Koch-Backed Nonprofit Wins Stay on Revealing Contributors
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked California from compelling donor disclosure by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a conservative advocacy group with close ties to billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, Blooomberg writes.
Pa. Senate Backs Measure to Let Legislators Define Charities
The Republican-controlled Senate in Pennsylvania voted along party lines Tuesday to advance a proposed state constitutional amendment that would give lawmakers the authority to determine which organizations qualify for charitable tax breaks, reports The Associated Press.
Foreign Governments Step up Giving to Clinton Foundation
Donations from governments abroad to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation have accelerated since the former first family’s charity dropped a self-imposed ban on accepting such gifts in 2013 with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Germany among recent contributors, writes The Wall Street Journal.
Tenn. Man Accused of Defrauding Donors to Sandy Hook Charity
A Nashville man who established a runners’ group to aid those affected by the December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Conn., has been indicted on charges that he kept most of the more than $100,000 the charity raised, the Associated Press reports.
Pa. County’s Review Puts Scores of Charities on Tax Rolls
Early results of an Allegheny County, Pa., review of nonprofit-owned property show nearly 200 organizations placed on the tax rolls, adding some $200,000 to county coffers and prompting other Pennsylvania jurisdictions to consider similar procedures, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Tax Judge Says Suit on Princeton Exemption Can Go Forward
The university said it would appeal a New Jersey Tax Court judge’s denial of its motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by four Princeton, N.J., residents challenging the school’s property-tax exemption, Bloomberg writes.
Nonprofit to Pay $184,000 in World Trade Center Naming Inquiry
An association that earned millions of dollars from the “World Trade Center” name agreed to the payment to settle an investigation by New York State’s attorney general of the 1986 deal that granted the trademark to the group for $10, reports NJ Advance Media.
House Passes Bill to Make Charity Tax Breaks Permanent
The legislation would affect gifts to food banks and land conservation as well as money moved directly from retirement accounts to charity.
By Alex Daniels
Contributor
Court Rejects Pa. Groups’ Challenge to Birth-Control Rule
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Affordable Care Act’s birth-control mandate, as revised by the Obama administration to accommodate religious nonprofits, does not violate faith groups’ First Amendment rights, the Associated Press reports.
N.Y. Authorities Reportedly Investigating Charity’s Collapse
City and state investigators are looking into the finances of a major New York City social-service nonprofit that is closing in the face of a gaping budget shortfall, the New York Daily News reports, citing unnamed sources.
Charity Funds for Fla. Hospitals at Risk in Medicaid Fight
Florida hospitals could lose hundreds of millions of U.S. government dollars for treating poor and uninsured patients in what Republican lawmakers contend is an Obama administration ploy to get the state to expand Medicaid, the Tribune/Scripps news service writes.
Ore. Bill Would Steer Leftover Class-Action Money to Charity
The Oregon House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday that would direct at least half of any unclaimed money from class-action settlements to legal aid and other charitable causes, reports the Salem, Ore., Statesman Journal. Oregon is one of a minority of states that allows defendants to keep leftover class-action funds rather than mandating a charity payout, a process known as “cy pres.”
Maine Summer Camps Sound Alarm on Plan to Tax Nonprofits
Leaders of Maine summer camps say Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to allow cities and towns to tax large nonprofits—a measure aimed primarily at hospitals and universities—will force dozens of seasonal facilities that own waterfront property to pare down programs or fold up their tents, the Sun Journal of Lewiston, Me., writes.
Ex-Bay Area Nonprofit Official Sentenced for $920,000 Theft
The former chief financial officer of an unidentified San Francisco-area organization was sentenced Tuesday to four years and nine months in prison and ordered to pay $1.1-million in restitution for embezzling from his employer, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
Aid Charity Investigated by USAID Purges Senior Leadership
More than half a dozen top executives at International Relief and Development resigned Friday amid multiple inquiries into alleged financial misconduct by the Arlington, Va.-based nonprofit, one of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s biggest contractors, according to The Washington Post.
IRS Chief Wary of 2016 Impact for Nonprofit Politicking Rules
Commissioner John Koskinen says the agency does not have a set timeline to pursue new restrictions on nonprofit groups’ political work and wants to ensure that “it doesn’t look like we’re trying to influence the 2016 election,” Bloomberg writes.