paula Jones pay for her sexual-harassment lawsuit against President Clinton has claimed that Mr. Clinton and his lawyers are conducting a “witch hunt” to challenge the group’s tax-exempt status. Last month, the president’s lawyers issued a subpoena for documents related…