Arizona Court Upholds Scholarship Tax Credit
The Arizona Supreme Court has let stand a 1997 state law that permits its residents to claim a tax credit for donations to non-profit scholarship organizations that help poor families pay for private-school tuition. Critics had argued that the credit -- which allows people to subtract a dollar from…
By Jennifer Moore and GRANT WILLIAMS
Health-Care Groups Dissolve Partnership
The Arlington Health Foundation, a non-profit grant-making organization in northern Virginia, and Columbia/HCA, a major for-profit hospital chain, have decided to end their formal partnership. Both sides blamed delays by the Internal Revenue Service for the partnership’s demise. When the two joined…
By Jennifer Moore and GRANT WILLIAMS
Three Non-Profit Sites Merge Operations
Three on-line sources of information for and about non-profit organizations have been merged onto the Web site of the Evergreen State Society’s Internet Nonprofit Center. The resources are: * The Nonprofit FAQ, more than 250 answers to commonly asked questions such as how to start a charity. * The…
By DOMENICA MARCHETTI
Contributor
State News Service Financed by Pew Trusts
Charities and others can now keep abreast of important public-policy developments in every state through stateline.org, a new Web site financed by a $4.5-million grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The site, a daily news service that began operating last month, focuses on five major public-policy…
By DOMENICA MARCHETTI
Contributor
New ‘Virtual’ Exhibitions Promote Museum Collections
On-line exhibits that showcase the collections of three museums have been added to the Web site of the Museum Loan Network, which offers grants and other services to help museums nationwide enhance their holdings. Administered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the network seeks to…
By DOMENICA MARCHETTI
Contributor
Former United Way Officials Lose Bids to Shorten Jail Time
A federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., has denied requests to shorten the prison sentences of William Aramony, former president of United Way of America, and Thomas J. Merlo, former chief financial officer of the charity. ALSO SEE:The full text of the court’s ruling Both men were sentenced in…
By Holly Hall
Contributor
Politics and Charities: New Publications
Playing by the Rules: Handbook on Voter Participation and Education Work for 501(c)(3) Organizations, by Thomas A. Troyer, Albert G. Lauber, Jr., and Milton Cerny, and Power, Politics, & Nonprofits: A Primer on Tax-Exempt Organizations, Campaign Finance, and the Law, by Bob Boisture and Beth…
By C. Quinn Hanchette
Contributor
Publication Outlines Trustee Duties
The Effective Nonprofit Board: Responsibilities & Recruitment, by Ann W. Lehman and Robert M. Zimmerman, is intended to educate board members of non-profit organizations about their most important duties. Ms. Lehman and Mr. Zimmerman, partners at a San Francisco consulting firm that bears their…
By C. Quinn Hanchette
Contributor
Clinton’s Budget Proposes Increases for the Arts and Social Welfare
President Clinton’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year calls for increased spending on a variety of programs, including the arts, social welfare, and community service. The plan released last week also has numerous other provisions that could affect chariites. The President’s proposal opens…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
National Organizers Alliance’s Pension Plan for Activists: How It Works
Eligibility: People are eligible for coverage if they have at least one year of employment in the social-justice movement and work for a group that belongs to the National Organizers Alliance. Non-profit and for-profit groups involved in social-justice work are eligible to join the alliance. ALSO…
A Safety Net for Aging Activists
Coalition sets up first pension plan designed for social-justice crusaders Charles Taylor has worked as an organizer for the Carolina Alliance for Fair Employment, in Greenville, S.C., for 18 years, helping low-wage residents assert their economic rights. “This is what I love and want to be doing,”…
By Thomas J. Billitteri
Contributor
Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado (Denver): Appointed Douglas G. Laub, former associate vice-president at City of Hope National Medical Center-Beckman Research Institute (Los Angeles), based in Denver, to be director of endowment and planned giving. American Associates, Ben-Gurion U. of the…
Toll-Free Tax Help for Non-Profit Groups
Non-profit organizations with questions for the I.R.S. can now call a toll-free telephone number -- (877) 829-5500 -- to get answers. The new number connects callers to customer-service representatives at the revenue service’s Cincinnati office, which handles all applications from groups that seek…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
IRS to Revoke Exemption of Major Utah Health Insurer
The Internal Revenue Service has decided to rescind the charity status of what is believed to be Utah’s largest health-maintenance organization. The health-insurance provider, IHC Health Plans, initially received tax-exempt status from the revenue service in 1985. But the I.R.S. has been in the…
By GRANT WILLIAMS
Contributor
‘Worth’: Investor Finances Charity Businesses
The financier George Roberts had one requirement when he decided to step up his philanthropy in the late 1980s: “What I was looking for was something that wouldn’t be done if we didn’t do it,” he told Worth magazine (February). Mr. Roberts, a founder of the leveraged-buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor
‘Harvard Business Review’: For-Profit Competition
The debate over the role of non-profit versus for-profit organizations in providing social services has been drawn too narrowly, writes William P. Ryan in Harvard Business Review (January-February). As government agencies increasingly hire for-profit companies to provide social services, the…
By Stephen G. Greene
Contributor