Senate May Consider CARE Act Soon

Mar 4, 2003 by Kay Guinane

The scaled back version of the CARE Act (S 476) passed by the Senate Finance Committee is on a list of eleven items Senate leadership expects to take up in the next few weeks, possibly as early as the week of March 10. Once the bill reaches the floor Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) will offer their comprehensive version of CARE, S 272, as an amendment. S 272 includes “equal treatment” provisions for faith-based organizations seeking grants and authorization of the Compassion Capital Fund. (See our summary).

Limited CARE Bill Passes Senate Finance Committee

Feb 7, 2003 by Kay Guinane

For more information see our summary of both bills. Tax policy expert Matt Hamill of the Institute for Higher Education Policy has put together a comparison of the charitable giving portions of H.R. 7, CARE Act 2002 and 2003 and the Bush Budget for FY 04.

On February 5, the Senate Finance Committee passed a scaled back version of the Charity Aid, Relief and Empowerment Act that has tax incentives for charitable giving, eliminates the distinction between direct and grassroots lobbying, restores funding for the Social Services Block Grant and increases oversight of nonprofits. The bill, S. 256, does not include the provisions on "equal treatment" of faith-based and community organizations applying for federal grants that were in last year's CARE bill. However, Sens. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) have filed another version of CARE, S. 272, that does have the "equal treatment" provisions. It is expected that if the bill moves to the Senate floor the charitable giving and faith-based provisions will be merged.

IRS News

Jan 13, 2003 by Kay Guinane

Nonprofits that wish to comment on changes in IRS Form 990 have until January 28 to submit their recommendations on proposed changes in the areas of fundraising, organizational accountability, foreign grants and PACs. For more information, see the OMB Watch summary of proposed changes.

This Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published a new IRS Continuing Professional Education (CPE) manual on tax-exempt organizations that focuses on consumer credit counseling organizations. Further chapters will be published as they are written. The CEP manuals provide helpful information to nonprofits, but they are primarily for IRS staff training purposes, and cannot be cited as authority. A summary of the 2003 IRS Workplan for exempt organizations is also on our site.

NPAction Greeted By Positive Reception; State Advocacy Guides Added

Dec 9, 2002 by Guest Blogger

NPAction, OMB Watch's new online resource for nonprofit advocacy, launched on November 22, 2002 in its pilot form. In the roughly two weeks since, the site has averaged roughly 1,300 unique visitors who have taken the time to explore the content offerings and features, and more importantly, to provide feedback on what's available. Recent additions to the site include Poll results and topic discussion around nonprofit attitudes regarding IRS restrictions on candidate endorsements by charities; and a set of state advocacy guides for nonprofits to help identify key government agencies, rules, regulations, and guidelines regarding their advocacy work. Over the next few months, the site will be refined in order to provide a more robust version for early 2003. Visit NPAction today, share your thoughts on our work, and help us to provide the best resources possible to assist your organization and partner groups in their policy participation.