With the Presidential election less than one week away, the Chronicle wants to know what nonprofit leaders think the next occupant of the White House should make his top priority.

If you had a chance to share your thoughts on what the new president should do for the nonprofit world, what would you say?

Click on the comments link below this post to share your advice for the next President.

And to see where Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama stand on key issues for the nonprofit world, check out Campaign 2008, our special report on the election. You also see what your colleagues rated as important in a new study by the Johns Hopkins University.

Sen. Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, have given an average of $369 per year to charities during the past decade, according to tax returns posted today to Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign Web site.

Senator Biden, the Democratic nominee for vice president, claimed $995 in charitable gifts in 2007 on the joint return with his wife. That figure is 0.3 percent of the couple’s claimed income of nearly $320,000.

The 2007 contributions were significantly higher than the couple’s gifts in previous years, which ranged from $120 to $380.

By comparison, Sen. John McCain, the Republican Presidential nominee, in 2007 reported $405,409 in total income and contributed $105,467, or 26 percent of his total income, to charity.

Sen. McCain files a separate return from his wife, Cindy. The totals do not include Ms. McCain’s income or charitable contributions.

Sen. Obama, and his wife, Michelle, donated ...

The Internal Revenue Service today released the latest version of its Form 990-EZ, the short version of its informational tax form for groups with 2008 receipts of less than $1-million.

The tax agency said the new form — and its related instructions — is similar to earlier versions of the Form 990-EZ, although it includes updated schedules that coincide with the new Form 990.

Both the new Form 990 and the new Form 990-EZ take effect for the 2008 tax year.

As part of the phase-in of the new forms, the IRS has significantly raised the filing threshold for the longer Form 990, which had previously been set at $100,000.

For the 2008 tax year, groups with receipts of less than $1-million are eligible to file the shorter Form 990-EZ.

That threshold drops to $500,000 for the 2009 tax year, according to the IRS.

The new release comes less than one month after the IRS finalized the

The Republican National Committee, in its official 2008 platform, is reinforcing its stand that religious organizations providing social services be able to participate fully in government programs without having to downplay their beliefs or become subject to government hiring practices.

The platform, approved as part of Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., says attempts by the government to impose rules on hiring practices amount to religious discrimination.

“We affirm every citizen’s right to apply religious values to public policy and the right of faith-based organizations to participate fully in public programs without renouncing their beliefs, removing religious objects or symbols, or becoming subject to government hiring practices,” the platform says.

The party also calls for the permanent discontinuation of the federal estate tax, reaffirms the right of...

The Democratic National Committee is including a provision in the party’s official platform that calls for the creation of a federal fund to support charities that have devised successful ways to meet social needs.

“Social entrepreneurs and leading nonprofit organizations are assisting schools, lifting families out of poverty, filling health-care gaps, and inspiring others to lead change in their own communities,” the party says in its platform. “To support these results-oriented innovators, we will create a Social Investment Fund Network that invests in ideas that work, tests their impact, and expands the most successful programs.

The party also calls for the creation of a federal office that coordinates the efforts of government and nonprofit groups.

As the race for the White House heats up, the Internal Revenue Service is stepping up efforts to keep church groups from running aground of campaign laws.

The tax agency on Monday issued its updated tax guide for churches and religious groups, and nearly one third of the document focuses on the rules governing churches and politics.

The release reinforces the IRS’s recent efforts to crack down on the amount of political activity conducted by religious charities.

More than 350 charities were investigated by the tax agency for engaging in possible illegal political activities during the 2006 election cycle.

The intense contest between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain for the Presidency has raised concerns that religious groups and other charities will be even more aggressive in campaigning this fall.

One group, the Alliance Defense Fund, says the IRS’s effort violates the ...

The Internal Revenue Service today is expected to release the final version of the instructions for the new Form 990 informational tax form. The form is the key document charities fill out to disclose information to the tax agency and the public.

The instructions correspond with the redesigned Form 990, which takes effect for the 2008 tax year. The redesign is the first major overhaul of the form in 25 years.

The IRS released a draft version of the instructions in April.

It then solicited public comments on the instructions, with the goal of incorporating some of the recommendations into the final rules.

Many charity leaders, lawyers, and accountants have been anticipating the release of the instructions, which are the key to understanding how to fill out the updated Form 990.

The Chronicle will post links to the new instructions when they are released and will offer analysis ...

Tax bills proposed in both the House and Senate would give hedge-fund managers a generous new tax deduction for charitable donations as a way to promote philanthropy.

Under the proposed tax-extender bills, hedge-fund managers would be allowed to receive a full tax write off for every dollar they donate to charity — up to 100 percent of their deferred compensation.

Other taxpayers are allowed to deduct donations up to 50 percent of their annual income.

Sen. Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is the ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee, calls the proposed deduction for hedge-fund managers unfair.

“Everyone is obviously in favor of charity, but treating wealthy hedge-fund managers better than your average American makes no sense from a tax-policy perspective,” Mr. Grassley said in a written statement.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued two new documents that affect charities that offer charitable remainder trusts and charitable lead trusts.

The first document offers guidelines for dividing a charitable remainder trust into two or more separate charitable remainder trusts without violating tax laws.

The second document contains sample forms for “inter vivos” nongrantor and grantor charitable lead unitrusts.

The full text of both documents are available through an IRS bulletin issued today.

The Internal Revenue Service is looking at whether charities are using offshore accounts and other tactics to avoid paying taxes on income earned in the United States.

Frank Ng, a top IRS official, told members of the Senate Finance Committee today that the agency is “evaluating the nature” of offshore investments by nonprofit groups that would otherwise be required to pay unrelated business income for their investment gains.

That acknowledgment, which came during a Finance Committee hearing on offshore investments, follows recent scrutiny of charities that are subject to unrelated business income tax.

The Chronicle found in a recent investigation that nearly half of the nation’s largest charities that receive unrelated business income pay nothing in tax on that income.

Sen. Charles Grassley, of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee, has expressed concern that...