Barack and Michele Obama Donated 5.7% of Income to Charity in 2007
Senator and Mrs. Obama made their largest gift, of $50,000, to the United Negro College Fund.
By Grant Williams
Contributor
Clintons Donated 9% of Their Income to Charitable Causes Over Eight Years
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and the former president Bill Clinton made charitable contributions of $10.2-million from 2000 through 2007, or more than 9 percent of their total income, according to Senator Clinton’s presidential campaign. The Clintons gave most of their charitable dollars to their…
By Grant Williams
Contributor
‘Traveler’: Clinton’s ‘Whirlwind of Philanthropy’
Few presidents of the United States have had more impact out of office than they did in the White House, and “William Jefferson Clinton aims to be one” who accomplishes such a feat, says the cover article in Condé Nast Traveler’s September issue. “His mission is monumental — to turn the planet’s…
By Grant Williams
Contributor
U.S. Representative Adam B. Schiff, a California Democrat, and two other members of Congress have requested a federal investigation into news reports that the IRS conducts reviews of churches and other places of worship based on the content of sermons or other discourse delivered as part of…
By Grant Williams and Elizabeth Schwinn
People who use their cars in their volunteer work for charities continue to fare poorly in the federal tax code compared with those who use their automobiles for business purposes. Under the law, volunteers may deduct 14 cents a mile for their car costs (or be reimbursed by a charity at that rate…
By Grant Williams
Contributor
‘Fortune’: the Walton Family and Their Giving
The philanthropy of America’s richest family -- the widow and four children of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart -- “is a giant just beginning to stir,” according to a profile of the heirs in Fortune magazine (November 15). “What the family does with its great wealth -- think Rockefellers for a…
By Grant Williams
Contributor
Legitimate Fund Raising or Fraud?
Supreme Court to consider Illinois charity-solicitation caseWashington The Supreme Court this week is scheduled to hear arguments in a case that has the potential to alter the ground ALSO SEE:Highlights of Supreme Court Rulings on Charity-Appeals RegulationTaking Sides at the Supreme Court: Groups…
By Grant Williams
Contributor
Deductions Rise, Says IRS Report
New statistics released by the Internal Revenue Service show that deductions claimed for charitable contributions rose from $125.8-billion in 1999 to an estimated $140.7-billion in 2000, an increase of 11.8 percent. The jump marked the fifth straight year that charitable deductions claimed by…
By Grant Williams
Contributor
Agency Releases Data on Nonprofit Finances
The number of charities that filed Form 990 and Form 990-EZ informational tax returns with the government rose from 207,272 in 1998 to 211,615 in 1999, an increase of 2.1 percent, according to the Internal Revenue Service. That figure was lower than the 4.2-percent increase from 1997 to 1998 and…
By Grant Williams
Contributor