Protecting Nonprofit Rights

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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Nonprofits Get High Marks For Response To Hurricane Katrina

Dec 9, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Faith-based organizations and nonprofits got higher marks than government for their hurricane recovery efforts, according to a poll of Louisiana residents. "Louisiana residents were not particularly charitable when it came to evaluating government response to recent hurricanes, but were considerably more favorable of the efforts of faith-based organizations and nonprofits, including local community foundations and Red Cross," according to the survey by Louisiana State University. The complete survey can be found at http://www.survey.lsu.edu/.

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FEC Intends to Vote On Changes to Electioneering Communications Rule

Dec 9, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The FEC will consider on Dec. 15 amending the "electioneering communications" rule. The FEC has to rewrite regulations implementing BCRA, and plan to vote at their next open meeting on a final rule change. Action follows a FEC request for comments on draft regulations, however, no regulations have been promulagated as of yet...

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Hyde Introduces Con Res Urging Russian Gov't to Modify Legislation

Dec 9, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Rep. Henry Hyde introduced H Con Res 312, a concurrent resolution urging the government of the Russian Federation to withdraw or modify proposed legislation that would have the effect of severely restricting the establishment, operations, and activities of domestic and foreign nongovernmental organizations in the Russian Federation.

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FEC Posts Draft NPRM on Coordinated Communications

Dec 9, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Federal Election Commission this week issued a draft rule on “coordination.” This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was initiated as a result of an order of U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who ruled in Shays v. FEC that the FEC’s rule defining “coordination” undercut BCRA’s statutory purpose of regulating campaign finance and preventing circumvention of the campaign finance rules. For the draft reulemaking

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Members of Congress Ask For GAO Rept. On IRS Church Inquiries

Dec 9, 2005 by Guest Blogger

From the Chronicle of Philanthropy: Three members of Congress have requested a federal investigation into news reports that the Internal Revenue Service conducts reviews of churches and other places of worship based on the content of sermons or other discourse delivered as part of religious services or gatherings.

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Russia Proposal Would Crack Down on NGOs

Dec 8, 2005 by Kay Guinane

Both the Washington Post and New York Times reported today the Sec. State Rice criticized Russia for moving against NGOs. A proposed law, which will be voted on Dec. 16, would ban foreign NGOs and limit what foreigh grants and foreign employees Russian NGOs could have. All NGOs would have to re-register and a state agency would decide if they can continue to operate. Officials are defending the bill, saying it is needed to crack down on graft and stop terrorist influence over NGOs.

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Treasury Seeks Comment on Updated Guidelines

Dec 5, 2005 by Kay Guinane

(OMB Watch will publish a summary and analysis of the new guidelines soon.) From Treasury: The U.S. Department of the Treasury today issued revised Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines, Voluntary Best Practices for U.S.-based Charities (Guidelines) to help the chartable sector protect itself from abuse by terrorist organizations. Treasury is releasing for public comment this revised version of the Guidelines to ensure the greatest benefit to the sector, as well as effective application.

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Faith Based Groups Join Campaign To End LSC's Private Money Restriction

Dec 3, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Recently, 31 leading faith-based groups joined the campaign to end the Legal Services Corporation's private money restriction, a federal rule that each year deprives thousands of low-income individuals and families of legal help in critical civil cases. In a letter to Congressmen Wolf and Mollohan, the religious groups wrote, “We are deeply concerned that this [provision] hurts the families we serve, imposes unnecessary costs, and sets a dangerous precedent for public-private partnerships.

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IRS Posts Political Intervention Project Guidelines

Dec 3, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Internal Revenue Service has posted on its website a memorandum sent to IRS agents and managers in March 2005, instructing them on how to implement the agency's Political Intervention Project (PIP). PIP was created to "fast track" investigations of 501(c)(3) organizations accused of engaging in improper political advocacy. The IRS is currently working on 130 PIP cases from the 2004 presidential election, approximately 50 of which involve churches accused of improper political activity. Read the memo...

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Waiver to File Returns Electronically

Nov 30, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The IRS has issued guidance on how exempt organizations that are required to file certain returns electronically may obtain waivers of those requirements. Complete details are available on the IRS website.

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