Following are summaries of recent reports by the Council of Better Business Bureaus’ Philanthropic Advisory Service. The service reports on whether charities meet standards for fund raising, governance, financial management, and public information. The service cautions that it does not approve or…
Court Says IRS Was Right to Strip Church’s Exemption
A federal appeals court has ruled that the Internal Revenue Service properly pulled the tax exemption of a New York church after it ran newspaper advertisements opposing Bill Clinton for president in 1992. Under the law, churches and charities must not participate in political campaigns in support…
By Grant Williams
Contributor
The Advertising Council (New York): Appointed Jodi Berkowitz, campaign director, to be vice president for campaign directors; Julie Dolan, vice president for financial development, to be senior vice president for financial development; Priscilla Natkins, senior vice president for campaign…
The following awards have been presented for work in philanthropy, volunteerism, and non-profit management: Management. The Alliance for Nonprofit Management (Washington) has presented the Terry McAdam Book Award for the best book about non-profit management to Jo Ann Hankin, Alan Seidner, and John…
IRS Releases New Data on Non-Profit Finances
The I.R.S. has issued a report tracing the growth of non-profit groups from 1995 to 1996. The number of charities that filed informational tax returns with the government rose from 180,931 in 1995 to 192,059 in 1996, an increase of 6.2 percent. Total revenue reported by charities was $704-billion,…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Pennsylvania Court Backs Hospital in Tax Dispute
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has upheld lower-court decisions that Easton Hospital, a non-profit organization with for-profit affiliates, deserved to be exempt from having to pay property taxes. The Wilson Area School District, where the hospital is located in eastern Pennsylvania, and two…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
IRS Charity Official Lauds Agency’s New Structure
The Internal Revenue Service’s continuing reorganization is helping the agency strengthen its charity-regulation efforts, according to Steve Miller, the first director of the service’s new Exempt Organizations office. The revenue service is consolidating its bureaucracy into just four units, one of…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Report: New York Volunteers Enroll Kids in Health Care
Using Community Groups and Student Volunteers to Enroll Uninsured Children in Medicaid and Child Health Plus, by Melinda Dutton, Sarah Katz, and Alison Pennington, reports on an effort by the New York branch of the Children’s Defense Fund to increase the number of poor kids enrolled in…
By C. Quinn Hanchette
Contributor
Dialogue Assesses Liberal Arts
Liberal Arts Education for a Global Society, by Carol M. Barker, summarizes a November 1999 meeting held by the Carnegie Corporation of New York to examine ways to strengthen liberal-arts education in America. Ms. Barker, a senior associate at Carnegie, writes that a gap exists between what…
By C. Quinn Hanchette
Contributor
Health-Care Policy Making to Be Broadcast on the Web
By NICOLE WALLACEBeginning this fall, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation will broadcast health-policy events -- such as Congressional hearings, meetings, and press conferences -- free on the Internet. The Menlo Park, Calif., foundation will send subscribers to its HealthCast service a weekly…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Best Buddies Moves Volunteers Online
By NICOLE WALLACEBest Buddies is bringing its friendship-matching program online to help mentally retarded people learn to use computers. Since February, the organization’s e-Buddies program has matched 100 retarded people with non-disabled volunteers, who agree to write to their buddies at least…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
Technology Expertise for Non-Techies
By NICOLE WALLACEA new Web site, TechSoup, is designed to help non-profit professionals find answers to their technology questions -- whether they are technology experts or not. TechSoup is a project of CompuMentor, a San Francisco charity that provides technology assistance to non-profit…
By NICOLE WALLACE
Features Editor
‘Science’: An Evolutionary Explanation of Giving
Charities have long known that naming buildings after donors or recognizing patrons in publications can be effective tools for fund raising. But now a team of Swiss evolutionary biologists has conducted an experiment that demonstrates the key role that public recognition plays in motivating people…
By Jennifer Moore
Contributor
‘The Nation’: A New Civic Globalism
Non-profit groups have grown into an important force on the world policy stage, but they must be made more effective at strengthening democracy, Kumi Naidoo, secretary general of Civicus, an international organization that promotes citizen participation, writes in The Nation (May 8). A move toward…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Report Says ‘Charitable Choice’ Is Making a Difference in Delivery of Social Services
The landmark 1996 federal welfare law that established new rules for the cooperation of government and faith-based organizations has had a “modest, though notable” impact, according to a new report published by the Center for Public Justice, a Washington policy research and education organization.…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
Charities Need a High Level of Expertise to Assess Gifts of Restricted Stocks
Greater sophistication is needed among finance officers, fund raisers, and other non-profit leaders if they are to evaluate whether proposed gifts of restricted stock are worth the trouble, experts say. Unlike stock in a publicly traded company, which can be sold immediately, unmarketable ALSO…
By Holly Hall
Contributor