General Nonprofit Issues

General Nonprofit Issues:

Subtopics

Grant Streamlining

Charitable Giving

Nonprofit Accountability

Faith-based Initiative

News

Past, Future of Faith-Based Initiative in the News 07/08/2008
A late June conference sponsored by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) featured a speech by President Bush praising the faith-based initiative as "one of the most important initiatives of this Administration." On July 1, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama announced his plan to restructure the program, criticizing lack of funds for the current effort and promising to bar religious hiring discrimination for federally funded positions. The next day, Republican presidential candidate John McCain issued a statement disagreeing with Obama on the hiring issue. Read More

Court Upholds Stealth Lobbying Disclosure 04/29/2008
The National Association of Manufacturers' (NAM) legal challenge to the stealth lobbying disclosure provisions in the 2007 lobbying and ethics reform law was rejected by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on April 11. After the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant a stay pending appeal, NAM announced it would comply with the law while its appeal proceeds by disclosing members who contributed more than $5,000 toward lobbying in a quarter and have supervision, control, or active participation in NAM's federal lobbying efforts. Read More

IRS Issues Final Version of New Form 990 01/08/2008
On Dec. 20, 2007, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released the final version of its updated Form 990, the informational return for public charities and other tax-exempt organizations. The new form marked the first revision since 1979 and will be used for the 2008 tax year (returns filed in 2009). The IRS expects to release draft instructions for the 2008 Form 990 later in January. Although the new Form 990 incorporated many suggestions made in public comments on the draft version, the IRS did not make key changes to clarify and simplify reporting of advocacy-related activities. Read More

Lobby and Ethics Reform Bill Becomes Law 09/25/2007
On Sept. 14, President Bush signed into law the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, S. 1. The new law amends some provisions of the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) to make the relationship between lobbyists and lawmakers more transparent by requiring increased public disclosure of funds spent by lobbyists and of the actions of members of Congress. Because of rumors that President Bush would veto the measure, it was sent to him after Labor Day to avoid a veto while Congress was in recess. Read More

Comments Urge IRS to Take Time with Form 990 Revisions 09/25/2007
On Sept. 14, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) closed comment on its proposed revisions to Form 990, the annual information return filed by nonprofits. A host of organizations have weighed in with extensive recommendations, and many are calling on the IRS to delay implementation until a second draft can be published for further comment and nonprofits have time to adjust their recordkeeping systems to track the new information that will be required. OMB Watch's comments focused on flaws in proposals for reporting advocacy-related activities. Other organizations, such as the Alliance for Justice, addressed problems with proposed collection of governance information that is beyond the IRS' regulatory authority. The IRS is expected to act on the comments by the end of 2007. Read More

IRS Seeks Comments on Proposed Revisions to Annual Filing by Nonprofits 06/26/2007
For the first time since 1979, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has proposed major revisions to Form 990, the annual information return filed by tax-exempt organizations. The draft form, supplementary schedules and instructions are available on the IRS website. The changes include a new Schedule C for all 501(c) organizations to report information on lobbying efforts and activities that support or oppose candidates for public office. Public comments can be filed electronically or mailed to the IRS by Sept. 14. Read More

Bipartisan Effort Supports E-Filing of Senate Campaign Contributions 09/26/2006
The Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act (S.1508), which has yet to be reported out of committee, would require U.S. Senate candidates to file their federal campaign finance reports electronically, just like House and presidential candidates do, and many critics say it's high time. Currently, Senate candidates report on paper and then those pages of contributors are entered manually by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), a time consuming process that denies the public the right to know who is contributing to a Senator's election campaigns when it matters most -- before the election. Read More

GAO Finds More Grantee Input, Standardization Needed in Grants Streamlining 08/08/2006
A new report by the Government Accountability Office found that, while some progress has been made in the federal government's effort to simplify and streamline grant-making procedures, there is still room for improvement. Consequently, federal grantees may be continuing to divert resources from program objectives to comply with burdensome administrative requirements. Read More