Judge Orders Refund for U. of Minnesota
A federal judge in Minneapolis ordered the Internal Revenue Service to refund the University of Minnesota $1.1-million in Social Security and Medicare taxes he said the government improperly levied on medical residents in 2005. Judge Richard H. Kyle of the U.S. district court for Minnesota ruled…
By Katherine Mangan
Contributor
IRS Explains How to Request Forms on Business Income
The Internal Revenue Service has issued a notice explaining how people can request copies of a nonprofit organization’s Form 990-T, which lists unrelated business income. All 990-Ts filed after August 17, 2006, are available from the IRS, but the agency does not currently have a way for people to…
By Sam Kean
Contributor
IRS Manager Named to Fill Senate Charity Post
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, has tapped a former Internal Revenue Service official to replace a well-known former aide who had aggressively pursued efforts to regulate nonprofit organizations. Theresa Pattara, who was a project manager at the IRS Office of Exempt Organizations,…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Estate-Tax Repeal Could Hurt Charity Fund Raising
If Congress permanently repeals the estate tax, many charities and foundations worry that they will see a significant, long-term decline in large gifts from wealthy donors. Diana Aviv, president of Independent Sector, in Washington, told the Senate’s Committee on Finance at a hearing on the topic…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Half of Charity Employees Report Seeing Ethical Lapses
Two new studies suggest that unethical fund-raising and management practices have marred operations at many nonprofit groups. Fifty-five percent of nonprofit employees observed one or more acts of misconduct in the previous year, according to the Ethics Resource Center, in Washington. That is the…
By PETER PANEPENTO
Contributor
Bits: C-Span Invites Viewers to Submit Videos via YouTube
A two-day seminar on how to manage nonprofit technology projects will be held in Oakland, Calif., on May 20-21. The event is being organized by Aspiration, a San Francisco nonprofit group that seeks to connect charities to good-quality, low-cost software, and Idealware, a nonprofit organization in…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Few Charity Supporters Read Nonprofit Blogs
Only a small percentage of charity supporters — 6 percent — read blogs, social-networking sites, or RSS feeds to keep up with the organizations they care about, according to a new survey. But 43 percent of the people surveyed said that they were interested in receiving such information through…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Text Messages Alert Teenagers to Volunteer Options
Volunteer opportunities for teenagers are now just a text message away. Do Something, a youth organization in New York, has collaborated with VolunteerMatch, Idealist, and the Points of Light & Hands On Network to create an online database of volunteer openings designed for teenagers. Young people…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
White House Office Seeks Charity Videos
The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives hopes to highlight the work of nonprofit organizations that have received federal grants by encouraging them to create videos telling their stories. The Portraits of Compassion video contest is open to charities that have received…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Group Seeks Internet Links for Low-Cost Housing
One Economy has set an ambitious goal — to bring high-speed Internet service to 500,000 low-income households over the next two years. To do that, the Washington technology organization plans to raise $12-million and expand an equity fund that uses low-income housing tax credits to make money…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Simple Advice to Jump-Start Fund-Raising Efforts
NEW BOOKS Fundraising Buffet: A Heaping Helping of Practical Ideas to Increase Donations & Deepen Donor Satisfaction, by Sandy Rees, focuses on simple fund-raising tactics. Ms. Rees, who has worked as a fund raiser for more than 10 years, offers 101 tips related to different aspects of fund…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
Groups Ease the Difficulties of Investing for Social Benefit and Financial Profit
NEW BOOKS Aggregating Impact: A Funder’s Guide to Mission Investment Intermediaries, by Sarah Cooch and Mark Kramer, examines “organizations that collect capital from multiple sources and reinvest it in people and enterprises, whether nonprofit or for-profit, that deliver both social impact and…
By Anne W. Howard
Contributor
Marketing Expert Picked to Lead Red Cross
The new president of the American Red Cross called the charity “an incredibly powerful brand” that continues to appeal to the American people despite the “hits” it has taken in recent years. “This is a brand to die for,” Gail J. McGovern, who has been a marketing professor at the Harvard Business…
By Ben Gose
Senior Editor
Presidential Hopefuls Have Links to Charity That Urges Public Service
By Suzanne PerrySen. Barack Obama has promised to significantly expand the country’s national-service programs ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Fired Up and Ready to Grow if he is elected president — a plan his wife, Michelle, says was influenced greatly by her work with Public Allies, a charity that works across…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Youth group’s Obama link raises its profile nationwideWhen Vanessa Kirsch was working in the early 1990s to create a new organization to train young people ALSO SEE:ARTICLE: Presidential Hopefuls Have Links to Charity That Urges Public Service for public service, she recalls, people kept telling…
By SUZANNE PERRY
Contributor
Abbott House (Irvington, N.Y.): Appointed Luis A. Rodriguez, assistant executive director of quality improvement and health services at Episcopal Social Services (New York), to be assistant executive director for foster-care programs. American Leprosy Missions (Greenville, S.C.): Appointed Jim…