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…
Demands Rise for Food and Other Aid
Many charities continue to see long lines for food, counseling, and other social services -- and cannot keep up with demands for help from the poor, say two new studies. Catholic Charities USA says its 1,400 affiliates nationwide helped 12.8 million people in 1996, an increase of 18 per cent over…
By Paul Demko
Contributor
‘The Atlantic Monthly’: Group Fosters Global Leaders
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, an Arlington, Va., non-profit group, is spurring a worldwide movement of “social entrepreneurs,” says an article in The Atlantic Monthly (January). “Ashoka is working against the backdrop of a major global development: the emergence of an international ‘citizens’…
By Paul Demko
Contributor
‘The Nation’: a Critique of Progressive Foundations
Liberal foundations have squandered their money and allowed conservative grant makers to swing the national debate to the right, says a cover story in The Nation (January 12) written by Michael H. Shuman, a fellow and former director of the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal Washington think…
By Paul Demko
Contributor
The following awards have been presented for work in philanthropy, fund raising, volunteerism, and non-profit management: Cancer. The American Cancer Society (Atlanta) has given its 1997 Medal of Honor to Helene G. Brown, director of community applications of research for the Division of Cancer…
NAACP Board Votes to Remove Embattled Trustee
The Board of Directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has ousted Hazel Dukes as a trustee. In October, Ms. Dukes pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted grand larceny for stealing about $13,000 from a leukemia-stricken associate. She was asked to resign from the…
By Paul Demko
Contributor
Smithsonian Scraps Joint Lecture Series
The Smithsonian Institution, under attack from conservative critics, has dropped plans to co-sponsor a lecture series with the New Israel Fund, a Washington-based group that supports religious pluralism in Israel and promotes better relations between Arabs and Jews. The lecture series, which was…
New Era Accountant Sentenced to Jail
The accountant who helped John G. Bennett, Jr., defraud hundreds of charities and donors through his Foundation for New Era Philanthropy was sentenced last week to spend 30 months in federal prison. Andrew Cunningham, who pleaded guilty in October 1996 to aiding a scheme to defraud and to impeding…
Lung Association Lays Off Workers
Financial troubles have forced the American Lung Association to slash the number of people who work in its national office by 20 per cent. In September, after finding that revenue for 1997 was about $1-million less than the projected $13-million budget, the national office in New York instituted a…
Trustees of Hawaii’s Wealthiest Charity Make Changes to Quell Criticism
STEPHEN G. GREENE The beleaguered trustees of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate in Hawaii, who for months have tried to repel charges of mismanagement and financial impropriety, are now seeking to appease their critics by changing some of their practices. But deep divisions on the board of Hawaii’s…
Americans Aren’t ‘Bowling Alone,’ Report Says; Charitable and Civic Involvement Found Strong
DEBRA E. BLUM This country’s social fabric is in better shape than people may think, says a new report on volunteering and civic involvement by the American Association of Retired Persons. Americans belong to an average of about four associations or clubs -- a greater number than previously…
Subsidies for Internet Access: How They Work
Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, schools, libraries, and rural hospitals are now eligible to get subsidies for Internet access. The subsi-dies, provided through a program called “universal service,” are designed to make sure that all Americans, especially children, can have access to the…