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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A Poem: Issue Advocacy or Electioneering?

Oct 10, 2006 by Kay Guinane

An Oct. 9 New York Sun article describes a newspaper ad the national ACLU ran in 12 states targeting Senators about to vote on bills relating to wiretapping and military commissions. The Connecticut ACLU complained that the ad targeting Sen. Joe Lieberman crossed the line from issue advocacy to partisan electioneering because it said his vote on these bills "would help determine your vote in November."

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U.S. Based International Nonprofits

Oct 10, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

A new report put out by the Urban Institute, "The International Charitable Nonprofit Subsector: Scope, Size, and Revenue", found that U.S. based international nonprofits are running on a decreasing money supply. The report analyzes data from fiscal years 2001-2003 from about 2,600 nonprofits with $25,000 or more in annual revenue, dividing U.S.-based international nonprofits into three main categories; international development and assistance, international understanding, and international affairs.

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Analysis: 2006 Treasury Dept. Voluntary Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines

On Sept. 29, 2006 the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) released updated Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: Voluntary Best Practices for U.S.-Based Charities, its third version of recommendations for charities since 2002. The new Guidelines reflect Treasury consideration of public comments on a December 2005 revision of the original Guidelines, published in 2002. A new Annex provides an unconvincing explanation of Treasury's perception that terrorist abuse of charities is a substantial problem.

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Voter ID News

Oct 10, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

In Ohio On October 4, a federal judge in Cleveland blocked part of a new Ohio state law that would require naturalized citizens to provide a certificate of naturalization upon trying to vote if a poll worker challenged their eligibility. Fortunately this clear form of discrimination, where naturalized citizens are meant to be treated differently from native-born citizens at the polling place, will be blocked.

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IRS and Churches Cartoon

Oct 6, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

Don't miss this cartoon on the IRS Political Activities Compliance Initiative (PACI) posted on Jim Wallis' God's Politics blog.

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ACORN: Suspected of Voting Registration Fraud

Oct 5, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a well respected advocacy group that has been very actively involved with voter registration drives with a particular focus on low income communities, is now being charged with negligence. In Philadelphia, 3,000 voter registration cards that ACORN submitted were rejected because of missing or invalid addresses and in Denver County about 200 cards were found to have similar handwriting on the signatures. The problems found with ACORN's voter registration cards range from nonexistent addresses to forged signatures.

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Continued Scrutiny of Nonprofit's Role in Politics

Oct 5, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

BNA Money and Politics (subscription required) reported that the tax-exempt status of charities and other nonprofits will continue to be examined into 2007. On Tuesday the Urban Institute sponsored a forum geared toward nonprofits, at which a Senate Finance Committee aide remarked that the committee will investigate the role of tax code Section 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations in politics, including hospitals and universities.

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Independent Sector Says Treasury Misquotes Panel on Nonprofit Sector in Latest Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines

Oct 4, 2006 by Kay Guinane

A story about the latest version of Treasury's Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines in the Oct. 4 edition of BNA Daily Report for Executives (subscription required) notes that, while practitioners are pleased Treasury dropped language that implies charities are arms of the U.S. government, problems remain.

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Supreme Court Won't Hear Challenges to "Electioneering Communicaitons" Rules

Oct 3, 2006 by Kay Guinane

On Oct. 2 the Supreme Court denied petitions for review in two cases challenging restrictions on public communications naming officeholders running for re-election. However, another case, Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC invovles similar issues and is winding its way through the federal courts.

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Senator Inhofe Introduces Church Electioneering Legislation

Sep 29, 2006 by Amanda Adams*

On Sept. 27, 2006 Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) introduced the Religious Freedom Act of 2006 (S. 3957), to protect houses of worship or meditation from losing their tax-exemption when they speak out on "public issues, election contests, and pending legislation made in a theological or philosophical context." Inhofe has introduced this legislation with the backdrop of recent IRS investigations into churches alleging that partisan politics was mixed into sermons. However, current law already allows religious organizations to discuss the issues of the day, but not to endorse or oppose candidates.

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