Under a bill passed Thursday by the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Corporation for National and Community Service would receive about $1.15-billion, approximately the amount that President Obama requested for the agency in his proposed budget for 2010.

The House of Representatives earlier voted to cut $90-million from Mr. Obama’s budget request for the agency, which operates AmeriCorps and other service programs.

In a statement, the Senate Appropriations Committee said its budget recommendation “puts AmeriCorps on the path” to having 250,000 participants in 2017, a goal approved by Congress earlier this year in the Serve America Act. AmeriCorps has about 75,000 participants this year.

The appropriations committee allocated $50-million for a new Social Innovation Fund that would provide money for “social entrepreneurs” and nonprofit groups that are developing creative...

The Internal Revenue Service has told a Minnesota church under examination for the content of the pastor’s sermons that the government is no longer pursuing the audit because of a “procedural issue” involving the tax agency’s initial inquiry into the church.

But in a letter to the Warroad Community Church, in Warroad, Minn., the IRS said that it “may commence a future inquiry” into the church after the agency resolves the procedural matter, which the government did not explain in detail.

Gus Booth, pastor of the church, was one of many ministers who last year preached sermons intended to deliberately challenge the 1954 federal law prohibiting charitable organizations and churches from engaging in partisan political activity.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., nonprofit group that argues cases on behalf of Christian causes, promised free legal support under its “Pulpit...

A New York Times editorial is urging lawmakers to allocate more money to the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal organization that oversees national-service programs.

In particular, the editorial argues that members of Congress should not “shortchange” the Social Innovation Fund, a program designed to help innovative charities. President Obama requested $50-million for the fund, but the House of Representatives allocated $35-million for it.

“That seems particularly unwise, given the need for fresh approaches and the willingness of foundations and philanthropists to match the federal investment,” says the editorial.

In all, the House budget for the corporation is $90-million less than what Mr. Obama had sought. The focus now turns to the Senate, which is set to deliberate over the federal budget.

The Internal Revenue Service has publicly released educational materials on governance matters that it has been using recently to train its agents and employees.

The materials are of interest to charities because of controversy over the IRS’s role on the topic of governance. The federal tax code does not explicitly set out governance standards for the IRS to enforce, but the tax agency has shown increasing interest in keeping an eye on charity governance practices.

For example, the IRS’s newly revised Form 990 informational tax return, the primary document that charities file each year, includes a series of questions about nonprofit organizations’ governance policies and practices.

In a speech last year, Steven T. Miller, who was then the IRS’s top charity regulator, said, “the effects of good or bad nonprofit governance cut across virtually everything we see and do in our work. I...

Studies have projected that President Obama’s proposal to limit the tax break wealthy people get for charitable deductions would dampen giving by various amounts. But would all charities feel the pain, or just those in certain fields?

Two professors at the University of California at Davis have just published a paper that explores that question. Using data from the IRS Statistics of Income, they developed an economic model to examine how state and federal income-tax rates affected giving to different types of charities from 1985 to 2005.

The result: Tax incentives had little or no effect on donations to charities in the fields of health, human services, or public and social benefit. But they did influence giving to organizations devoted to animals, arts and culture, education, and the environment, as well as to private foundations.

The authors — Michelle H. Yetman and Robert J....

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations that explain how organizations must file tax returns if their annual gross receipts are usually $25,000 or less.

Last year, the IRS released its Form 990-N, also known as an electronic notice or “e-Postcard,” a new tax document required of groups with annual gross receipts of $25,000 or less.

In the past, only groups that earned more than $25,000 yearly had to file returns with the IRS, but the Pension Protection Act of 2006 requires all groups to file.

The former inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service who was fired last month is suing the organization in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

In the lawsuit, Gerald Walpin seeks to be reinstated and says that his firing was illegal, reports ABC News. In a statement, Mr. Walpin says he is suing the corporation, which oversees AmeriCorps and other national-service efforts, to protect the system of federal inspectors general.

A White House spokesman told ABC that the Obama administration stands by its decision and that it followed the official rules required to dismiss an inspector general.

In an opinion article in the latest edition of The Chronicle, Pablo Eisenberg writes that the firing of Mr. Walpin and other moves raise questions about the governance of the national-service agency.

(A paid subscription or temporary pass is...

The Corporation for National and Community Service has posted a fact sheet about the new Social Innovation Fund, which will provide grants to help nonprofit groups expand successful social projects.

The fund was created by the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act last spring, although Congress has not yet approved its budget. President Obama and the Serve America Act proposed $50-million for fiscal year 2010, but the House Appropriations Committee last week trimmed that to $35-million. The Senate has not weighed in yet.

A key House committee has voted to cut $90-million from President Obama’s proposed 2010 budget for the Corporation for National and Community Service — including trimming the Social Innovation Fund from $50-million to $35-million.

The House Appropriations Committee, which met on Friday, proposed reducing the president’s budget for the agency, which operates AmeriCorps and other volunteer programs, from $1.15-billion to $1.06 billion. It noted in a press release that plan would still represent a $169-million increase over the agency’s 2009 budget.

The full committee approved the cut that was proposed earlier by an Appropriations subcommittee.

The proposal — part of a bill covering 2010 spending on labor, health, human services, and education — now goes to the full House. A Senate Appropriations subcommittee is scheduled to meet on July 28 to consider a companion bill.

President Barack Obama said today he intends to nominate Jacqueline A. Berrien, a longtime nonprofit and foundation worker, as chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Ms. Berrien has served as associate director-counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund since September 2004. She served from 2001 to 2004 as a program officer at the Ford Foundation’s Peace and Social Justice Program, administering grants to promote civic engagement and greater political participation by underrepresented groups.

Earlier positions included assistant counsel at the Legal Defense and Educational Fund and staff lawyer at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union.