The 5-percent non-solution - The Boston Globe

The 5-percent non-solution - The Boston Globe: "HERE'S A tantalizing but risky idea: To help more students pay for the soaring cost of college, Congress would push schools to dip deeper into their endowments, freeing up more money from bulging coffers - $34.6 billion at Harvard, $22.5 billion at Yale, $15.6 billion at the University of Texas."

Concord Monitor - Charity games may see more regulation

Concord Monitor - Charity games may see more regulation: "With Texas Hold 'em and other games of chance on the rise in New Hampshire, lawmakers are eyeing ways to regulate the charitable gaming industry.

A host of proposals - including one that would require more of the gaming profits to go to charities - have come before a House committee. Together, the bills would shore up oversight for the lightly regulated industry and force the operators of charitable games to pay larger fees to the state."

DailyProgress.com | Committee questions UVa donor privacy bill

DailyProgress.com | Committee questions UVa donor privacy bill: "The University of Virginia’s desire to conceal the identities of its financial donors who wish to stay anonymous hit a snag Thursday.

Lawmakers in a House of Delegates subcommittee declined to endorse a bill that would allow UVa to exempt anonymous donors’ identities from Virginia’s open records law."

Bills put Hawaii charities on notice - The Honolulu Advertiser

Bills put Hawaii charities on notice - The Honolulu Advertiser: "Lawmakers have introduced several bills to require Hawai'i charities to register with the state and to make more open the process the Legislature uses for handling millions of dollars in grant requests from nonprofits."

SOI Tax Stats - Exempt Organizations: IRS Master File Data

SOI Tax Stats - Exempt Organizations: IRS Master File Data: "New Microsoft Excel File Format Now Available

You can now download data files on tax-exempt organizations from the IRS Exempt Organization Master File in an easier-to-read format using Microsoft Excel. The data files are grouped by state and include an organization’s name, address, employer identification number (EIN), date of exemption ruling, and other information, such as the applicable subsection code – 501(c)(3), (c)(4), (c)(5), etc. – foundation code and organization code. For large states, the files have been split into smaller Excel tables for ease of use. The Excel format allows users to sort the information by any data field. The data files will continue to be available as unformatted, compressed files."

EDITORIAL: PILOTs deserve to be grounded

EDITORIAL: PILOTs deserve to be grounded: "EDITORIAL: PILOTs deserve to be grounded
Fee could hurt small not-for-profits
Sat. January 19 - 2008
IBJ Staff

At first glance, Indiana Rep. Thomas E. Saunders’ proposal doesn’t seem unreasonable: Why not charge not-for-profits a fee to help cover the costs of local services like police and fire protection? They don’t pay property taxes like the rest of us, after all, and we sure can’t afford to support freeloaders.

Thing is, we can’t afford the alternative, either.

Saunders’ House Bill 1281 would require charitable organizations to make payments in lieu of taxes (dubbed PILOTs) on property not used for governmental, educational or religious purposes."

newsreview.info - Serving Roseburg & Douglas County, Oregon - News

newsreview.info - Serving Roseburg & Douglas County, Oregon - News: "You will see a huge drop in the numbers of cold calls you get on your telephone,” Margosian said. “If you get on there and somebody calls you that shouldn’t, then you file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office.”

Complaint forms are available online at http://tinyurl.com/2nsvfw. Complaints may also be phoned in by calling the Oregon Attorney General’s Office at (877) 877-9392.

Registrations for the Do Not Call list take 30 days to become effective. Telemarketers are then prohibited from making cold calls to your numbers.

Some exceptions apply. Companies that you have done business with before may call, as well as charitable groups to which you’ve donated in the past. Calls by polling organizations are also exempt."

The NonProfit Times - The Leading Business Publication For Nonprofit Management

The NonProfit Times - The Leading Business Publication For Nonprofit Management: "January 8, 2008

IRS Sets New Filing Thresholds For Form 990

By Mark Hrywna
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will phase in a new filing threshold that will permit nonprofits with gross receipts between $25,000 and $1 million, and total assets below $2.5 million, to file a revised Form 990 EZ in 2008.

By 2010, nonprofits with gross receipts between $50,000 and $200,000 in gross receipts, and less than $500,000 in total assets, will be permitted to file a Form 990 EZ."

Conservation Tax Law Has Few Takers on the Vineyard - 01/4/08 - Vineyard Gazette Online

Conservation Tax Law Has Few Takers on the Vineyard - 01/4/08 - Vineyard Gazette Online: "Conservation Tax Law Has Few Takers on the Vineyard
By MIKE SECCOMBE

About 130 acres of land on the Vineyard was permanently protected from development under new conservation restrictions in 2007, according to state government figures.

The relatively disappointing result was in spite of generous tax incentives — which expired at year’s end — and in sharp contrast to figures for the state as a whole."

Senate votes to make Do-Not-Call Registry permanent - DMNews

Senate votes to make Do-Not-Call Registry permanent - DMNews: "The Senate passed a bill making the Do-Not-Call Registry permanent on December 17. The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last week.

The Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007 was introduced last March by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND). Before the bill passed, consumers on the list had to renew their registration every five years.

A second bill passed Monday that permanently authorizes the FTC to administer the registry while capping fees that marketers pay to access the list."

The NonProfit Times - The Leading Business Publication For Nonprofit Management

The NonProfit Times - The Leading Business Publication For Nonprofit Management: "IRS To Keep Eye On Exec Compensation

Executive compensation compliance will continue to be in the crosshairs in 2008 for the Internal Revenue Service's Exempt Organization Division (IRS-EO) after compliance checks this year turned up significant errors and omissions.

The IRS released its 'FY 2008 Implementing Guidelines' Thursday, which detailed plans for next year while also reviewing accomplishments from the past year."

Cuomo extends ruling on LIPA charitable giving -- Newsday.com

Cuomo extends ruling on LIPA charitable giving -- Newsday.com: "A ruling from the state attorney general that put the brakes on charitable giving by the Long Island Power Authority will apply to authorities across the state.

'Every public authority must scrutinize their own practices in light of the opinion to determine whether they are covered by it,' John Milgrim, a spokesman for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo told Newsday last week. 'We consider the opinion to be a precedent.'"

Political donor law for nonprofits, too | Home News Tribune Online

Political donor law for nonprofits, too | Home News Tribune Online: "There is confusion in Trenton whether nonprofit groups ought to have to comply with a new law that requires officials of companies doing business with the state to file forms that disclose their political donations. The Election Law Enforcement Commission, which believes the law does apply to for-profit and nonprofits alike, has nevertheless granted two extensions to nonprofit groups. The most recent, on Thursday, delayed the filing date until Jan. 15. ELEC has granted the extensions because Democrats have said they plan to amend the law to pointedly exclude nonprofit organizations from the requirements. They apparently fear the new rules will discourage would-be do-gooders from serving on nonprofit boards."

starbulletin.com | Editorial | /2007/11/25/

starbulletin.com | Editorial | /2007/11/25/: "As if Hawaii managers of nonprofits don't have enough on their plates. On top of running their kuleana and dealing with everything from diminished state and federal funding to sorting out personnel squabbles, they now must also comply with Sarbanes-Oxley (or SOX).

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed on July 30, 2002, in response to the corporate and accounting scandals of Enron, Tyco and others. The purpose of the law is to restore public trust in America's corporate sector. The law requires that publicly traded companies adhere to stricter governance standards that both broaden board members' roles in overseeing financial transactions and auditing procedures."

NWAnews.com ::Nonprofits in budget hot seat

NWAnews.com :: Northwest Arkansas' News Source: "To fully fund all of the nonprofits, who generally have other sources of income, and still have to make cuts for emergency personnel, like fire and police, cuts in other divisions, we needed to spread the cuts evenly across the board and that had to involve all of our outside agencies as well,' said Mayor Dan Coody last week. 'I don't like it. But here we are,' he said. The city administration's proposed budget for 2008 is to divide about $ 854, 000 among 10 nonprofit agencies."