July 14, 2007, 8:03 am
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Nonprofit organizations stand to benefit from inexpensive new technology if they use it to make their Web sites more interactive and open, writes Jamie Holaday, an employee of Blackbaud, a provider of nonprofit software, on the company’s blog.
As an example, Ms. Holaday points to Jesuits of the California Province, a Blackbaud customer, which allows its online visitors to compose multimedia prayers, listen to or download podcasts, join discussion boards, read blogs, or listen to music composed by Jesuits.
While many Web sites offer blogs or music, Ms. Holaday says, the Jesuits’ site stands out because it allows visitors to communicate directly with each other or with members of the order through the Web site.
Ms. Holaday writes that she visited other charities’ sites, but found that their stories of people and volunteers touched by the organization “had pretty much all gone through…
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March 22, 2007, 9:33 am
By Elizabeth Schwinn
The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that a health-care facility can maintain its tax-exempt status even though it spends less than 1 percent of its budget on charity care.
The ruling was a surprise, says Dan Prives, a nonprofit-finance expert who writes the blog Where Most Needed, because lawmakers and regulators have increasingly been raising concerns about whether hospitals deserve tax-exempt status if they provide only a small amount of free care to the needy.
Mr. Prives says the decision “likely foreshadows” a similar outcome in an Illinois court case that deals with the amount of charity care provided by hospitals.
What do you think should be the issues in determining whether a nonprofit hospital deserves tax-exempt status? Discuss your thoughts on this topic by clicking on the comment link just below this posting.
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