Building Nonprofit Advocacy Capacity

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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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more news

Do the Candidates Understand the Value of Nonprofits?

Nov 28, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

As the 2008 election nears, one topic of warning is becoming all the rage, nonprofits that use the campaign season to bring attention to their issues, such as education or healthcare. As the Chronicle of Philanthropy notes, "Nonprofit organizations are stepping up their political activity and becoming more aggressive lobbyists as the presidential primaries draw near, though they must be careful to follow the complex laws governing their tax-exempt status." A Time magazine article highlights many nonprofits that are doing great work to promote the needs of the nonprofit sector to candidates.

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Bills Extend IRA Charitable Rollover to Promote Charitable Giving

Nov 27, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The House of Representatives passed HR 3996, the Responsible Tax Relief Bill earlier this month. In doing so, the tax incentive that allows taxpayers age 70 1/2 to make tax-free charitable contributions from their IRA accounts was extended for another year. BNA Money and Politics ($$) reports that, "the Senate will be talking about a two-year extension of the individual retirement account rollover provision for charitable giving when it takes up H.R. 3996 the week of Dec. 3."

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OMB Watch in the News: "A Call to Advocacy for Nonprofits"

Nov 20, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Washington Post highlights the new publication Seen But Not Heard: Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy and the executive director of OMB Watch. In light of a certain disdain for lobbyists, we all must be reminded that charities need to lobby more. "Bass's biggest problem is convincing charities that they not only can make their case to government, but that they really ought to do so. In effect, he needs to convince his fellow do-gooders that lobbying is not so bad." Disturbingly, "a third of nonprofits polled recently owned up to 'lobbying' two or more times a month.

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Questions for the Nonprofit Sector

Nov 16, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Check out this very interesting blog which asks what the nonprofit sector's role is in the 2008 election and as promoters of civic engagement. More importantly the author states; "The problem, rather, is that the broader social policy environment is hostile to most of our [nonprofits'] missions, hostile even to the concept of a common good. That's the limiting factor that should be changed."

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Council of Europe Disapproves of Terrorism Blacklist Standards

Nov 14, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Washington Post has addressed a Council of Europe report, Europe's leading human rights watchdog organization, approved by their Legal Affairs Committee criticizing the way the United Nations and the European Union blacklist terrorist suspects. The report states that the method used to sanction individuals and organizations does not include any "procedures for an independent review of decisions taken, and for compensation for infringements of rights.

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"Diverse Nonprofit Groups Condemn Ensign Amendment Obstructing Passage of Senate Electronic Disclosure Bill"

Nov 13, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Campaign Finance Institute has issued a press release announcing an effort led by OMB Watch which culminated in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) urging them to drop the Ensign Amendment to S. 223, the Campaign Disclosure Parity Act. The unrelated amendment would require charities, religious organizations, and civic nonprofit organizations to disclose all of their donors who contributed $5,000 or more when they file an ethics complaint against any Senator. This is clearly meant to defeat a bill that has no public objection.

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GovernmentDocs.org

Nov 8, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

A coalition of organizations, including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the Sunlight Foundation, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), Public Citizen, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have launched GovernmentDocs.org. It is an online document database that will make results of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests easily searchable, browsed and reviewed. Registered users will be able to review and comment on documents. Check out the site here.

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Grassley Wants To Investigate Ministries Spending

Nov 7, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is investigating six evangelistic ministries to determine whether they have illegally used donations to finance lavish lifestyles. Senator Grassley sent letters to each of the ministries requesting documents to answer questions regarding expenses, executive compensation, housing allowances, checking and savings accounts, cars, airplanes and overseas trips. They have until Dec. 6 to respond.

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"Advocacy Is Not A Dirty Word"

Oct 31, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

Author of Seen but not Heard: Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy, and Executive Director of OMB Watch, Gary Bass has written an op-ed appearing in the Chronicle of Philanthropy addressing the importance of advocacy in the nonprofit sector.

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FISA Amendments Update

Oct 29, 2007 by Amanda Adams*

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveilance Act (FISA) this Wednesday (Oct.31). This follows the Senate Intelligence Committee's passage of S.2248. The committee's report on the bill highlights what occurred during their closed door mark up hearing. The report states that telecommunications companies participating in the surveillance program received regular letters affirming that President Bush authorized the program.

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