‘Harvard Business Review’: Entrepreneurial Pitfalls
Many pitfalls await the growing number of non-profit organizations now seeking commercial revenue, warns an article in the Harvard Business Review (January-February). Rising costs and increased competition for philanthropic support are prompting many such groups to behave more like for-profit…
‘The New Republic’: Turner’s Problematic Gift
Ted Turner’s gift to the United Nations will finance many worthy causes but also sets a disturbing precedent, says The New Republic (January 26). Under the United Nations Charter, the 185 member nations of the U.N. General Assembly should bear the full cost of U.N. activities to maintain world…
‘Fortune’: a Ranking of 1997’s Top Donors
With his $1-billion pledge to the United Nations, Ted Turner topped Fortune magazine’s (February 2) list of the country’s most-generous philanthropists in 1997. The second annual ranking includes 40 donors, up from the 25 it named a year ago. The magazine said it decided to increase the size of its…
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…
New Law Clarifies Rules on Sponsorships
The I.R.S. plans to use a new tax statute to resolve some cases involving corporate sponsorships of non-profit events. The statute, which takes effect January 1, clarifies when a charity can avoid income taxes on revenue it receives from companies’ sponsoring of such events as non-profit football…
By Stephen G. Greene and GRANT WILLIAMS
Study Links Tax Breaks With Increase in Giving
To the question of whether tax breaks affect charitable giving, new research offers an updated answer: Yes, especially for high-bracket taxpayers. Charity officials for years have wanted to know whether tax deductibility increases the overall level of donations or merely affects the timing of…
By Stephen G. Greene and GRANT WILLIAMS