Nonprofit Organizations and Counterterrorism Measures

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

read in full

Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

read in full

Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

read in full

Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

read in full

more news

Government Probes Muslim Charities

Congressional scrutiny around the link between charities and terrorist organizations continues to grow. As first reported in the Washington Post on Jan. 14, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) and ranking member Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) requested the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to produce the confidential financial records and tax documents of several Muslim charities and Islamic philanthropic organizations. The Dec. 22, 2003 letter was sent in order to increase government oversight over groups that "finance terrorism and perpetuate violence."

read in full

GAO Issues Report on Terrorist Financing

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has published a report by two Senators that reviews use of alternative financing mechanisms for terrorism and recommends changes to address challenges. The report, Terrorist Financing: U.S. Agencies Should More Systematically Assess the Use of Alternative Financing Mechanisms (GAO-04-163), has implications for nonprofits.

read in full

OMB Watch Calls for Withdrawal of Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines for Nonprofits

The IRS is seeking comments on ideas that U.S. charities might employ to prevent diversion of charitable assets to terrorists. In seeking comments, the IRS references guidelines issued by the Treasury Department last November that were published without public comment.

read in full

IRS Announcement 2003-29

BNA published the text of IRS Announcement on International Grant-Making and Activities by Domestic Section 501(c)(3) Organizations, below: International Grant-making and International Activities by Domestic 501(c)(3) Organizations: Request for Comments Regarding Possible Changes Announcement 2003-29

read in full

Treasury Department Issues Anti-Terrorist Financing Voluntary Best Practices"

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department has issued voluntary best practice guidelines for U.S. charities that cover governance, disclosure, transparency and financial practices for all charitable activities. In addition, special procedures for groups that distribute funds to foreign organizations are listed.

read in full

Anti-Terrorism Bill Could Impact Nonprofits

The "USA PATRIOT Act" (PL 107-56) could pose big problems for nonprofits, especially those that advocate changes in US foreign policy or provide social services to individuals that become targets of government investigations.

read in full

Pages

more resources